When my friend was clearing out an old storeroom at her workplace, she found a huge number of books tucked away out of sight. Rather than see them thrown out, I kindly offered to adopt them all for BookCrossing.

I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I've read a number of these 'reviews' over the years and quite often they are just lists of names, dates and achievements, that soon pall, especially when reading of an era when you weren't actually around. But this is immensely readable and, if it doesn't quite get away from the winners lists, they are very much in the minority. Each article is short, but you can feel the love and the respect coming off the page - this was written just after the end of WWII, where horsey sport was on the decline and only a few die-hards had the drive, money and will to get it all going again.

Some of the articles were more interesting than others - I had to laugh at the one about the Continental Seat, which states that falling off a horse is actually really hard to do, after all, you have stirrups and reins!! Not sure what I am doing wrong then! And the one bemoaning the financial increase in keeping and riding horses - and the advice to 'do' your horse yourself to save the 28 shillings a week paying a groom - I thing the author would have a heart attack to see today's weekly livery bill!

There's one warning about the increase in anti-blood sport protests, which was very interesting to read - I think even the writer would have been surprised at how long it actually took to get hunting with dogs banned (or at least, partly so!).

The photo plates are great - a real look through the history of horse riding. There are a lot of old adverts included too, which I absolutely loved. My favourite had to be the one for Boots Chemist, which stocks all horse medicines! I'm not sure I could buy them there now.

A loverly read - great to pop in and out of.

Congratulations! You have found a traveling book.

Thank you for taking the time to visit this site and letting us know what this book has been up to since it was released into the wild. I hope you enjoy reading it, but even if it isn’t your type of thing, then I’m sure there will be someone out there who will love it. This book is now yours, so feel free to keep it. However, I would be grateful if you could leave all the stickers in place and pass it on again once you’ve finished with it – you could give it to a friend, donate it to a charity shop or just leave it lying around somewhere to be picked up again by a total stranger. If you would like to get regular updates on what the book is doing in the future, then why not join Bookcrossing too…it’s fun, friendly and free.

Thanks again and happy reading!