Conference noted::equitation

There are 2 regular mystery series that I know of that are worth 
mentioning:

William Murray has a series where the detective(Lou "Shifty" Anderson or 
something like that) is a professional magician and a horseplayer. Most 
of the stories have the racetrack and or handicapping as one of the main
themes. But these are not the run-of-the-mill story where somebody gets
killed because they found out about the horse with the false identity.
They're pretty good entertainment. They have many characters who are not 
mainstream work-a-day individuals in one way or another: opera singers, 
professional handicappers, female-looking hookers who turn out to be 
cross-dressers, circus animal trainers, etc

The Charlie Bradshaw mysteries by Stephen Dobyns have a private detective 
as the hero. The stories are set in Saratoga and are often ractrack related.
Charlie Bradshaw is the antihesis of Hercule Poirot as a hero. It seems that
his "little gray cells" do not work in the same way as Hercule Poirot's or
Sherlock Holmes'. Charlie seems to think in images and patterns rather than 
in a deductive logic mode. He muddles through life poking into things and 
asking the right sorts of questions until he sees the pattern of the mystery.
Then, he sets up an experiment or trap to test his image... The other thing 
that's different about the Charlie Bradshaw mysteries is that their set in 
his native hometown. So, his relatives and other local folks appear in many 
of the stories which adds a sense of continuity or maybe context to the 
stories. Good reading and I enjoy them to the point that I think there 
aren't enough of them(about 6-7 that I know of)

A couple horse related movies that we've rented and were worth the $0.79 
to $3.00 rental fee are:

Pharlap - true story of a GREAT Australian racehorse of the 1930's who died 
          of colic when he came to race in California.

Sylvester -  rags-to-riches story of a teenage girl working as a wrangler
             in a stock yard. She gets a horse who can jump and goes East to 
             "big-time" competition. Minor caution: There is some swearing
             and an attempted rape scene(a wrestling match on a truck seat
             in which the girl's shirt gets ripped off when she doesn't wanna 
             "make-out" with the young punk who has been lusting after her. 
             If any of that will bother you or another family member, rent 
             something else.

International Velvet - The orphaned niece of "National Velvet" Brown comes
             to live with her and raises a son of "The Pie" to be an eventer.
             I know, I know...In the book "National Velvet", The Pie was 
             supposed to be a piebald gelding but this is Hollywood!

National Velvet - Of course the old Liz Taylor and Mickey Rooney movie is
             still available too. Good entertainment and an interesting look
             at "feminism" 50 years ago through the eyes of Velvet's mother.

    I just finished the book "Traveller" this weekend.  It's a story
    as told through the eyes of Traveller, Robert E. Lee's horse during
    the civil war.  Some parts were interesting, though it is not an
    easy read.
    
    

    The Man From Snowy River and the Return of the Man From Snowy River
    were good movies.  Denny was really cool.
    
    KJ

    Yeah, how could I have forgotten the Snowy River movies?
    
    There's another movie called "Murphy's Romance" (Sally Fields and James
    Garner) that's pretty good too. She's an almost-single mom who sets up
    a boarding and training stable. He's a druggist who boards is horse
    there and the rest is the romance part...Not strictly a horse movie.

    Any of the old or new westerns....
    
    John Wayne in True Grit, when he gets called a fat old man
    and jumps his horse over the fence.

    MAN FROM SNOWY RIVER AND RETURN OF THE MAN FROM SNOW RIVER....I think
    are favorites.
    
    I also watched one a couple of years ago now...It was BRADY'S ESCAPE. 
    About a downed pilot and he was taken in by villagers and how he
    excaped by horseback..  Really was a very good movie.  I rate movies by
    how many times I cry!!!  bring your hankies.
    

    "The Heavenly Horse from the Outermost West" by (I think) Mary
    Stanton.  This is a book along the lines of "Watership Down".
    
    It's about the last Appaloosa and the struggle between good and
    evil in regards to the horse/animal word.  Very well written,
    and the detail and events are plotted out in an excellent way...
    
    Lynne

    Re BRADY'S ESCAPE
    
    Was that set in WW II? And the pilot crashed behind Axis lines and was 
    lead back to free territory by a young boy/manfrom the village...If it's 
    the one I'm thinking of the village boy was played by the same kid(probably 
    in his 20's by now) who played Alex in the Black Stallion movies...Is that 
    the same movie? 

    Re .6 Yeah, True Grit is one of my favorites too. I watch it 2-3 times
    a year. Another John Wayne movie I like is Rio Bravo...Duke plays a
    gunman who's helping his buddy, a drunken sheriff. In one scene, JW
    goes to see the "bad guys" to chat. After he's done talking, he doesn't
    trust them not to shoot him in the back so he backs his horse about a
    mile and a half, spins and gallops off.
    
    That and the fence jump in True Grit were pretty good riding for a 
    "one-eyed fat man" who preferred boats to horses!

    What about all the movies the Clint Eastwood has done?  Ok, maybe the
    spagetii westerns were a little dumb, but he has done quit a few movies
    where horses and the West were concerened.  I love all the John Wayne
    movies, he was a true horseman.
    
    Virginia

    RE: BRADY'S ESCAPE
    
    Yes, that's the one...
    
    

    Clint most always rode a gray horse in his westerns....
    
    L

    Disney always had good horse stories on their Wonderful World of Disney
    series.  I can remember the Horse in the Grey Flannel Suit,
    Cristalbalito (?) he was a Paso Fino (I think) on an island and a young
    boy breaks him and rides him in a show with a glass of something on his
    hat (I saw it a long, long time ago) and they also had a good video on
    the Lipizzaners and smuggling them out of Austria.  
    
    KJ

    Re The Disney "video on the Lipizzaners and smuggling them out of
    Austria."
    
    I'm sure you mean "The Miracle of The White Stallions." It's the only
    movie Disney ever made about Lipizzaners. But, that wasn't about
    smuggling Lipizzaners out of Austria. It was about the flight of the 
    Spanish Riding School from Allied bombing raids on Vienna during WW II and 
    the RETURN of the mares and foals to Austria. 
    
    The mares and foals had been moved into Czechoslovakia by the Nazis.
    A unit from Gen. Patton's tank army(2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment to be 
    precise) went into Czechoslovakia to retrieve the mares before that area 
    was occupied by the Russians. The Austrians convinced Patton(who was a
    horseman and horse cavalry officer) that if the Russians got their hands 
    on the mares they would be shipped to Russia. They also convinced him
    that this would be a tragic loss. So, Patton sent a unit after them.
    
    BTW, this movie is still around. I've seen it on Canadian TV a year or
    so ago. We were watching a sports show on CBC and at the end of it they
    announced that Disney's "Mircale of The White Stallions" was next. So
    we watched it. It's also available for rent/purchase in video form.

I vaguely remember seeing a movie about 20 years ago that had Mark Lester in 
it as a deaf-mute boy.  He was obsessed with a wild horse.  I think it was 
called "Run Silent, Run Free".  Does anybody else remember this?

I remember I loved it at the time, but haven't got a clue now what it was 
really like. 

    Sounds like the title.  I've seen it show up recently on channel 50
    (New Hampshire) in recent years.  Haven't watched it all the way
    through yet.

    I do remember that movie.  I remember it as being kind of `dreamy' and
    `foggy' but that was a long time ago.
    
    V

    One of the local bookshops told me that the latest Dick Francis novel
    will be released here in the US sometime in the next week or two. So,
    keep your eyes open if you're a regular Francis reader.
    
    A couple quick comments about some entertainment books I've read 
    recently:
    
    1. The Wrong Horse, Bill Murray 
    	This is a collection of racing related essays by the author of
    	the Lou "Shifty" Anderson mysteries. The essays are marvelous and
        provide an excellent insight into racing's backstretch and fans.
    	Some of them are personal stories about owning race horses or
    	handicapping. Others are more reportage on the scene.
    
    2. All Living Things, James Herriot
	This is the 5th book in the "All Creatures Great and Small" series.
	These books are stories from the daily life of an English country 
        vet. The series is set in the Yorkshire Dales and begins in the 
        pre-World War II era. The current book is set mainly in the 1950's.
	It's good bed-time reading as the chapters are short and contain an
	entire story which gives you good break points to put it down and 
	go to sleep! I enjoyed this book. It's funny and entertaining but
	I enjoyed it nearly as much as the original 

    A few weeks ago, Jan came home from a local shop with a new paperback 
    entitled "Death By Dressage" by Carolyn Banks. My first reaction was:
    
    "OK, I know the plot! An 'I' rated dressage judge is taken sick at a show. 
    The only other 'I' rated judge on the grounds was judging 'Training
    Level' tests. The show management rearranges the judging assignements
    and the poor judge who got stuck with a double load of 'Training Level'
    tests dies of boredom."
    
    NOT!
    
    It's actually pretty entertaining. Parts of the plot are transparent
    but the motive for the murder etc were not. It's funny too! And the
    author tries to explain the "horse world" to any non-participants who
    might read it.
    
    Like when she explains why she's leaving for her late afternoon riding 
    lesson in the early afternoon...She says(Not an exact quote but...) 
    
    "Imagine going for a piano lesson and having to take your own piano. Well, 
    it's still harder because the piano can't refuse to load. And when you get
    there the piano won't say 'I don't feel like making music today.'"
    
    All in all, it's good light reading. A book catalogue I got this weekend
    says that this is the first in a series of novels using the same
    heroine.

    In case you're interested and haven't heard, the latest Dick Francis
    mystery, "Wild Horses" is now available in the US. As usual, it's only
    available in hard cover at the moment and it lists for $22.95. Yikes!
    But, check around with the bookstores. I picked it up last week for
    $13.77 at a store offering 40% off. The 3 other stores I called offered
    it at full price(1) and 25% off(2). 

    Been meaning to put this in here for a couple weeks....
    
    Feb/Mar seems to be the time when lots of horse related mysteries come
    out:
    
    Carolyn Banks sequel to "Death By Dressage" came out. It's called
    "Groomed for Death" Both books are paperback and about $5 each.
    
    Bill Shoemaker's first book "Staking Horse" came out in paperback.
    
    Bill Shoemaker's second book "Fire Horse" came out in hardcover.
    
    John Francombe's "Rough Ride" came out in the US. It's paperback and
    about $5.
    
    "Groomed for Death" was fun reading but not a great book.
    "Fire Horse" was better than "Staking Horse" .
    
    I haven't read "Rough Ride" yet but I have read John Francombe's "Stone
    COld" which was pretty good so I bought "Rough Ride"
    
    John