Review: The rider saved the horse, the horse saved the rider
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 26, 2012
There once was a horse named Hurtle whom no one wanted. He was handsome enough, and he had a sweet disposition if he liked you, but he wasn't very fast. This is not a good thing for a race horse. It seemed that poor Hurtle was on a fast track only to a petting zoo or, God forbid, a glue factory.And then along came a rider named Boyd Martin, a handsome, charismatic Australian with a penchant for long shots. He was no sure thing himself, having come up the hard way in his native country, but he had a gift for seeing something in horses that everyone else had rejected.Martin saw a spark of possibility in Hurtle, bought him from owners who had given up on the horse, and renamed him Neville Bardos, after a tough-talking Australian gangster. Horse and rider slowly developed an appreciation for each other, though not without Neville occasionally showing his new owner who was really boss by throwing Martin and galloping where he wished. In 2007, the duo moved from Australia to the U.S. where they began enjoying increasing success on the competitive equestrian circuit. In fact, it soon became apparent that Martin and Neville were leading contenders for a spot on the 2012 Olympic dressage team.And then on March 30, 2011, in the midst of all that hard-won success, a nightmare arrived: fire in the barn. Neville was trapped, and suffered a searing of his lungs that nearly killed him. He barely survived, rescued by his rider and a team of vigilant veterinarians. But it appeared Neville's and Boyd's hopes of glory were over as they began. And just when it seemed things couldn't get any worse, Martin found himself laid low by family tragedy.Mr. Crow is not a big crier but he couldn't help but tear up as he read about how this horse and his rider helped each other back to life and victory in this beautifully-written story.