Tales of Horsing Around on the Trail to Success by Edith B. Wislocki 4 stars

[Karin]

As Wislocki aptly pointed out, this book isn't going to be a NY Times bestseller, but it's well done for a local history of a Therapeutic Riding Center which is still operating today. One of my kids almost got to go here because of her Asperger's etc when we received a grant, but she didn't qualify so we took fewer private lessons. After reading this book, I understand why, but it's too bad because neither she nor I liked the private riding teacher where we were recommended to go. Like at least one other reviewer, I rode horses growing up, but unlike the riders here, I rode on a Western saddle and didn't do any sort of dressage nor English riding. We only did trail riding and lived in a place where land was cheap so the horse lived in our large yard.

I'm giving this 4 stars because it's a well done history, but I'm not going to give it 5 because it's not brilliant (mind you, my criteria for 5 stars is quite steep.) One of the things I love about this book is that Wislocki didn't rely only on her own memory; wherever possible she had her memories checked and read by the people in them. In the testimonials, she also had the people who wrote them reread them if any edits were made to be sure it said what they wanted. It's that kind of integrity, which both she and Sheila Greenbaum, who co-founded this (yes, the name comes from their two surnames) had that helped lead to this being such a fabulous centre.

Please note that Wislocki was so vested in this that she and her late husband bought the farm Greenlock is located on.