United States Eventing Association

Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction

Take A Good Look Around

James C. Wofford (Hamilton 2007)

There are a handful of people of whom I recommend reading whatever they have written and listening to whatever they have to say. Wofford is one. So much so that I gave up a free steak dinner at Rolex to follow his coursewalk. Neither the coursewalk nor the book disappoint. The first 10 of 20 chapters of A Good Look are his travels to hunt, fish, and get eaten by bears. "All I can say is that for the most part, it really happened. Plus, my attitude is that if it did not really happen the way I tell it, it should have." Four of the horse chapters are his commentaries from Sydney, Jerez, Athens & Aachen. I laughed so hard during the Wild Horse Race in "Cowboy Mardi Gras" that I had to put the book down until I could see again. It's Wofford. It's wonderful. Just read it.

The Chronicles of the $700 Pony

by Ellen Broadhurst, Illustrations by Patty Naegeli (Half Halt 2006)

The author buys a chestnut pony mare with the plan to train, event, and resell her for a profit. Anyone who has ever matched wits with a pony knows that this does not go as scripted. If you have ever made an ill-advised horse purchase or ever suffered through the dressage test from Hell, you will both laugh and see yourself. It's the sort of book from which you find yourself reading bits aloud, "Zipping past with her nose straight up in the air, she resembled not so much a future eventing prospect as a giraffe on crack."

A sequel is rumored to be in the works for fall. The $700 Pony is joined by the Demon Spawn (a Wee Spotted Driving Pony), Nearly Headless Yummie (a cat), and the Nice Horse. Since the publishing world moves more slowly than the outside world, technically, the Pony now lives in a field while Ellen and her family live in China. To follow her Asian adventures, check out The Blithe Traveler.

Wormwood Forest: A Natural History of Chernobyl

Mary Mycio (Joseph Henry 2005)

While the explosion in the fourth reactor was grim beyond measure, this book is not. Also, that is the point – beyond measure. No one knows the effect of long-term low-level radiation. Mycio goes to find out what is happening to the plants, animals and people who live within the zone. Yup, people. Among the animals are 21 relocated Takhi (Mycio still uses the imperialist version), "I wondered whether it was right to deliberately release the horses into a radioactive zone when they have no way of knowing where it's safe and where it isn't. Nevertheless, by releasing the horses into the zone, and breeding more horses to replace them at Askania Nova, there were 62 more Przewalski's horses on the planet than there would have been otherwise."

Silks

by Dick Francis and Felix Francis (Putnam 2008)

Although purists turned away when Francis turned from racing, the strength of Francis' fiction lies in his non-fiction elements: art in In the Frame (1976), winemaking in Proof (1984), or the gem business in Straight (1989). One assumes the research is accurate. After all, their research for Flying Finish (1966), led the Francises to start an air taxi service which in turn became the basis for Rat Race (1970). This year's hero is a barrister. The plot is a legal case involving jockeys and much info on the UK legal system.