Book Review: The Faraway Horses

Since I have time on my hands these days to read, I thought I might reinstate some horsey book reviews to this blog. So, last night, I went to Amazon and did a search for 'horse' in the Kindle section and sorted them according to rating. The first book on the list that seemed to suit my mood was "The Faraway Horses" by Buck Brannaman.

I really liked the movie "Buck", and am not adverse to reading training type books, so I really wanted to like this particular book. I read it in one evening, but somehow, I left a little disappointed. The writing isn't going to win any prizes, but I liked that it "sounded' exactly like what you'd expect a quiet, no nonsense cowboy type to say. I hated the editing of the book though - in a roundabout way you'd end up back where you started, but not without more a few diversions along the way. It's more like you're sitting around a campfire listening to someone tell a lot of stories rather than one continous biography. Maybe I needed to have a couple of beers to get in the mood for some storytelling rather than expecting a novel :)

There's also an intangible 'something' in this book that left me with a bad taste in my mouth. Full disclosure - we have more than a little common ground in the way we grew up so I could just be recognizing things in myself I don't like or would rather not think about. I liked who he was in the movie - in the book, not so much. The man is obviously very talented, accomplished, and genuine, so I'll just leave it at that.

As far as actual horsey content, it's there - lots of training and handling tips albeit on a pretty basic level. That being said, I have a feeling this is a person who is able to easily break even complicated things down to their most basic and simple and most of the tips that seem simple get a lot more difficult once you try to apply them both in and out of the saddle.

Overall, I think I would have been happier picking up a training book rather than a biography. I have several friends that loved this book, but it wasn't my favorite, at least at this point in my life.