Look at a Colt

Look... #2

by Dare Wright

During the first week of his life a young quarter horse enjoys his freedom to run in the mountains while anticipating what the future has in store for him. Illustrated with full-page black and white photographs.

Genres: Childrens

44 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1969

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 4 out of 5]

This little 1969 paperback goes beyond the usual kids' book looking at the first days in the life of a quarter horse foal. This is a plea to treat all horses well, even though we rely on machines.

The term colt is often slang for foal, even though colt is also the word used for any uncastrated male horse under five years old. Makes thing nice and confusing. The book erroneously states that quarter horses are mature at three. They're not physically mature until five, even if they can breed at two.

This book is filled with high quality black and white photos of the horses on Lost Valley Ranch in Colorado. A quick Google shows that this ranch is still in existence. There are not only photos of the foal, his family and herd, but also working horses at the ranch. There is also an interesting composite shot of a NASA rocket and the herd galloping.

I can't help but wonder what happened to this colt. Although he was pedigreed, that's no indication that he didn't wind up in a can of Alpo. The book is told from the colt's point of view. He urges the reader to look at him and recognize him as a fellow living, feeling, thinking being.

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I’m tired with all this standing up, and lying down, and sorting out my legs.” After reading Dare Wrights’ Look at a Colt, I have decided I must be half horse/unicorn after all! I did not know that quarter horses gained their name because, for a quarter of a mile, they can exceed the speed of other race horses, “running into the future of the world as they have run out of the past…I am a colt. Look at me.”