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When You're Wrong

7/2/2026

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Human communication is inevitably subject to error. Sometimes errors are inadvertent or unintended. Sometimes errors are deliberate and deceptive. And, sooner or later, if you write, you will be accused of error (or, more gently, have it pointed out to you). Realizing that you have made a mistake is painful enough, but the pain is compounded if you find yourself accused of some moral fault, whether deception or some real or imagined slight against someone's sensitivities.

Now, if you have deliberately lied, or you meant every bit of offense you put into something that you said, it's time to put on your adult pants and deal with the fallout as best you may. Telling the very people you targeted that they "misheard" you or that you never said what everyone blasted well knows you said is either juvenile whining against the blowback or a display of contempt for the intelligence of the people you were deceiving and insulting. If you choose to gaslight others on top of being rude or malicious, on your head be it. But suppose that you have made an honest mistake. What then?

Most of the time, if you have merely made a factual error, simply acknowledging the mistake and correcting it suffices. You can even give a shout-out to the person who cared enough about the matter to bring it to your attention. Unless given good reason to think otherwise, assume the party who pointed out your error acted in good faith, and you'll be the happier for it. Even if you sense a "Gotcha!" attitude, it's still better to take the high road. Honesty and humility will get you much further than a prideful refusal to admit you're wrong.

When you stand accused of moral failure (real or imagined), the situation is much touchier, but again, honesty and humility are your best friends. I am not speaking of groveling before a social media mob or those whose attacks are more about their own sense of self-righteousness than any interest in anyone's actual good. But if you have looked yourself in the mirror as honestly as you are able and have humbly acknowledged any real hurt that you believe that you did---or, if you are honestly holding to deeply held convictions and realize that you cannot deny them without destroying your own integrity or betraying something you hold dearer than your own comfort, your social status, your livelihood, or even your life, no matter how much you wish your stand was not unwelcome or even painful to others---then make whatever apologies you truly believe are needful and stand your ground otherwise with as much wisdom, grace, and courage as you can scrape together for yourself and as much compassion for your enemies as you can muster. If you can remember that even the ugliest things hurled your way come from people who are themselves flawed, broken, and often hurting, you will be one step closer to acknowledging our shared humanity and need for redemption and one step further away from becoming a monster.




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Preservation and Loss

5/21/2026

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Those of you who have been running around in the same geeky circles that specialize in Thoroughbred history and breeding as I have can probably remember a number of cherished resources that are no more. Some were print periodicals; some were online. There are others that, while still available, are no longer updated and have uncertain futures; still others may still be out there but are increasingly difficult to find beneath layers of Web architecture.

Every form of recording past information has drawbacks. Books, which provide layers of knowledge and sometimes even wisdom atop the information they contain, are treasures when one has physical access but useless when one does not. They are also subject to physical deterioration and destruction, and many books in this field are rare and difficult to locate. Additionally, books are not readily updated (though that can be a strength in that a given book doesn't change according to the whims of later times). Printed magazines and newspapers provide snapshots of parts of the Thoroughbred world on a weekly, monthly, or quarterly basis, but their physical archives are space hogs and subject to the same perils that befall books; further, the lifespans of many periodicals are short and subject to both economic pressures and changing fashions in what owners and editors may decide to cover. CD-ROMs and DVDs can store multimedia information and have a reasonable level of durability with proper handling but require specialized equipment if their contents are to be accessed. And Internet sites, while highly adaptable so far as new and updated information goes, are subject to attack by bad actors, are often poorly edited, and sometimes ... just disappear.

At this time, AI seems more likely to complicate than solve the problem of preserving information, let alone that of preserving knowledge, which requires a certain level of value judgments and perspective to assess. (Wisdom is completely out of AI's sphere, implying a moral or transcendent dimension as it does). While AI can sift through tremendous amounts of information much more quickly than even the brightest and most capable human being, its ability to weigh and synthesize that information is much more questionable, not least because every large language model incorporates the biases and limited perspectives of its creators. When one considers that most of the major developers of the large language models on which AI systems are based are Millennial-generation males from the upper social classes and with a strong techie orientation---a group not exactly noted for strengths in relational skills, empathy, the humanities, a strong and reasonably unbiased grasp of human history, or humility regarding the limitations of humans and their technologies---the concern should not be what such individuals will design into their systems but what they will leave out. Whether the omissions are deliberate or (more likely) the result of the blind spots common to any relatively homogenous group scarcely matters in the long run.

How this will circle back to preserving information about our beloved horses, I don't know, but I don't think most of the techies are all that interested. Which, I suppose, leaves it up to geeks like me and you to write the books and articles and to create the blogs and websites before the things in which we are interested slip away into oblivion.


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History and Gratitude

4/30/2026

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I have recently returned to trying to trace the trail of Chief Johnson through his early life, with little more success than before. Some of this is due to the areas in which he was born and raised. There were no parishes there to supply church records, the U.S. Census didn't get around to the Oklahoma and Indian territories until 1890, and prior to the 1870s, many people in those areas never went through formal wedding ceremonies, meaning that, even if they lived as husband and wife for decades in common-law marriages. there are no marriage licenses on file. Birth certificates? If lucky, there is a record in a family Bible or a church register; if not, the chance of finding an official birth registration is slim outside the largest cities of the region. Death certificates are equally hard to come by; for instance, the state of Texas didn't start requiring all Texas counties to issue death certificates until 1903.

Even if any records were kept, they often fell victim to fire and war, as happened with the archives held in official buildings in the Cherokee Nation's capital of Tahlequah, which were lost during the Civil War. If there were ever records of Chief Johnson's Cherokee mother or her marriage, they were probably casualties of a conflict that tore the Cherokee people apart as bitterly as it did whites in the eastern states. Poor storage conditions also led to loss of documents that might have supplied written history. For most people whose activities did not bring them to the attention of those newspapers that still have archives available, time was a river that carried them into oblivion, at least so far as human memory is concerned.

Although my search hasn't turned up much in the way of hard facts, it has introduced me to a nineteenth-century world much different from the one I now inhabit---and, frankly, a world that brings home to me how soft and spoiled I am. Consider just these facts, which informed the worldview of periodicals of the time:
  • At least three in every ten children didn't make it to adulthood, and most of the lost children died before the age of five.
  • Diseases such as malaria, cholera, influenza, measles, and smallpox were part of life and caused much early mortality. There were no vaccinations available for most of these maladies.
  • Accidents involving horses were commonplace, due both to the animals' skittish or aggressive behavior and to human negligence, recklessness, and cruelty. Modern medical care probably could have saved many victims but was not around then.
  • Infected wounds were another constant hazard in an age without antibiotics or antiseptic agents. A small cut picked up during the course of a day's work on the farm or in one's trade could be fatal if blood poisoning set in.
  • Weather-related delays in transportation and services as well as destruction caused by storms and deaths related to temperature extremes (particularly cold) were commonplace.
  • Racial and sex-related attitudes that would be considered shocking today were widespread among people at all social levels and from varied ethnic backgrounds.
  • Cities struggled with sanitation problems similar to those seen in developing countries today, with disposal of human and animal waste being a constant issue. Contaminated water and associated disease were common.

There is a great deal more that could be said, but I for one am very glad to be living now, with the necessities of life readily available, a greater range of opportunities available to me as a woman, and a wide array of comforts and amusements available on even a modest income, including everyday luxuries that a king could not obtain in the pre-World War I world. If history teaches nothing else, perhaps it should teach gratitude for having what we do instead of whining about what we don't.
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Look Before You Leap

4/2/2026

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All of us have had that moment when we have realized that something we said was untrue, foolish, hurtful, or a leap to an unwarranted conclusion. (Open mouth, insert foot, chew vigorously; when tired of flavor, change feet.) We can apologize profusely and sincerely, but we can't unsay what has been said. If lucky, it is maganimously forgiven and forgotten, or it takes on a more humorous existence as the butt of a long-running joke among family or friends. If not lucky, it rankles in someone's memory or travels from ear to ear as a rumor, continuing to cause damage as it goes.

Writing has always had its hazards too regarding saying what cannot be unsaid, but prior to the advent of modern communications, its impact was apt to be limited unless it somehow found its way into print. But now, when you can be your own publisher at the click of a button, the problem of hasty words is magnified. Once posted on a forum, blog, or website, your words are essentially immortal. Even if deleted after you have thought better of what you have said, they may be resurrected to continue doing harm, and they can come back to haunt you at any time. Even things that were said anonymously can often be traced back to their source, the more so now that AI can build up an electronic "fingerprint" based on your vocabulary, writing style, interests, and known leanings.

What brought these thoughts to mind was the recent brouhaha surrounding Canadian champion Ginger Brew, which started when Last Chance Direct Ship Horses---a Texas kill pen which uses its Facebook page to advertise horses that will be sent to slaughter if not ransomed---posted the mare's photo on March 23. Within 45 minutes of the ad's posting, Michigan rescue operator Gail Hirt saw the ad and promptly ponied up the US$1,400 to buy the mare and get her out of danger.

As fast as Hirt acted, posts hit the Internet even faster, most of them screaming blame at someone. First it was breeder-owner Adena Springs, but a modicum of research would have revealed that Adena Springs had not owned Ginger Brew since her sale for US$90,000 through the 2021 Keeneland November. This was hardly a case of dumping an unwanted animal without any regard to her well-being. While Ginger Brew was being culled from the Adena Springs broodmare band, she was 16, believed in foal to the good stallion Hard Spun, and could reasonably have been expected to produce more foals after 2022. She was bought by Mark Collinsworth's Forks of the Paluxy Farm for the harem of their newly purchased stallion, Grade 1 winner Mr Speaker.

As soon as that came out, Collinsworth was the next party under fire, and it turned out that the venom flung his way was equally undeserved. As reported by The Blood-Horse and Paulick Report, he had given the mare to someone else who checked out as a reliable horse person and wanted to try breeding her. The mare failed to get in foal, and that person, in turn, ended up giving the mare to someone who claimed he wanted a family horse for his children---a common ruse for dishonest dealers, who promise a good retirement home and then haul the horse off to auction or slaughter. More than a few well-meaning but naive horse owners have been deceived in this fashion.

Then, of course, there were those who wanted to excoriate the entire horse industry for not providing absolute safety for every horse from the foaling box to death from sheer old age. Certainly, everything that can be done to ensure that horses are cared for and treated humanely throughout their lives should be done, but utopian ideals are no more possible to fulfill for horses than they are for humans. Oddly enough, the people who seem to have largely escaped the media firestorm are the person who got Ginger Brew on false pretenses and the kill pen operator, which two would seem to me to be the most culpable for the whole mess.

Ginger Brew is safe now, but the damage done to Adena Springs (which has long had a good retirement program) and Collinsworth by a public rush to judgment remain, and neither is likely to receive any apologies from those who chose to prove how much they "cared" by hastily posting unfounded accusations. So, let this be a cautionary tale about hitting the keyboard before listening to calmer voices and doing some homework. You are far less likely to regret the words you didn't say than the words you did; no one is paying you for a scoop; and the reputation you save by refraining from hasty words may, in the end, be your own. 
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Cue the Writer

3/5/2026

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A popular idea regarding writing is that inspiration "just happens." And sometimes an excellent idea, a brilliant turn of phrase, or a crucial insight into plot or character development will seem to pop out of nowhere. More often than not, though, the writer who waits on bursts of inspiration to drive writing is a writer who gets little or nothing done.

If your writing dreams are to be more than pleasant illusions, you simply cannot afford to wait around for the Muse to show up. The habits of writing must be trained, and that takes discipline---both to get any serious work done, and to increase the chances that inspiration will drop in. The point is to train your brain to transition into writing mode on a regular basis, so that writing becomes intentional rather than haphazard.

Most serious writers understand that scheduling is important. We all get the same 24 hours given to us every day, and priorities are quickly revealed by the use of that time. If you seriously want to do something, you don't find time for it; you make time for it by blocking it out on your schedule. Whether it's a daily, three-times-a-week, or weekly chunk of time that you decide to devote to writing, the point is that (barring legit interruptions from still higher priorities) you are engaged in the business of writing in some way, shape, or form, to the exclusion of other activities.

This isn't about becoming a slave to rigid scheduling; it's about establishing a useful habit that will help shape your thinking. It generally takes three to six weeks of consistent practice to get a habit going, but once you have done so, you will probably find your mind more readily slipping into the flow of writing when the appointed time comes around. And, should a flash of inspiration strike at some other time, you still have the option of getting the thoughts down as they come; just don't allow these random moments to substitute for your scheduled time. (For those moments when lightning strikes, I'd suggest keeping a good old-fashioned note pad and pen handy; the act of scribbling something down is a much better aid to memory than many people realize, aside from having the physical record of your thoughts.)

Just as important as making a designated space in your schedule for writing is having a designated physical space for the work. It is not necessary to have a fancy home office; a small writing nook or even the kitchen table will do if you're there with your laptop at your scheduled writing time and have arrangements made to keep distractions to a minimum. Again, the point is to surround yourself with cues that signal your brain that the business at hand is writing. That means that your writing spot should be reasonably comfortable (physical discomfort does not help concentration unless you're far more of an ascetic than I am), organized in whatever manner you find most effective, and NOT the place where you usually answer texts, play games, and scroll through news and social media. If you give your brain the chance to cue in on dopamine hits instead of writing, it will probably do exactly that because of the more immediate rewards involved. If at all possible, turn the smartphone off entirely or put it in another room and set it to silence all contacts save those from your nearest and dearest (who should know about your writing schedule and, one hopes, will refrain from disturbing you without good reason).

Setting apart dedicated time and space for writing doesn't guarantee that you will ever complete a book, a magazine article, a poem, or much of anything else. You still have to put in the effort and do the best you can within the constraints you have. But, as the saying is, failure to plan is planning to fail. By creating an environment in time and space in which writing becomes the expected thing to do, you are at least putting yourself into a mindset in which regular writing is not only possible but likely, and there's a good deal to be said for that.

Happy writing!
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Critical Reading Is, Well, Critical

2/12/2026

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From time to time, I have been asked to read a nonfiction manuscript and give a professional opinion of its strengths, weaknesses, and suitability for publication by the assigning publishing house. At least to me, this is not a light task, especially since it is always understood that my review will be both read by the assigning editor and forwarded to the writer as feedback. On the one hand, I want to encourage other writers and help their growth along, and I don't want to crush someone with harsh criticism. On the other hand, I have a duty to the publishing house to provide an honest assessment as to whether the manuscript is worth persevering with and what changes need to be made to produce something worth the house's time and expense; they aren't paying me to be wishy-washy. 

At this stage of the publishing process, it's not my job to help the writer clean up punctuation, spelling, and grammar; that will come later, at the copy editing stage. What I am being asked to do is to assess how well the manuscript answers a number of questions related to writing quality and the needs of the publishing house. They include but are not limited to the following:

  • Does the manuscript shed new light on a topic, address a new subject, or otherwise fill a niche in the publisher's lineup and the larger market for similar books that has not previously been done? Most publishers aren't in the market for a book that essentially rehashes other works that are already out there without finding a new angle.
  • Does the manuscript fit into the types of books that the house normally produces and the target audiences that the house appeals to? This is not simply a matter of genre or subject matter, which will get a great many books weeded out without ever needing to get to the beta-reader stage; it can also reflect the level at which the book is written and the type of treatment the subject matter is given. A university press, for instance, usually expects a solid level of research and scholarship in the works it presents even if they are intended for a popular-level audience; a publisher of books suitable for middle-school children needs less academic detail and a writing level that can reach children without talking down to them.
  • Speaking of writing level, is it suitable for the target audience? Is the vocabulary appropriate? Does the writer use technical terms clearly and appropriately, without either talking down to the audience or assuming greater knowledge than the audience possesses?
  • What drives the structure of the manuscript? Is it thematic, chronological, topical, or organized around some other principle? Does it remain self-consistent?
  • How well does the manuscript's structure support its purpose? Is it logical and easy to follow? Should the material be rearranged to improve reader interest and/or comprehension? If so, how?
  • How well does the manuscript engage and maintain reader interest? Ideally, if there is an introduction or prologue, it should establish three main points: what the topic is, what makes the topic interesting or important, and why the reader should care about it. After that, the book should deliver on what the intro promises. If it doesn't, where is it falling short? How can the problem or problems be corrected?
  • Do subtopics support and enrich the main narrative/subject without becoming rabbit trails? Are they adequately developed without becoming places where the manuscript bogs down?
  • How are historical figures treated? Are they developed in a reasonable and interesting way that is consistent with the source materials?
  • If citations and notes are part of the manuscript, has the writer used credible sources and documented them appropriately? Has eyewitness material been cross-checked with other types of evidence? (While eyewitness information is invaluable for addressing emotional issues and the human side of a narrative, human memory is notoriously fallible---and the reasons why an eyewitness's account doesn't match other evidence can be very interesting in themselves.)

Obviously, there are other questions that could be asked, but these are some of the major ones. For those of you who are engaged in writing, considering these questions in advance of submitting your manuscript and answering them to the best of your ability can save both of us a fair amount of trouble.
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In Process ....

1/15/2026

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Having just finished the proofs for my new book on Holy Bull, this seems as good a time as any to review the steps it takes to get a book to market through a traditional publisher. If any of you have ideas about writing a real book (and not AI slop), this is the gauntlet you'll run.

1) Get an idea that's worth developing. Honestly, this is the easy part. If anyone out there has the notion of "I've got a great idea! I'll give it to an author, s/he can write the book, and we'll split the proceeds," please don't bother; most authors have more ideas than they can ever write up, and most also know better than to commit themselves to a deal that leaves them doing 99.9 percent of the work for what will probably be very little return. (If you haven't read my August 17, 2023, post, "So You Want to Write a Book," I'd suggest doing so to get some grasp of the work involved and the likely returns.) Besides, if you don't feel passionate enough about your idea to put the work of writing in, why should someone else?

2) Research, research, research. If you are writing nonfiction, this is an absolute necessity. Remember, you're trying to sell to an audience with an interest in your topic, and that audience is going to include some people who aren't going to be fooled by blowing smoke. If you count on AI summaries to do your homework, you deserve what you get. Fiction writers also do more research than you'd think; it's part of creating believable fictional worlds in which suspension of disbelief can operate.

3) Create a manuscript and/or a book proposal. This is where the road forks between fiction and nonfiction writers. Generally, fiction publishers want to see a complete draft accompanying your cover letter and proposal. Nonfiction publishers vary more; some will be content with an outline and synopsis, while others will want to see sample chapters. Find out what the requirements are for the publishing house you are targeting and follow them religiously, especially if you have no prior history of working with that house.

4) Prepare to be hit with a lot of advertising for publishing opportunities once you start marketing your book proposal/manuscript. Most of these will be for self-publishing or vanity presses; some will be outright scams. If you do want to go the self-publishing route, do your due diligence about researching how best to go about it. (While my crystal ball may be no better than anyone else's, I think it not improbable that the current flood of AI-generated books hitting the market may actually lead to a resurgence of more traditional publishing in some form as readers look for books that have actually been written by humans and have passed some sort of quality control prior to going to market.)

4) You've been accepted and you've signed a contract! Congratulations! But now, the grunt-work really begins. If you haven't already come up with and submitted a complete manuscript (including any illustrations called for in the contract), you will have a deadline for doing so. If you have, your next step will be copy editing and revisions. The exact stages will depend on the house you're going through. At my current publisher, the University of Kentucky Press, two or three readers will go over a manuscript first, giving feedback and suggesting areas for improvement. After any revisions have been made, the next step is copy editing. That means a copy editor goes over your work line by line, looking for everything from punctuation errors to unclear writing, and you will need to review and respond to every suggested change (though you need not incorporate every change if you feel you have good reason for standing pat; it's your manuscript, after all). If any major changes need to be made that haven't already been taken care of, this is your last opportunity to make them.

5) Review of the proofs is the last major stage before publication. At this point, you will be looking at your manuscript pretty much as it is going to appear when printed. You should read it over carefully and make sure any typos or mistakes haven't managed to sneak through the earlier editing, but suggesting major revisions now is a good way to have your editor frothing at the mouth. Even if the revisions are accepted as necessary, they will result in the entire manuscript having to be set up anew for printing and may well delay the release date, which will not make the publisher happy.

6) If this is a nonfiction work, you will probably be asked to create an index for your book, making it easier for readers to locate specific information. (If this is going to be done by the publishing house, count yourself lucky; it isn't a difficult task, but it is a bit tedious.) The reason this comes so late in the publication process is that you'll need to be able to link your topics to page numbers as they will appear in the printed book, and those numbers won't be available until the proofs are created. Get the index done on time in order to keep from delaying publication.

7) Your book is born! You will probably receive the author copies specified by your contract two or three weeks before the actual release date, but at this point, the writing work is done ... until the next book. 
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A Word Spoken

12/25/2025

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 Over two thousand years ago, a baby boy was born to a poor peasant woman in a village called Bethlehem. At the time of his birth, it had been four hundred years since God had spoken through Malachi, the last of the post-exilic prophets. Now the divine silence had been broken, but in a completely new way. In the infant born in Bethlehem, the eternal God was manifested in a human body and joined to a sinless human nature. Jesus became the perfect expression of both everything God is and everything that a human being was meant to be. In the words of John, he was the Logos, the “Word made flesh.”

Some four hundred years earlier, Plato had expounded on the logos as the principle of order and reason that governed the universe, but his logos was essentially impersonal. In his use of the term, John added a new layer of meaning, joining the Word that had spoken the universe into existence with the Hebrew concept of the Creator as personal, active, holy, and self-existent. He then linked this personal Logos who had spoken in creation with a new creation that had taken place in the womb of a Jewish maiden. The mighty God who had walked with the first man and woman in Eden during the cool of the day at the first creation had now descended in a new way, to live among the human race as a man while remaining wholly God. In his descent is our ascent, that by the sacrifice of himself for our sins—yours and mine—he could raise us up into a new life. He also answered forever the questions of “What is God like?” and “Has God truly spoken?”; all that we need do to know those answers is to look at Jesus and listen to him. As a former Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, said, "In God there is no unChristlikeness at all."

The Word has become flesh and dwelt among us. Merry Christmas.  
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Little Things Mean a Lot

12/11/2025

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Regardless of the form of writing or its content, delivery means a great deal. For example, the choice of font can set mood and give some information about the writer's mindset before a single word of the content has been grasped. Times New Roman? That might communicate to a traditional book publisher that you're taking submission requirements seriously, which cues the reader that you'd like to have your manuscript taken seriously. But Times New Roman would be too staid for the menu screen of an edgy horror game and not elegant enough for invitations to a black-tie event. Arial (which I use here) is unfussy and easy to read, making it a good choice for easy-to-digest online text content, but it lacks the playfulness one might want to see in a greeting card or the captions of a look-at-the-cute-funny-animals video. The important thing is that the chosen font should complement and further the use to which it is being put, not work at cross-purposes with it. Likewise, color and background schemes furnish cues as to your writing's intended tone and audience, again before there is any conscious comprehension of the actual content.

Another area that can enhance or diminish the effectiveness of your writing is the attention given to grammar, spelling, and punctuation. At the risk of sounding like an old-fashioned schoolmarm, I cannot emphasize enough that sloppiness in these areas hurts you in two ways. First, it communicates a degree of laziness on your part and a corresponding lack of respect for your readers. It is one thing to make the occasional mistake or typo; we all do. It is another when you can't be troubled to clean up your writing and free it of potential distractions---and an egregious misspelling or obvious subject-verb disagreement can be more distracting than you might think. Second, these errors---particularly misplaced punctuation---can make your writing more difficult to understand than it needs to be or even convey a meaning that is not the one you intended. Don't count on an AI resource to bail you out of these sorts of mistakes, either; while AI can be useful for basic proofreading, it tends to be weak regarding words that can have any of a number of meanings depending on context, and AI does not usually handle the fine points of English usage any too well.

Finally, word selection can be critical in conveying shades of meaning, and this is one area where a background in poetry (an area in which I am admittedly no expert) can be of considerable help. Training in poetry helps one to consider not only the exact meaning and imagery one wishes to convey with limited words but also develops an ear for the flow and meter of one's writing even when composing prose. The noted Christian writer C. S. Lewis often read passages from his works aloud as he was writing them in order to assess how his writing might sound to a reader's inner ear, and this is not a bad practice to follow in improving readability.

One caution here: when it comes to word selection, avoid making choices based on whatever the current virtue signaling of the moment is. It will be out of fashion next year, if not next month, and will leave your writing feeling dated, tendentious, or both. Common sense and common courtesy, used together, will get you much further in appealing to as wide an audience as possible without giving unnecessary offense.

Happy writing!

 


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Book Review: Reinventing the American Thoroughbred (O'Dell)

11/20/2025

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​Over the years, breeders have made various proposals for trying to improve the soundness, stamina, or speed of the Thoroughbred by outcrossing to other breeds. None were more dedicated to this idea than the nineteenth-century Kentucky horseman Alexander Keene Richards, who spent much of his life and his fortune in securing the finest possible Arabian horses in hopes of creating a better racehorse through judicious crosses to Thoroughbreds. In Reinventing the American Thoroughbred: The Arabian Adventures of Alexander Keene Richards, Gary O’Dell tells the story of Richards’s quest, which took him from the plantations of Kentucky and Mississippi into the deserts of the Near East to find the horses that could fulfill his dream.

Richards does not fit easily into the mold of twenty-first century sensibilities, and O’Dell does not shy away from the complexities of Richards’s life. He focuses more on making Richards understandable than on trying to fit him into any of the polarities so common in our own day. Using contemporary sources in outlining Richards’s background and education, O’Dell shows how he became the man he was. The author then follows Richards’s travels, which led him through the hardships and dangers of nineteenth-century international travel and of navigating unfamiliar cultures and customs in an area well known for tribal warfare. Richards spared no expense in bringing back the finest Arabians possible for his experiment with crossbreeding, and he also played a key role in furthering the career of his close friend and traveling companion, the artist Edward Troye, whose paintings of both Richards's cherished Arabians and of the scenes the two men encountered while traveling in the Holy Land and Syria helped cement his reputation as the most important American painter of his time.

Ultimately, Richards’s quest was doomed, both by his misunderstanding of the Thoroughbred’s origins and by the post-Civil War shift away from heat racing that mirrored what he had already witnessed while observing racing in England. Nevertheless, Richards was more than a failed visionary; he was an important player in both the development of the American Thoroughbred and in the explosive political and cultural developments of his time. As O’Dell portrays him, he was neither icon, saint, nor sinner; he was, in O’Dell’s words, “a fascinating man who led a remarkable life.” O’Dell’s account of that “remarkable life” is a worthy addition to the libraries of both equine historians and of readers interested in the expanding and rapidly changing world of the nineteenth century.


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    I'm Avalyn Hunter, an author with a passion for Thoroughbreds and a passion for writing and storytelling.

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