The Horse Dancer

I thoroughly enjoyed the Horse Dancer! Actually I couldn’t put it down. Jojo Moyes created a beautiful, meaningful story, covering so many social issues that we all know are happening, all over the world, every day! She had me from Page One! I adored the characters and I loved ‘Boo’ the great big huge hearted Horse! I blubbed my way through the sad parts and could hardly see for the tears, but boy oh boy, I am NOT going to ruin the ending for you! You must READ this amazing book!

The story was interesting but I couldn’t get past how far fetched it was. The idea that a horse that spent most of his life in a stall for 23 hours a day could somehow manage a multi day near non stop cross country journey of 50 or more miles over bad footing at high speed and no real food was preposterous. Injuries, girth galls, a loose
shoe, just to name a few things that in real life would have happened after just a few hours. All I could think about, while he was on those urban marshes and verges, was how many glass bottles are usually lying around in the weeds and how many sliced tendon injuries I’ve seen. I know we’re supposed to see Sarah as heroic, and in many ways she is, but her lack of real knowledge in real life would have gotten her horse injured in short order. I couldn’t enjoy the story because I was incredulous at how careless and thoughtless she was being. Horses can do all those things that Boo did, but they can’t do them without any kind of conditioning and preparation.

You know it’s a good book when you go back and reread the ending a few more times, just to wring every little nuance out of it (again.) To be honest, there were places in the middle where the story went a bit slower than I would have liked, but my gosh, what a story! I absolutely loved the characters, I loved how the unlikeliest of pairings were forced to work together, I loved the descriptions of the horse and the equestrian culture. This novel has themes of the influence of grandparents, the disaster of broken families, coming-of-age youth, midlife crisis, and whether a marriage can be saved. Oh, and why do we stay in unsatisfying careers. Is that enough for you? But wait, there’s more: JoJo Moyes must have a movie director where her brain is; she writes some scenes in this story that are so cinematic, I’m just bummed that I can’t see them depicted in a move. But maybe some day! I loved this story. Great job.

I’m an older woman who grew up loving horses. This was a fantastic book…I just loved the character of Sarah and her grandfather, and Boo, the horse who epitomized the horse I wanted to own. The “ballet” sequences of horse and rider brought me to tears before the book ended. I found Natasha hard to identify with, though…which didn’t spoil the book for me, and in the end, I came to understand her better. A lovely story and a very satisfying ending, thankfully…I couldn’t put the book down for the last few chapters. I will read this one again…and I don’t do that often.

A friend who gave me ” Me Before You” introduced me to Jojo Moyes. I am unable to review it as I did not purchase it from Amazon! Suffice it to say that the moment I finished the book I looked for her next novel on Amazon, which was “The Horse Dancer”.
Henri Lachapelle is Sarah’s grandfather. He grew up on a farm in France. He was accepted into Le Cadre Noir, an elite riding academy dating from 1770. Twenty two top riders, military and civilian, all males, are selected on merit. He met and fell in love with his wife at one of the Le Cadre Noir’s annual shows in England. Sarah, 14 years old, is cared for by her grandfather as her grandmother died and her mother left her after she was born. Henri Lachapelle purchases a horse for Sarah and stables him in an old stable yard in London. He teaches Sarah to train her horse and take responsibility for it. He has heard that Le Cadre Noir has relaxed their regulations and have accepted two female riders on merit.
Alas, Henri has a stroke and is hospitalised. Sarah tries to cope with school, hospital visits and caring for her horse. This novel is extremely well researched and even readers who have never ridden a horse and know little about them will enjoy this enthralling story.

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