[.ca] Stud (ISBN 1582343322)

good book that...:
reads pretty quick. a nice interlude into the breeding industry, with some cool info.

Took me back to my Kentucky days:
I absolutely loved this book. The first chapter with Storm Cat was wonderful and I flipped when they said the name of the mare being bred to Storm Cat as I owned one of her sons. This was a very insightful book into the breeding industry. I worked at Overbrook Farm for awhile and I'm still fascinated by Storm Cat and the attention around him.

Monotonous:
This book is about breeding, and I hate to say it, but breeding is boring, as there are only so many ways to describe two horses in the reproductive act. Nearly every chapter has at least one trist, which by the middle of the book is tedious to say the least. The descriptions of the farms and the people who live and work there are excellent, and save the book. However, I personally would have enjoyed the book a bit more if there was some more continuity. Each farm, and consequently each set of characters only appears in a single chapter. I would have enjoyed the book better had the author followed a colt thru the conception, birth, training, etc all the way to retiring to stud himself.

A great book!:
This book, in addition to being well written and interesting, covers the oft-overlooked foundation of the racing industry. I loved the portrayls of the horses and the owners!

A Book about horse breed for the rest of us:
Stud is a book written for the rest of us. Those people who feel that there are better ways to spend 100,000 than on letting a mare have a good time with a handsome horse. It manages to make the world of those who DO spend that kind of money seem very real and very intriguing indeed. Conley crosses the country from the elite of the business in Kentucky to the up and comers in California down to the struggling breeders in New Mexico. And he makes it all so fun to read. There are great portraits of the families and the farmers who try their hands at winning the most expensive 30 seconds in sport. From the office to the breeding shed to the graveyards of the great sires nothing is left uncovered "Stud". Best of all the author makes it enjoyable for those of us who are not a part of the horsey set.