Great Australian Horse Stories

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       November 21, 2013

 

Author  Anne Crawford

Distributor:     
ISBN:                 978-1-74331-680-1
Publisher:         allen & Unwin
Release Date:    

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Anne Crawford, born again horse rider, has presented a wonderful collection of Australians and their love of horses, painting a picture of horses and people who have survived incredible odds, come through the best and worst life has to offer together and built a rapport that can only be achieved through deep understanding and love: man for beast and visa vis.

Whatever you do, don’t let the title put you off purchasing this book because if you do you will be all the poorer for not having read the wonderful stories, not only of the horses who grace the pages, but also the people who come to life, often because of their four footed, very large friends.

Doesn’t matter that you are not at all horsey, as you have to be a very unusual person, who could truthfully say they had never, ever, looked, seen, read or been involved with a horse through one medium or another, if only to watch their performing via media and admired their grace and beauty.

The book commences with a wonderfully wacky chapter titled Bogong Jack, the story of a stallion, wild that is, with total attitude and complete disrespect for the human race. We meet Craig Orchard, a brumby runner from Benambra and enjoy their battle royal as to who would triumph, horse or horseman. In the end they both won!

Incredibly touching stories about horses that are perishing because of the great drought we are experiencing and have been for many years and the teams of volunteers going out to rescue and rehabilitate these horses and foal. The work and or the enjoyment these horses go on to do such as, hacks, family pets or in several cases documented, offered a lifeline when all else had failed.

Take the story of Anne Skinner, who took up a Job with Riding for the Disabled, devoting herself to helping rehabilitate people who had suffered great disability, never realising that one day she would be the one requiring their services. She went on to represent Australia in the Paralympic Games in Sydney and then in the FEI World Equestrian Game Challenges.  And that was just the beginning

Anne and her horse Cossack, a rather large animal that had experienced his own personal trauma, having been hit by a car as a foal, became a team that understood their limitations. As time goes by, both horse and rider are going from strength to strength, hoping to qualify for the 2014 FEI World Equestrian Games in Normandy and hopefully the Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

There is a fantastic chapter on Bush Polo based on Banjo Patterson’s wonderful rendition of the Geebung Polo Club written in 1893. It was revived in true Aussie style in 1989 when a scratch match was organised with the help of local riders in the Dinner Plain Hotel car park. The same do or die motto that characterised the original meeting which was present in 1893 still is in the modern day version of the Geebung Polo Match.

These are just a few of the incredible, funny, touching and emotional stories collected to form a wonderful look at people and their very special companions, horses.