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"He was the perfect horse, it was said, "the horse God built.""
Most of us know the legend of Secretariat, the tall, handsome
chestnut racehorse whose string of honors runs long and rich: the
only two-year-old ever to win Horse of the Year, in 1972; winner in
1973 of the Triple Crown, his times in all three races still
unsurpassed; featured on the cover of" Time, Newsweek," and" Sports
Illustrated;" the only horse listed on ESPN's top fifty athletes of
the twentieth century (ahead of Mickey Mantle). His final race at
Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack is a touchstone memory for horse
lovers everywhere. Yet while Secretariat will be remembered
forever, one man, Eddie "Shorty" Sweat, who was pivotal to the
great horse's success, has been all but forgotten---until now.
In" The Horse God Built," bestselling equestrian writer Lawrence
Scanlan has written a tribute to an exceptional man that is also a
backroads journey to a corner of the racing world rarely visited.
As a young black man growing up in South Carolina, Eddie Sweat
struggled at several occupations before settling on the job he was
born for---groom to North America's finest racehorses. As
Secretariat's groom, loyal friend, and protector, Eddie understood
the horse far better than anyone else. A wildly generous man who
could read a horse with his eyes, he shared in little of the
financial success or glamour of Secretariat's wins on the track,
but won the heart of Big Red with his soft words and relentless
devotion.
In Scanlan's rich narrative, we get a groom's-eye view of the
racing world and the vantage of a man who spent every possible
moment with the horse he loved, yet who often basked in the horse's
glory from thesidelines. More than anything else," The Horse God
Built "is a moving portrait of the powerful bond between human and
horse.
Can one person make a difference?
When we write a cheque to a charity, or run in a fundraiser, or
volunteer at a food bank, we're part of the solution, aren't we?
Lawrence Scanlan went on a year long odyssey to discover the
answers and uncover the true face of philanthropy - its players,
its politics, its undeniable satisfactions and its fundamental
perils. Scanlan builds housing in New Orleans, teaches journalism
in Senegal, works with AIDS/HIV victims in Costa Rica and the
homeless in Canada. He encounters the legacies of famous
philanthropists, from Andrew Carnegie and Bill Gates, to
lesser-known figures like prison nun Mother Antonia. Finding hope
and humor every step of the way, he nevertheless confronts some
uncomfortable truths about direct engagement and the societal
divide that allows most of us to look away. "A Year of Living
Generously" is a passionate call for greater connection and genuine
commitment from us all.
Carole Fletcher's story opens on a November morning in 1975. She
began this day as a striking young teacher in a happy relationship;
a horse lover and car enthusiast -- ultimately, a young woman eager
for what lay ahead. But a gasoline explosion changed all that,
leaving her with second- and third-degree burns over sixty-five
percent of her body. At day's end, surgeons warned she had a
one-in-ten chance of surviving the night and that even if she did,
it would be more than likely she would never walk again -- let
alone ride a horse. Carole surprised everyone: her family, her
doctors, even herself. After seven months in the hospital and
twenty-eight skin graft surgeries, she began to ride her beloved
horse, Bailey. Thanks to the therapeutic nature of riding, she
slowly regained almost full use of her legs. And though more
surgery and almost four years of rehabilitation would follow,
Carole eventually plunged into the world of performance with a
clever trick horse named Dial. Carole Fletcher tells an inspiring
and eloquent story of recovery and rebirth. Healed by Horses offers
a compelling account of one woman's uncommon courage and
perseverance, and illustrates the extraordinary connection possible
between humans and horses, and how that bond can restore, motivate,
and heal.
The human love affair with horses is an ancient and far-reaching one. Moving effortlessly from history to literature, from science to sport, from anecdote to personal experience, Lawrence Scanlan sets out to discover the essence of our powerful, almost mystical attraction to this noble creature. Scanlan covers a wide territory: from the mythic horses of cultures long past to the real-life whisperers of today, to the timeless wild mustangs still roaming the Great Plains. As he touches on each aspect of the equine-human bond, Scanlan makes perfect sense of "horse fever" -- that curious affliction that has been known to strike both the seasoned professional and the rider who has galloped only in his or her dreams. Written in lyrical prose with wit, humor, and an eye for drama, meticulously researched and complemented by fifty compelling black-and-white photographs, Wild About Horses addresses our need to know everything we can about the horse.
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