By Maddy Butcher
Most of us have a stack of books in the living room or on the nightstand. Or both. They collectively stare at us, waiting to be read. Such is the world of a bibliophile!
Of course, there are compelling selections in the Cayuse library. Here are (another) three for your consideration:
Dog and Pony Show: Two Veterinarians, One Story
Many Mainers have been following Dr. David Jefferson for years. Even in retirement, Dave continues to have a good impact on horse owners and riders. We reviewed his Goodbye Old Friend: The Euthanasia of Your Horse here. It was a wonderful and necessary note to all horse owners about the responsibility of end-of-life decisions.
Now, Jefferson has teamed up with Dr. John Hunt to write a collection of stories and reflections around the veterinarian life. It’s a good one. Both authors write with an ease and humble wisdom for their work. The pairing and the back-and-forth conveys fluidly a deep affection for the years and the thousands of interactions they have experienced.
The 200-page book is divided into mostly chronological chapters, from their lives before vet school to their first, sometimes un-fully-informed forays into the client-vet business, to personal relationships with animals they have held dear, to funny, endearing anecdotes.
Being With Horses
Is this small volume by 2022 Best Horse Practices Summit presenter, Nahshon Cook, a collection of poems? A book of essays? A transcription of riding lessons? A meditation?
Consider Being With Horses all of the above.
Cook is interested in teaching people to “ride correctly” as well as “how to deal with stress effectively.” Over 157 pages, he unveils 74 entries that consider both good riding and what riders bring to horses from an emotional, spiritual, mental point of view. These are the interesting juxtapositions explored in Being With Horses.
Land of the Horses: A True Story of a Lost Soul and a Life Found
Chris Lombard has worked with Horse & Rider books to republish Land of the Horses, with updates on Lombard’s work as a trainer in Maine and how his life with horses has progressed. It remains, as it did originally, an inspiring narrative of his earlier times in California and Arizona. We reviewed Lombard’s The Horses in Our Stars here.
Together, these three books help us appreciate how interwoven are lives and our lives with horses can be. It often seems like important horses come into our life for a reason, just like pivotal people do. These authors come at it from three disparate angles but accomplish a unified feat: poignantly showing us why horses matter.