A self-portrait of an international rider, and an insight into the pressures on international three-day eventers to split their time between their personal and professional lives. It includes Mark Todd's career statistics, accounts of the two Olympic campaigns and cameos of some of his top rides, including Charisma, Southern Comfort and Bertie Blunt.
Unknown Binding
,
280 pages
Published
April 1st 1999
by Not Avail
(first published January 1st 1998)
Reading this book reminds you why celebrities and athletes hire ghost writers when they decide to write a memoir. Mark Todd just isn't a particular good writer; he's an extraordinarily good rider. My riding teacher believes that being fit and active is an important part of riding and for someone like me who can only ride once or twice a week, it must be true. But Mark Todd smokes and parties an awful lot (until he had kids anyway) and still wins gold medals, so I guess just the horse needs to be
Reading this book reminds you why celebrities and athletes hire ghost writers when they decide to write a memoir. Mark Todd just isn't a particular good writer; he's an extraordinarily good rider. My riding teacher believes that being fit and active is an important part of riding and for someone like me who can only ride once or twice a week, it must be true. But Mark Todd smokes and parties an awful lot (until he had kids anyway) and still wins gold medals, so I guess just the horse needs to be fit if the rider rides constantly. I'm not afraid of much when I ride but I've never done cross-country and I would be afraid. Too many injuries and deaths both to horses and to riders. Mark Todd has had a really interesting life but he's not a terribly interesting writer. Only a NZ book would be full of "nippy" horses and "gutted" riders and various other coloquialisms!
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At first I thought he wrote terribly, but I actually now appreciate the way he writes so simply and factually. It makes everything so much easier to follow, I can imagine it would be much more difficult had he written in any other style. I loved reading this book, it has fueled my love of eventing and all things horsey.
Amazing!!! This man is a legend and his life is so interesting! I particulary enjoyed reading about his riding journey from ponies to top 4* eventers! I will probably read this book again.