Saddle room songs and hunting ballads
About This Book
A collection of short poems and ballads celebrating fox hunting, racing, and stable life in the countryside. The verse alternates exuberant hunt choruses and breathless race scenes with quieter, nostalgic pieces about an empty loose-box, an old saddle being sold, and a cab horse's recollections. Multiple voices—riders, whippers-in, grooms, and onlookers—convey camaraderie, sport, and affection for horses using lively rhythms, onomatopoeic calls, and direct narrative detail. Overall the poems register the pleasures and rituals of country sport alongside wistful memory and affectionate portraiture of animals.