Beautiful Jim Key

May 23, 2007

It's hard to believe that an "educated " horse act could be the biggest draw at a national exposition, but the horse Jim Key was all that, and more. He was earning more than a thousand dollars a week in 1900...an astounding amount, even then. Alan Stone reads the meticulously documented story of Jim Key, the most famous, and smartest horse that ever lived, and the strange cast of characters that were involved in his training, promotion and exploitation.

One of the joys of listening to a good audio book read like this is the pure pleasure of hearing the spinning of the tale, as interpreted by a skilled reader who balances facts with speculation and all with a wry wit that keeps the story from bogging down in unnecessary detail. Nicely done.