Book Review: Mirror Horse by Tamara Williamson.

If your have a horse mad son or daughter this book is required reading, If I had read it when my daughter was riding I would have insited she read it! But what is a mirror horse? The author describes it in the prologue.

“As a rider you can confuse yourself, thinking you are the teacher or trainer, the brains of the operation, but I think horses are showing us something more important. They are holding up a mirror to our own pasts, memories, feelings, character and,of course,heart.”

Tamara Williamson

Some time ago I saw a tv program with British actor Martin Clunes, of Doc Martin fame. He was doing a travel documentary about England. In one scene he visited a horse farm and the woman who ran the farm asked him to go into a round pen and pat one horse. He went in and try as he could the horse just kept moving away from him.He came out and was almost in tears. He said to the woman:”It was just like when I was a kid , no one would ever listen to me or pay any attention to me.” This is the Mirror Horse.

Horses have survived the millenia by their powers of observation.When you get to the barn and see your horse if you are feeling down you may put on a happy face and fool the other humans but your horse will know your truth . That is the mirror horse.

I immensly enjoyed this book.It is a memoir of the horses in Tamara’s life from pony to warmblood dressage horse . Tamara is brilliantly honest about the mistakes she made in buying some of these horses, and about the scares she had when they would spook or bolt. The last horse in the book she had to sell for financial reasons. Has she given up horses? I suspect that she has not completely given them up . In the book she says this:”I folded up my jacket breeches, and ridng helmet. I put them into a trunk in my basement. I kept a few things: Obi’s halter , my grooming kit which had groomed all my horses. My braiding bag with all the different colors of elastic bands and thread. I knew these small things betrayed the fact that I was hoping my horse life wasn’t over.”

Every night when I would get into bed I was looking forward to reading the Mirror Horse. That is for me the utimate test. If I don’t look forward to reading my book,what ever it is,then I often just stop reading it . But Mirror Horse was a delight. I give this book a 5* star rating. If you are a horse person go, order it online or go to your local book store and buy it now!! My husband also read and enjoyed this book.He is not a horse person. He loved the honesty of this book .