Lara Prior-Palmer

Memoir of the author’s experience of competing in the Mongol Derby, a 1000km (621 mi) race on the steppe. Each competitor rides 25 semi-wild ponies over six to ten days. Each pony is examined by a veterinarian at each stage and penalties are assessed if its heartrate is too high. The author describes her competitors, the beauty of the landscape, the harsh conditions of the race, and her inner thoughts. She throws in a good dose of Mongolian history along the way. It is written in a poetic style, sprinkled with humor and drama. I quite enjoyed reading about this unique experience, while learning more about the host country.… (más)

"If horses can make us powerful, they can also make us feel powerless—it’s the persuasion required to access their power that I find compelling." And, from https://electricliterature.com/what-it-takes-to-win-the-worlds-loneliest-horse-r..., "[People think] these are inanimate or non-speaking beings and they don’t have voices and I think they absolutely do. That’s one of the things that I was trying to extract in the book: what all of these creatures have been saying. It’s quite easy to forget to ask them what they want or ask them what they think of you, in your head or aloud. ... Just thank the horse! He’s carrying you or she’s carrying you right now. Just say thank you."… (más)

Here's the deal, I don't like memoirs and I think the Mongol Derby is silly and experience second hand embarrassment at the idea of the locals laughing at the gate crashing visiting riders. This is clearly not the book for me, yet for some reason I picked it up and, holy cow, I'm glad I did.

Lara plays with words and ideas, her musings on Mongolia manage to be very European but also coat the place and the people in love and her recommended readings at the end are of Mongolian authors and poets I definitely need to read now.

Yes, it's got that second hand embarrassment of someone relating all their terrible moments to you but it's blunt, honest and sweetly funny, and somehow I love it.

Also, spoiler, as an American, I've met some Devans and I'm so glad to see the too-proud Texan who can't treat her horses well or ask for guidance from the owners of said horses fall to second place. Lara was fun to root for, she plays with words in a way that's both masterful and joyful and this will be yet another"horse book" I recommend to people as "I know you think I only like this because horses but OMG it's so much more."… (más)