Some of the best lines from the reviews.
Nope, if everyone is against you, you might find the problem is YOU
Peronace should be on a watch list
If I could give it zero stars I would.
His writing is somehow worse than his riding.
And my favorite:
I received this book as a gift, and having read it, I do wonder about that particular friendship.
No kidding! That reviewer is one hell of a writer.
The second to the last paragraph made me look at the effect he can have from a whole different perspective, one I hadnât thought about before. What an excellent and insightful writer.
I keep shaking my head at his claims that the negative reviews are fake.
Nick, just because you donât like them or donât agree with them does not mean theyâre fake. You can say you donât like them, but you donât get to say they arenât real. Of all people, you should not be the one claiming real things are fakeâŠyour forte is more the opposite, claiming fake things are real.
Narcissistic personality disorder is notoriously difficult to treat. Narcissists are seldom willing to give up their grandiose ideas about themselves. https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-narcissistic-personality-disorder-2795446
Not only that, the reviews he doesnât like, and claims are fake, actually give details from the book and discuss the whole narrative arc (and I obviously use the phrase loosely).
By contrast, the âwonderfulâ reviews only parrot his own talking points (he rode a draft horse! he trained an ex-race horse! he trained an Appaloosa! people are mean to him!) and donât give any sense that any of the writers (writer?) actually read the book.
While he doesnât like the negative reviews, it is impossible for a reasonable person to argue that the writers of those reviews did not read the book. In fact, they would have much LESS to critique if they hadnât and, ironically, that would make their reviews much weaker. Unfortunately for the author, those reviewers did read the book and were able to make rather precise observations of, and references to, its contents, which lends their reviews a thoughtfulness and strength that the positive ones are completely lacking.
I have never read a more comprehensive, well written, evocative book review. Well done, âHâ on Sept 3âŠ.write a book please, I will buy it!
Does he really think people reading the fake good reviews are stupid enough to not realize that he wrote them? I read the newer negative reviews and theyâre so intelligent. His areâŠIâmrubberyouâreglue mentality.
Even if I knew him and agreed to post a glowing review just to be nice, Iâd insist on writing it myself. The task would be odious enough without having to take dictation from Nick and make myself sound like a sixth grade dropout with a thumbless grasp of my native language.
This phrase wins the internet for me today!! Thank you for the full-on belly laugh.
I really appreciate the approach this reviewer took: that potential readers need to consider Nickâs distorted mindset and warped perspective. Ultimately, this led to the reviewer summarizing the book as âa random novice riderâs persecution and vengeance fantasies.â
Those words should be the new subtitle for the book:
Behind the Bit: A random novice riderâs persecution and vengeance fantasy
The writer of that review has excellent critical thinking skillz. âBeyond the Bookâ
Can anyone link to this wonderful review, please? Based on all the glowing âreviews of the reviewâ, I am dying to read it.
Here is a copy of it. Written by âHâ and posted under his book on Amazon.
"Content warning for anyone who has experienced narcissistic abuse
Reviewed in the United States on November 3, 2021
The author of this book has earned some notoriety in the equestrian world by posting in forums and promoting himself as a dressage trainer through blogs and social media. His reputation involves tales of appalling professional and personal conduct, yet some of the attention he has received does sometimes seem to go beyond justified outcry and resemble âpunching downâ at a guy who makes himself an easy target. I picked up this book because I was earnestly curious about his perspective on some of the events for which he has been ridiculed, and whether there is more to the story than what one hears from railbirds or occasional glimpses at equestrian websites.
First, the premise that this book provides a revealing portrait of the equestrian world is a stretch. As far as I can tell, the author has no more insight about the workings of the equestrian industry than any of the teenagers at a local lesson barn. His experience seems to be shaped mostly by sporadic riding in a relatively restricted region of the US as an enthusiastic but not consistent rider with little to show for what he claims are his equestrian achievements. Perhaps that is why his ideas about the horse world are so completely unrecognizable to me â Iâve spent >30 years in the horse world across a number of geographic regions, mostly as a happily mediocre amateur rider and working a handful of low-prestige equestrian jobs along the way, but never in the authorâs immediate vicinity. Perhaps he resides at the epicenter of a black hole that attracts all of the most toxic elements of the horse world and Iâm simply not aware of it. In any case, this book doesnât present any industry insights that generalize to the places/businesses/horse(wo)men I am familiar with nor does it provide a point of view you couldnât approximate by talking to an ambitious/overconfident lesson kid, except for the fact that even the least conscientious and competent young riders Iâve ever met have fairer expectations than the author regarding what they can reasonably demand of a horse or an equestrian professional or simply a fellow human being.
As the tales in the book depart from stories of ordinary lower level riding they do more to show the bizarre expectations and sense of entitlement of the author than to pull the curtain back on the horse world. Have you ever looked up online reviews for equestrian facilities and used them to make boarding/training decisions? When the one-star review says something like, âI left after repeatedly finding my horse with moldy hay and no water,â you listen. But when the one-star review says, âthe managers are rude animal abusers, and when I showed up unannounced and told them about my fabulous skills and offered to work riding horses for them they told me they were busy feeding and to call and set up an appointment if I am interested in lessons and they wouldnât even let me feed armfuls of sugar cubes to all of the poor abused horses on my way out,â you read between the lines. This book is so clearly written from that kind of delusional perspective that the only way to read it is between the lines, and whatâs between the lines of the more spectacular stories doesnât say anything positive about the author.
To the point of the review, then, I would caution anyone who may find it uncomfortable to be reminded of the attitudes, actions, and anger they have personally witnessed in a narcissistic abuser to give this book a wide berth. The stories in this book are consistently framed to present the author as a virtuous victim whose brilliance is intolerable to lesser mortals, and to project negative qualities, thoughts, and motives onto one-dimensional foils who seem to exist only to show how unfair the world is to the author. The holes in the authorâs stories reveal a chasm between a tiny ego and a grandiose self-image that seems to be filled with creative reinterpretation of reality or plain old make-believe. The curtain is drawn back here on the coping mechanisms of a toxic personality, not on the machinations of a cruel equestrian world. And some readers will be quite disturbed by the seething anger, perspective unmoored from reality, and hints toward violence in this book.
Even if you are up to the challenge of engaging in a book-length journey through a random novice riderâs persecution and vengeance fantasies, Iâd recommend you let the authorâs self-published equestrian photos and videos paint a picture of his life in dressage for you rather than investing in his self-published memoir. His writing is somehow worse than his riding."
Thatâs my favourite, demonstrates that maybe for both riding and writing some form of outside help, in the form of instructor, editor, spiritual advisor, heck even autocorrect and Google!
ETA,and proof readingâŠ.
Missed the endingâŠâŠâŠand Google, might be beneficial.
Good riders, good writers, practice their skill I would think.
Brilliant
âHâ almost has to be someone from our dank swamp, donât you think?
Imagine what his guitar-playing must sound likeâŠ
Except wouldnât it be even more awesome if it was someone from the general public who happened upon the book and reviewed it without being a bathrobe wearing member of Swamptown? That would lend an air of more credible objectivity, no?
Wow, THANK YOU!!!
That was nothing short of inspired; brilliant, scathing, almost preternaturally insightful and spot-f*ing-on.
Hmm, yes - it does almost seem as though this reviewer knows the full, âsordid backstory.â 
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