Partly autobiography, partly travel writing, this horsewoman's tale introduces us to her family and horses and the various landscapes in which she rides. Laura Chester had a fraught relationship with her mother at one time and RIDING BARRANCA her favourite horse was a way to escape from tension and just be herself. Barranca is a Missouri Fox-trotter with a four-footed walking gait and he covers ground in Arizona effortlessly. The drawback of this kind of trail ride however is the possibility of meeting armed smugglers, stashes of drugs and desperate immigrants. Another concern of Laura's is mining which may be polluting water.

Visiting Mexico naturally means exploring on a local horse and tasting the local food. Shrimp grilled and marinated with oranges, five kinds of chilies, garlic, oil, sugar and vinegar is just one delicious dish. The local plants are also described, and handcrafts for sale. Laura heads to Australia to visit her son and grandchildren. Just as naturally, she has a ride in Sydney. Wisconsin is her summer home. Laura's past home life is interspersed - tales of her lawyer father's unfaithfulness, her mother's evil temper, her brother's violent pranks, her father's dying of cancer and her mother's Alzheimer's - which finally brought some peace as the confused lady stopped challenging her daughter. "Why are families so important?" Laura asks.

Photographs of horses rolling in the dust, or people smiling as they ride, or ravens, adorn many pages so the book is a visual feast. Laura is writing as a mature woman so she has absorbed much horse knowledge and younger readers should not emulate her too closely, for instance taking hours-long trail rides over rough country alone. Attention to detail is very important around horses; Laura, very thirsty, grabs a half-full plastic bottle from the trailer and takes a drink - to find that it's floor cleaning fluid. Luckily there's no lasting damage, but she cleans up the trailer and put things in the proper place.

One beautiful evening Laura and friends ride out to see Venus, enjoy wine and cheese on horseback and guess where the moon will rise. Such simple enjoyment is missed by too many of us leading pressured lives. RIDING BARRANCA is especially good for horsey readers but the honesty of speech and appreciation of nature's beauty have a message for us all.