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Wild Horse Diaries
Book by LIZZIE SPENDER
330 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
103 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 1, 2022
I found this book at the used bookstore for .75, and I got it because I love horses. This memoir was about a woman who was gifted some wild Brumby horses from a lady she knew. It was interesting to follow her journey from spotting the herd in a helicopter to catching and taming them. For the price I paid, it was an okay book. I usually prefer books about horse racing, so this wasn't my favorite horse book that I own.
September 25, 2014
The author grew up with a good background and was fond of horses. She rode with well-off people in England and Ireland and her godfather was Laurence Van Der Post.
Flying over Australia with friends in recent times she saw a chestnut colt with a blaze running with a mob of brumbies and set her heart on having him. She talked to the owner of the land who agreed she could try to catch him. This involved quite a lot of work, bringing a mob into a corral or yard. However by this time the author had gone off the original colt and decided she wanted a pretty dun filly instead. No, make that two fillies. Company for each other.
The rounding up of a couple of herds of brumbies is the most interesting part of the book and in the yard each stallion kept his mares together.
The author got her two fillies and amazingly for someone with her life, this was the first time she had owned a horse. However the pair were stunted from lack of minerals and protein in their wild diet so started to grow and shed teeth when kept captive and fed. That's as far as the book goes, with the author saying she now doesn't quite know what to do with her two fillies. Well she's never experienced breaking in or properly training a horse, so what did she expect?
Along the way we are told that the author is married to the man who plays Dame Edna Everage, Barry Humphries. They are no longer married; in this book the pair barely spend time in the same room, though amicable; they're just on the move in different directions.
As a horsewoman I was not that impressed with the story and thought how lucky this lady had been and how little she had done.
Flying over Australia with friends in recent times she saw a chestnut colt with a blaze running with a mob of brumbies and set her heart on having him. She talked to the owner of the land who agreed she could try to catch him. This involved quite a lot of work, bringing a mob into a corral or yard. However by this time the author had gone off the original colt and decided she wanted a pretty dun filly instead. No, make that two fillies. Company for each other.
The rounding up of a couple of herds of brumbies is the most interesting part of the book and in the yard each stallion kept his mares together.
The author got her two fillies and amazingly for someone with her life, this was the first time she had owned a horse. However the pair were stunted from lack of minerals and protein in their wild diet so started to grow and shed teeth when kept captive and fed. That's as far as the book goes, with the author saying she now doesn't quite know what to do with her two fillies. Well she's never experienced breaking in or properly training a horse, so what did she expect?
Along the way we are told that the author is married to the man who plays Dame Edna Everage, Barry Humphries. They are no longer married; in this book the pair barely spend time in the same room, though amicable; they're just on the move in different directions.
As a horsewoman I was not that impressed with the story and thought how lucky this lady had been and how little she had done.
September 29, 2009
A great memoir of a woman who pursues her dream of owning a horse. She follows quite an unconventional route - capturing and breaking a brumbie in the Australian outback. This story is, as the title suggests, a journal of a writer's trials to fulfill a childhood dream; but it also had wonderful side stories thanks to the author's colorful life growing up and living among creative/famous people whose names will be recognizable to most (Peter O'Toole, Richard Branson, Anjelica Huston, etc.) Highly recommended book, a real page turner whether you are a horse person or just enjoy real life feel-good stories.
March 6, 2009
I loved the horse parts of the story but disliked Lizzy Spender more and more as I read. I think she is privileged, bratty and likes to name-drop.
It was interesting for me to read a autobiography where I didn't like the author but still liked the story.
It was interesting for me to read a autobiography where I didn't like the author but still liked the story.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews