Horses Like Lightning: A Story of Passage Through the Himalayas

by Sienna Craig

A tender account - by turns cultural exploration and memoir of a young woman's firsthand experience of change and continuity in one of the worlds most remote regions, through the lens of the horse and "horse culture."

At nineteen, Sienna Craig made her first venture deep into Mustang, an ethnically Tibetan area of Nepal, in the rainshadow of the Himalayas. As an equestrian and a buddhing anthropologist, she sought not only to understand what it was like to rely on horses to navigate through the windswept valleys and plains of High Asia, but also to grasp how horses lent meaning to the lives of the Mustangi people. Through living and working with local Tibetan doctors, veterinarians, and other horse experts, as well as the deep friendships she formed, Sienna began to understand the region's history, and the way life in Mustang was being transformed in the face of temendous social, political, and economic shifts. She learned much about herself and her life's course through her year in Mustang - a place that came to feel, for all its foreignness, like home.

Genres: Travel, Memoir

200 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata]

Aug 19 ~~ I was not as thrilled with this book as I expected to be. There was much more about the political landscape than I had expected, which would have been okay but honestly, it was very dull reading most of the time.

I had been intrigued by the title in the first place: "Horses Like Lightning". They do? Did she mean they enjoy lightning or that they are like lightning or what? The answer became clear in an early chapter where the phrase turned up in a poem written for her by the man she was studying with at the beginning of her time in Mustang (which is an area in northern Nepal, by the way).

The line in the poem reads ~~
Horses, like lightning, move quickly in all directions.

What a difference that one little comma makes! lol

I got bored and started skimming and then just gave up.

DNF around page 100, more or less.

[Tejas Janet]

This was thoughtfully well-written. It took me on a journey with the author to Mustang, Nepal. By the end of the book, many of the characters felt like personal friends. I learned a lot about the cultural, political, religious, and socio-economic background of this region. It was fascinating and i enjoyed reading this one slowly to savor all i was experiencing thru the author's insightful writing.

[Sandy]

The author, a Fulbright scholar who has since earned a Ph.D., has somehow made her story of years spent in Nepal and Mustang, which should have been fascinating, instead boring. It's tempting to pick on her inability to distinguish the homophones (reigns/reins, gait/gate, peek/peak) which she persistently gets wrong, and her sometimes shaky command of punctuation, but these things do not ruin a story. It seems to lack a passionate core, which is not to say that the author lacks it, but somehow she was unable to convey it to the reader. She is an experienced equestrian who learned much about the Loba way of handling and treating horses; she rode from town to town; she was trained as an anthropologist and was able to highlight differences in the cultures of Nepalis and Loba. Somehow the whole thing fell flat. It became a book to be skimmed quickly, looking in vain for something to capture the reader.

[Sienna]

Lent to me by one of my husband's co-workers simply because the author and I share a first name. This was a wonderful read. I was unsure what to think at the start. Craig's writing seemed to reflect her own uncertainty: was this to be a semi-fictionalized account of her experiences in Mustang, or an anthropological memoir? Though it begins in rather self-consciously poetic style and could have used a bit more editing, what makes this well worth reading is the humanity. I love these people I met through Craig's thoughtful words, and wish I'd been brave enough at nineteen to venture far from home in order to find precisely that. And it was the perfect book to get me through a nasty cold, sinus headache be damned!

[Mary]

beautifully written memoir, how a young person, through her love of horses, becomes a medical anthropologist

[Laurie]

What a beautiful book! I loved the gentle open and vulnerable tone of the book which so well captures the tender space of not knowing a place, people and a new world.

[Tseten Diki]

I haven’t been reading as much this year and this was the first book I read that brought me out of my reading slump. I took my time to read this book but every page was worth reading. Being able to hear her perspective on what she learned and her experiences while being in Nepal was very interesting, especially because i was brought up there and it was comforting to read about my country while being abroad myself.

[Kathleen Higgins]

Beautiful story of the author's travels and research of horses in the Himalayan region of Mustang, in Nepal. I read parts out loud to my class this past semester. A beautifully written and educational read if you're interested in Himalayan culture, especially the more remote places. Especially relevant (and inspiring!) to anyone hoping to conduct field research in Asia

[Kate]

I stayed up late reading this book. Craig is both sensitive and adventurous, and she's talking about important things and places. I mean this in a complimentary way--this is what 'chick lit' should really be like.

Too many typos in it though... flag polls! sartorial rhythms where pastoral is meant? whither copy editing going these days?

[Kristina Ruttan]

Too dry to finish after multiple attempts