Book Review by Lori Brunnen
Conscious Riding: A Horseman’s Diary, Paul Striberry, Orange Publishing, Southern Pines, NC, 2016, soft cover $15.95, Kindle $9.95Even at the moment he came into the world, Paul Striberry found the ways of people mysterious. He was denied the usual exit route and made his appearance via Caesarean section, the anesthesia associated with which he suspects may have induced his short attention span and low frustration tolerance.
“Alice (mum) goes back to work, and leaves me in the care of Migraine Minerva, a nightmare nanny with a curious aversion to children. She feeds me when I’m not hungry and puts me to bed when I’m wide awake.”
“The horses are my round-the-clock companions. I watch them grazing in the sunshine and galloping through my dreams. They nip my boredom in the bud and fend off Minerva’s vexations. I’m happy with my four-legged friends on the wallpaper.”
At age eleven all his prayers began and ended with asking God for a horse. “My father bought me a bike and said, “Seek and ye shall find.” I found a stable and a job guiding riders in Forest Park. With a short attention span and low frustration tolerance, I left school to ride my questions into the answers. Foxhunting, Horse Shows, Racing or Eventing, I took any work that put me in a saddle. Along the trail, I learned how horses live in the here and now, and I traded competition for Conscious Riding. The horse brings us back when we’re stuck in the past and retrieves us from our fears of the future.”
Conscious Riding: A Horseman’s Diary follows the author’s journey from fearful horse-mad boy via the “school of hard knocks” to ultimate enlightenment, as both a man and a horseman. Fear not the introduction of Yoga into this rollicking yarn of self discovery, as it is treated with the same tone of self deprecating humor as the rest of the trip. For instance the writer shares that his favorite Yoga pose is the “savasana” or “corpse pose.” The author does not take himself too seriously and allows us to take or leave what he offers us.
Striberry’s guides along the way are an unlikely mix of cowboys, dealers, trainers, a tennis Master, and that scary nanny. And the horses. His road of exploration pinballs from coast to coast with stops as well in Mexico producing assembly line jumpers, a sodden resort in Costa Rica and for some hair raising Irish hunting. Unfortunately his marriage to a lady of royal lineage did not survive the trip.
Overcoming fear is a common issue with many riders. Riders of all ages, levels of experience and discipline struggle with fear. Fear of what did happen or can happen. Horses live in the present, Striberry discovers, and we struggle to learn what they are born knowing. Having battled my own fears in the past I have learned some of the same lessons. Most of us find our way after a struggle using sports psychologists, self help tools, tough love, or self love. Or in this case Yoga.
This book’s 204 pages were dispatched by me in a few hours of uninterrupted reading. As a horse crazy kid on Long Island I, like the author, found it necessary to trade cleaning stalls for the chance to ride overworked hacks. I even recognized the name of one of the dealers the author mentioned. Even if readers don’t gain equestrian enlightenment from this book, it is perfectly enjoyable simply as a tale of equestrian adventure with interesting characters and diverse disciplines with something that will resonate for everyone.
Posted February 2, 2018