[.ca] Horse People: Scenes from the Riding Life (ISBN 0066212529)

Should have been called "Me and My Beautiful Second Wife":
I found this book to be a bore - written by a man who, once he leaves his wife and child for another married woman, spends the entire book knocking every single person he comes into contact with, save for himself and said second wife. Even his "friends" aren't safe from catty remarks, all of which serve to promote his fabulous second wife, who appears thoughout the book in pictures riding her various horses. Anyone who knows how to ride can clearly see she ain't all that she's cracked up to be according to her doting, emascualted husband. In fact, she hasn't even competed in the "high levels" Korda claims - she competes at very low levels, presumably so she can get lots and lots of ribbons and beat the "snooty little girls that only have horses because their parents pay for it." The text is sloppy - he repeats himself so many times I began to compare his differing descriptions of the same activity to see which was more outlandish. The book makes about as much sense as the piture of his wife, in her underwear, in the pasture, with her horses. It's a little weird, though it does explain why she sticks with him - he must foot the horse bills so she can stick with her true loves! I would suggest that anyone reading this book might not want to take lessons from Mr. Korda - his morals, as well as his skills as a horseman, are much exaggerated.

Self-impressed slop:
As a horsewoman and a member of the "elite" horse community, I can tell you this book is filled with nothing more than self-indulgent slop from a self-impressed, insecure little man with a big chip on his shoulder. He misses the mark completely in his description of the horsey set - making us all seem like wealthy snobs, especially picking repeatedly on WASPs. His inaccurate description of the horse world is disgraceful and perpetuates the myth that we are all a bunch of exclusive, racist, old-monied bores. In the vast majority of cases, nothing could be further from the truth, though it's easy to see why the sanctimonious Mr. Korda may have felt that way - no one appreciates a poser who at once wants so badly to be a part of the crowd yet, when he can't fit in due to his incredible insecurity, criticizes them mercilessly. You can see the chip on that man's shoulder from a hilltop away. That being said, some of the history he includes is interesting - not always accurate, but interesting nonetheless.

Self-absorbed:
As a member of the "elite" riding community that Mr. Korda writes of in his book, I can say that this book is nothing more than a tale of a self-impressed little man who seeths at the reality that he is an outsider in the horse world. His biggest mistake, and what really gets my goat, is that he seems to think that he's an outsider because of his background when, in fact, he remains an outsider because he's an annoying, whining, sanctimonious little poser who can't ride his way out of a paper bag. This only serves to perpetuate the myth that those of us who ride horses and have money are all snobby, racist bores. Nothing could be further from the truth - rich people who ride aren't any less fallible than anyone else, yet this book does nothing to disspell a hurtful myth. It's a good thing he's so impressed with himself - no one else seems to be. On the somewhat positive side, he does insert some interesting tidbits about the history of riding, and while many of these tidbits are inaccurate they are entertaining.

My love of horses, and life with the horsey set.:
Mr. Korda is a witty and self-effacing writer. His horse antics in the shadow of his more dedicated spouse are told well with a keen ability to make the amusement, gravity, danger, embarrassment, or sadness of the situations become vividly alive for the reader. His story of his ride with the Middleburg Hunt, with him billed as "dare devil rider" in spite of his insistence to all to the contrary is hilarious. Numerous examples of his being caught in situations with the horse having the upper hoof are too resonant to be fiction. It is clear that horses have been an important part of his life because the tales told have elements that will resonate with any horse person, regardless of their riding style. His familiarity with a class of society that I am not familiar with was equally interesting and revealing. .I started riding in college in the 1960s in NJ, and excursions to some of the scenes in this book, such as to Millers and Kaufmans were eagerly anticipated and all too infrequent. Having some familiarity with the environment was certainly a plus for me. For the most part it is a good read, a book artfully written. The major fault I found however - dare I say it since Michael Korda is editor-in-chief of Simon and Schuster - is that there are sections that could have had a bit more editing to avoid repetition. That said I heartily recommend the book to those wishing to immerse themselves in the life of one person who loves horses, and in a finely woven picture of how the horse gradually takes up more space in his life. There are many gems in this delightfully written book.

A trip down memory lane:
Reading this book was like paging through an old scrapbook. It brought back a lot of fond memories. I used to know all of those horse people. Sure, my first riding instructor was a woman in the midwest, not a man in New York, but they were the same character. I never went on a fox hunt in Virginia, but I used to ride at a hunt club in the midwest, and it's all pretty much the same. And while I agree with some of the complaints about this book (yes, it really does need a little editorial "tightening-up"), I got more than enough pleasure from it to be willing to forgive its faults. I have to admit that I also enjoyed Korda's good-natured eye-rolling over the many foibles of the horsey set. I laughed out loud at his comment about the social ramifications of wearing a hunt cap with the bow turned down vs one with the bow turned up. I recall being lectured on that point of etiquette as a child, when I turned up with the "wrong" one. I see from the other reviews that there were a few non-horse people that enjoyed this book. I have to admit that I was surprised to see that. I'm part of an informal book-sharing circle, but I hadn't planned to pass this book along to anyone who isn't a horse person. For me, a big part of the appeal of this book was the comfortable familiarity of the subject matter. Absent that, I'm not sure I would have gotten much out of it.