Book Review: The Perfect Horse

If you enjoy reading about horses in history, or just enjoy war stories then this is a great book for you! I'm pretty sure I'll pass this one over to my dad.  The Perfect Horse tells the story of horses rounded up and kept in hiding during World War II. These horses were selected to create a master breed that was intended to be the perfect war animal. 

Arabians and Lipizzaner from all different countries were stolen away from their homes and taken to a secluded farm to be bred into the perfect horse. These breeds were selected because of their beauty, strength, stamina and work ethic. Thankfully the two different breeds were never crossed but bloodlines and everything that went in to preserving these breeds up until this point were ignored and a lot of inbreeding took place.

This book is broken up into three parts, the first and largest section chronicles the horse's journey all around the countryside. This section is filled with stories about horses traveling hundreds of miles, tired, underfed, with feet worn down with bombs going off everywhere. The second section follows the American soldiers fighting their way across Germany and how they accidentally found out about the hundreds of stolen horses. The third section details the horses journey to safety. Unfortunately many didn't make it but quite a few did and their stories are heartwarming. 

I don't want to spoil anything because you just need to read it! I'll say it was a little slow to get started but then it picked up and I couldn't put it down. Have you read it? Let me know your thoughts below.

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