My Animals and Other Family Paperback - 2013

Penguin Books Ltd, 2013. Good. My Animals and Other Family" by Clare Balding is a funny, brave, tender st ory of self-discovery. 'I had spent most of my childhood thinking I was a d og, and suspect I had aged in dog years.' Clare Balding grew up in a rather unusual household. Her father a champion trainer, she shared her life with more than 100 thoroughbred racehorses, mares, foals and ponies, as well as an ever-present pack of boxers and lurchers. As a toddler she would happil y ride the legendary Mill Reef and take breakfast with the Queen. She and h er younger brother came very low down the pecking order. Left to their own devices, they had to learn life's toughest lessons through the animals, and through their adventures in the stables and the idyllic Hampshire Downs. F rom the protective Candy to the pot-bellied Valkyrie and the frisky Hattie, each horse and each dog had their own character and their own special part to play. The running family joke was that "women ain't people". Clare had to prove them wrong, to make her voice heard - but first she had to make su re she had something to say. "Moving, funny and larger than life". (Michael Morpurgo). "Magical, enchanting, riotously eccentric". ("Daily Mail"). "Fu nny and unexpectedly wise. Balding has lots of good stories to tell. It is impossible not to admire her honesty". ("Mail on Sunday"). "The reading equ ivalent of snuggling by the fire with a labrador". ("The Guardian"). Clare Balding is an award-winning broadcaster and writer. She has been a lead pre senter for the Olympics, Paralympics, Winter Olympics and Commonwealth Game s. For more than twelve years, she has hiked across the countryside for the.