A Girl and Five Brave Horses by Sonora Carver

One of the movies that stands out from my early years is Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken. It is a wonderful movie and I remember watching it over and over. I even still own it on VHS. (I may have to dust it off and watch it this weekend.)

Well, at book club a few weeks ago, my friend brought the book A Girl and Five Brave Horses which is written by the woman the movie is about, Sonora Carver.

Sonora Carver was an American entertainer, most notable as one of the first female horse divers. Carver answered an ad placed by "Doc" William Frank Carver in 1923 for a diving girl and soon earned a place in circus history. Her job was to mount a running horse as it reached the top of a forty-foot (sometimes sixty-foot) tower and sail down along the animal's back as it plunged into a deep pool of water directly below. Sonora was a sensation and soon became the lead diving girl for Doc Carver's act as they traveled the country. In 1931, Sonora was blinded, a retinal detachment, due to hitting the water off-balance with her eyes open.while diving her horse, Red Lips, on New Jersey's Steel Pier, the act's permanent home since 1929. After her accident Sonora continued to dive horses until 1942.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It wasn't a some majorly climaxing book, but was a good, interesting read. Her actual story is much different from the movie, but you know how Hollywood has to glam everything up. I think I liked most from the book though is how she describes that horses personalities and how their personalities affected how they would dive.

After she injured she made a point to wallow in her sorrow and refused to let people pamper her. In one section I read last night, I was touched by a quote...

"If you don't weather you can do it or not, try it and see."

It's a simple thought, but from the perspective of a blind girl jumping on a horse running at full speed and then jumping from a 40 foot platform, it made me step back and think...what I have been giving up on before I even try it???