{"title":"Eclipse Press","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"9781493081394","title":"Letters from Country Life","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e2024 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award Winner\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eJosh Pons, a third-generation horseman and owner of Country Life Farm, depicts a century of life inside the horse business, written from inside the fences of Maryland's oldest Thoroughbred farm.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 2016, in the basement of his farmhouse, Josh Pons discovered thousands of letters from his grandfather's life in the Thoroughbred horse business. The son of a French cook who came to New York City in 1894, Adolphe Pons got his start working in the Fifth Avenue mansion of Gilded Age banker August Belmont II. Adolphe became his personal secretary, and later played a major role in Belmont's breeding and sale of the most famous horse in history: Man o' War. During the Great Depression, Adolphe left New York and bought a hundred-acre horse farm in Maryland, naming it Country Life after the station stop on the Long Island Railroad nearest his Garden City home.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn serial form, Josh Pons expands on the column he wrote for the leading horse publication \u003ci\u003eThe BloodHorse\u003c\/i\u003e, inviting readers to once more step into the attic garret alongside him as he recovers long-lost voices speaking out of letters, telegrams, and photos. Upon the attic stage appear Gilded Age tycoons from whom the author's grandfather bought and sold horses against the backdrop of World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. As Josh draws from the farmhouse's rich archive, he chronicles his grandfather's life and times and shares his own candid reflections. 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Over its nearly century-and-a-half history, the Kentucky Derby has grown to be one of the biggest sporting events of the year, attracting 150,000 spectators at the track and nearly 15 million television viewers on the first Saturday each May.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut 1875, the year of the first Derby, was a different time. The Louisville Jockey Club track, which would one day bear the name “Churchill Downs,” was a small structure that might, on its best day, provide seating and standing room for 12,000 spectators. The grandstand was plain and functional and included a section reserved for bookmakers, whose trade was legal and who operated in the open. 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It's an easy-to-understand reference created for visual learners that allows riders of all ages and stages to smooth out the rough edges of their essential skills while acquiring more specialized knowledge. Step-by-step, full-color photo sequences and information-packed, clearly worded text make this volume the definitive resource on an age-old subject and a must for anyone who rides, owns, or tends to a horse.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMore than 450 full-color photos on topics such as:\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cul\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBasic grooming \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBathing \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eClipping \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eBraiding \u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eShow preparation\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003cli\u003eEnglish, Western, all breeds\u003c\/li\u003e\n\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Gardners","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57484142903669,"sku":"9781493088461","price":19.99,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0612\/7193\/3106\/files\/9781493088461.jpg?v=1786266181"}],"url":"https:\/\/backstory.london\/collections\/publisher-eclipse-press.oembed","provider":"Backstory","version":"1.0","type":"link"}