The Perfect Horse Book Review

The Perfect Horse by Elizabeth Letts tells the tale of imperiled Lippizans, Polish Arabians, and Thoroughbreds of Europe who were seized by the Nazis and the brave military men who struggled to ensure their liberation and continue their lineage. I loved every minute I spent with this this perfect horse book and you will too.

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About the Author, a former Pony Club Rider

You might already be familiar with Elizabeth Letts who wrote the New York Times best seller The Eighty Dollar Champion which is the story of Snowman, the rescued plow horse turned show jumper.

Elizabeth, the horse-loving historian, is a Pony Club H-A graduate and as a teen represented California in the North American Junior Three-Day Eventing Championships. As impressive as her riding credentials are, I was struck with how impeccably detailed and well-researched The Perfect Horse is. The footnotes alone take up about 25 pages! Letts is an amazing researcher and storyteller.

The Perfect Horse Setting, Plot and Characters

The Perfect Horse opens at the dressage competition of the 1936 Olympics hosted in Germany in which Austrian Colonel Alois Podhajsky on an off-track Thoroughbred named Nero won the bronze medal. (She had me hooked at off-track Thoroughbred! If you’re also a big OTTB fan, you might like this post: 8 Reasons Thoroughbreds Rock!)

Apparently, the brilliant ride by the Spanish Riding School’s leader should have earned him the gold, but due to the political climate, the German judges gave the gold and silver to two of their home team riders (in keeping with their bizarre and deplorable “German superiority” ideology).

Letts weaves together the intricate tale of the waning days of the U.S. Cavalry and the service of several standout U.S. soldiers who risked their lives to ensure a future for the priceless European horses. Had the mission not been attempted and achieved, the horses would possibly have faced starvation or bombing, become horse casualties in the Nazi’s offensives, or wound up on the plate of the starving Russian soldiers. (Letts states that almost 3 million horses were used in the German war effort and about 60% of them were casualties! Thank God we don’t use horses in warfare anymore.)

The settings span multiple countries with several main characters, and the story line unfolds like a blockbuster movie. Letts’ storytelling will transport you to the chandeliered arena of the Spanish Riding School in Vienna to the verdant fields of the Polish national stud farm where a princely Arabian colt Witez first meets and then continually evades the dangers faced by European horses during the war.

Next the action turns to Fort Riley Kansas, home of the army’s equestrian training center, where you’ll learn about the rigors of military horsemanship to the internal tension between those who advocated for horses in modern warfare versus those who believed the horse’s role was a thing of the past.

Some of the main characters you will get to know are General George S. Patton who was a key player in the rescue (and did you know he competed in the pentathlon in the Olympics?); Gustav Rau, the top ranking German horseman who sought to create a master race of horses (creepy, right?); Colonel Hank Reed, a polo buddy of Patton who lived and breathed horses and led the mission; Alois Podhajsky, the legendary trainer of the Lipizzan stallions; and Rudolph Lessing, the German veterinarian who was technically a Nazi, but his deepest loyalty was to horses not the swastika.

And then there are the horses.

You will pull for Witez the Arabian and Neapolitano Africa the Lippizan along with all the pregnant mares and foals. Your heart will break for the horses and the humans in so much misery. There are some scenes that are tragic, but overall the story is about hope and courage.

Unlike some of the World War II documentaries that I have inadvertently watched and left me depressed (my dad is a fan), this story was uplifting. It showed selfless individuals making right choices in the face of extreme danger. It proved how special horses are and how they can create unlikely allies.

I don’t want to give away too much, but there are scenes such as a night ride through the woods to deliver an important message, waiting with horses on trains in Europe as bombs dropped overhead, to a volatile boat journey with the recently saved horses, to an auction yard in Oklahoma where the once-prized horses were dispersed.

How Do You Say “Podhajsky?”

I listened to the audio version of the book during my commute to work and then read the old school tangible book version at home in the evening. I enjoyed hearing the story read aloud by Paul Boehmer with his dramatic intonations and accurately pronounced names of European cities and people. (I never knew how to pronounce Alois Podhajsky’s name, even though he is a horseman I’ve known about for years). The book version also contains a number of black and white pictures of the horses and heroes which will really add to your historical understanding.

The Perfect Horse is a masterpiece blending horses and history. I can’t recommend this book enough. Thanks for reading!

(For more horse book recommendations see this post.)

Your Turn: Have you read The Perfect Horse or The Eighty Dollar Champion? What did you think? What are some of your all-time favorite horse books?

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