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Rating: 
Summary: A useless waste of time, and full of factual errors.
Review: Aside from offering the reader many beautiful photographs, this book is largely useless. It is designed as a gift-type novelty item, but the abundance of blatant factual errors in the text and photo captions makes me cringe, and I would never want to perpetuate them by giving this book to anyone. The author, for all that he claims to be a horse owner, seems to know very little about horses.Some of my favorites: "The Arabian is the oldest of all horse breeds" (pg. 32): Well, no, it isn't. The Arabian is certainly a well-established breed that has existed for a long time, but it is not the "oldest" in any sense of the word. "The Camargue is said to resemble the horses found drawn on the cave walls of Lascaux" (pg. 44/45): Has the author ever SEEN the cave paintings at Lascaux? I would hardly say they look like Camargues. The conformation and coloring of the horses in the paintings much more closely resembles something like the Mongolian Wild (a.k.a. Przewalski's) Horse. And THOSE look nothing like Camargues. "Though the name refers to a color and not strictly a breed, the palomino has nonetheless attained virtual breed status in the U.S." (pg. 55): No, not even close. There is a registry for palomino-colored horses, yes, but they'll register anything from a Shetland to a Quarter Horse to a completely mixed grade-horse. There is no palomino breed. "On the North American continent, it is generally believed that the horse played a major role in enabling Native Americans to become mobile and cover great distances for trade or aggression. Yet, years later, it was the horse that was employed by the cavalry to conquer the Indian forces" (pg. 80): He's got it completely backward here. Horses vanished from North America in prehistoric times, and it was not until Europeans arrived on the continent that horses were reintroduced. So there is no way the Native Americans could have had horses BEFORE the Europeans arrived. "The polo pony is not truly a breed, but an Argentinian strain that comes close to attaining breed status" (pg. 108): The author seems love inventing "breeds." The term "polo pony" simply refers to ANY horse used in the game of polo. There is no breed or near-breed. Indeed, many polo ponies are small Thoroughbreds. "Challenging a pony to a foot race is good fun, too, but one should be a good sport and allow the horse to win from time to time" (pg. 131): It would have to be one HECK of a small, slow pony if it needed to be "allowed" to win. A healthy horse or pony can very easily outrun any human.
Rating: 
Summary: Grande joke
Review: This book is accessed from the mini horse section. It shows no mini horses. Other than the mini size of the book (not the price) it has no connection with mini horses. For that reason it is a big joke. If you like full size horses, fine. If you like mini horses, pass.
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