The Perfect Horse: The Daring Rescue of Horses Kidnapped During World War II

By Elizabeth Letts

In this inspiring young readers adaptation of the New York Times bestseller, one American troop will save the world's most precious horses during the final stretch of World War II.

When American Colonel Hank Reed and his soldiers captures a German spy, they uncover an unexpected secret: Hitler has kidnapped the world's finest purebred horses and hidden them in a secret Czechoslovakian breeding farm. But, starving Russian troops are drawing closer and the horses face the danger of becoming food instead. With little time to spare, the small American troop cross enemy lines to heroically save some of the world's most treasured animals. 

Elizabeth Letts details the terrifying truth of Hitler's eugenics program during World War II and shares the story of the courageous American troop dedicated to stopping it.

Highlighting bravery in the face of incredible odds, this tale will shed light on a little-known piece of our past and speak to history fans and animal lovers of every age.

★ "Spellbinding...a must-read." —Booklist, Starred review

A Junior Library Guild Selection

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Feb 12, 2019
• ISBN: 9780525644750

Reviews for The Perfect Horse

[msmixte · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Unlike most of the other reviewers, my main interest in The Perfect Horse involved the story behind the saving of the Polish Arabians. It is impossible to estimate the importance of these horses to the Arabian horse world. Of my own Arabians, 75% of them are/were descended from the Polish horses saved.With sad tears for those who died in World War II, but with grateful tears for those who managed to save the horses which would have otherwise left the world a poorer place.

[shayes1-936363 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a gift from a close friend who knows I am an equestrian. It is my "car book/waiting room book." I often found myself setting in the car after my appointment reading. I love horses. I worked with the Univ. of Notre Dame/Saint Mary's equestrian club and team for many years. I admire the Lipizzaner and their dressage skills. The book is a history of their rescue during WWII caught between the Nazis and the Russians (who love horse meat and had no respect for the Lipizzaner breed). As a librarian, I appreciate the excellent research and footnotes within this book. It is very readable. Many times I found myself very emotionally invested in the story, often choked up and reading through my tears. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves horses or the history of WWII.

[dokfintong · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a book for a horse-obsessed teen. For an adult it is a bit too full of swishing tails, flaring nostrils and flashing hooves.Readers will not likely be harmed by Ms Lett's paragraphs that tell us that haute école originated on the battlefield, but this story is debunked by many professionals, including those at the Spanish Riding School (watch their CD). I think Ms Letts owes it to her readers to explain the controversy and why she believes this version of history.I received a review copy of "The Perfect Horse: The Daring U.S. Mission to Rescue the Priceless Stallions Kidnapped by the Nazis" by Elizabeth Letts (Random House – Ballantine) through NetGalley.com. FYI Horses are stolen, not kidnapped.

[ellsbethb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a story I wanted to know more about ever since I was a kid and saw the Lipizzaners perform a few times. This book is really interesting, especially the first third of it. It was also fascinating to learn more about Polish Arabians and their own plight. (I'm still thinking a lot about the Bolsheviks and their horrifying impact on these horses.) If you enjoy military history or stories about horses, this is a good choice.

[purpledog-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Perfect Horse is all the things I love about non-fiction novels in one neat package. The author, Elizabeth Letts, did a fantastic research job and has woven the story together beautifully. I loved that she told the story of the rescue of the Lipizzaner and other purebred horses from both the American and German side. By doing this the reader can truly understand all the circumstances that surrounded the heroic rescue of these fine animals. As an equestrian and animal lover myself, I have seen the Lipizzaner Stallions perform several times and have ridden all my life. In addition, I have seen Disney’s movie The Miracle of the White Stallion. Therefore, I was really surprised to learn about all the others horses that the Nazis had gathered to become part of their breeding program. In addition, the magnitude of the effort that went into saving these animals and the extra ordinarily good luck that it required for the right person to be in the right place at the right time to make the rescue possible cannot go unmentioned. A truly fabulous story.I highly recommend The Perfect Horse to any reader who enjoys books like Seabiscuit as well as history buffs and animal lovers. I received a free copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

[maggie1944 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I just finished reading The Perfect Horse which I enjoyed very much. It follows some well pedigreed horses through the end of WWII until a gutsy group of American GIs "rescued" them from the on coming Russians, who were rumored to be hungry and cared little about pedigrees. The famous white Lipizzaner Stallions from the Austrian riding school were high lighted. A devastating book about the destruction of European culture and infrastructure, and about the destruction of so many fine horses; but, also heart warming story of men who really loved horses and risked greatly to save them from destruction.

[topazshell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Perfect Horse by Elizabeth Letts is about a beautiful horses and an ugly time. It's a time when men like German, Gustav Rau, and others of the Third Reich see the value only in the pure breed of a horse and the purity of the German, Aryan blood. There are kind hearted men like Alois Podhajsky, a veternarian, who sees in a broken horse its ability to thrive and become again valuable. Alois Podhajsky also healed many horses during this horrid time of war and hate. This is Germany, Poland and other Axis Powers during The Thirties and in to World War II. A special horse is Neapolitano Africa, Alois Podhajsky's horse which might have been left unloved and as an outcast without the vet.At first, I thought the nonfiction story disjointed. Then, I began to see the need to fix my eyes on her goal as an author. I chose to look at the theme as one about the Jewish people parallel to the Equestrian History of the Horse. It was then that I could see the richness of the Jewish culture and the magnificent of horses like the Lippinzer and Alois Podhajsky's become raped or brutally undressed by the hands of men who were only looking for power and wanting to become the twin to a man who was so awful that people only wish to whisper his name until this very day. That man is Hitler.I had the chance to learn so much about horses. There are the Arabian Beauties and the Lippnizers. The grace of a horse and the hours teachers took to work with the horses at the Spanish Learning School is all fascinating. At times the historical part became dry, but the story of the horse overrides any boredom The wish to know more about the era takes over. It also was ingrained in me again not to forget the horrors Jewish people faced at places like Auschwitz during this time unless History shall repeat itself.There are photos throughout the book. The book is also timely because of the Olympics during The Thirties. By the way, you can still visit the Spanish Riding School today. penguinrandomhouse/the-perfect-horse-by-elizabeth-letts/9780345544803/

[ladycato · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this early copy through the publisher via NetGalley.I was horse-obsessed as a kid. I was able to see Lipizzaners on tour once when I was 11, and it was incredible. Of course, I had read a great deal about the horses and their airs above the ground. Years and years ago, I saw the old Disney movie "Miracle of the White Stallions" about how the Lipizzaners were saved from Austria during World War II. Well, this is the real story behind that, and it's an engaging, fascinating read.It begins long before the war. Even as militaries worldwide began to shift to mechanized forces, the horse carried an important role; Olympic equestrian teams came out of national military units. This is where many of the human players in this story grew up and spent their formative years. Patton is the most famous example. Germany still utilized horses in World War II, but even more, they wanted to create the perfect horse. Yes, Aryan-style eugenics with horses. Germany collected the best horses from their expanding territory and established breeding farms for Lipizzaners, Arabians, and other highly-esteemed breeds.As the war continued, the horses were shuffled for safekeeping, but food and communication became increasing issues as Germany's collapse grew imminent. Even more, the Russians approached from the east, and they esteemed horses as only food. Therefore, the desperate horse-lovers betrayed 3rd Reich ideals and looked for help from their invaders from the west: the Americans. Enemies were united through their love of horses.The book goes into the aftermath of the war as well, and how some horses made it to the US for so-called safekeeping. It also follows the glorious rebirth of the Spanish Riding School.I loved it. I knew only bits and pieces of the real story, and Letts' storytelling really brings everything to life. I highly recommend this to history buffs and horse lovers.

[katebaxter_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Wow! Such an absorbing and far more intricate account of the Lippizaner rescue of 1945 than I had ever realized. It is difficult to imagine how tenuous their survival was at times during WWII and how the fortuitous series of events made it possible for the equine line to continue and the Spanish Riding School to flourish again. Author Elizabeth Letts writes engagingly and clearly about the nature of this royal breed and the circumstances into which they had fallen during WWII. Being an equestrienne herself, she brings passion and depth of understanding to the storytelling and not merely a recitation of facts as they had occurred. Letts also brings in stories of other European breeds which the Germans had taken control of and shares their not so illustrious outcomes. Sadly, they did not have a champion such as the Lippizaners had. In sharing their stories, Letts heightens our understanding of the Lippizaner breed's hard-fought good fortune.This book should appeal to those interested in equine history as well as military history. Personally, I found myself ruminating on my college days in Vienna and visits to the Spanish Riding School for the Lippizaners' morning exercises. At the time, I had no idea how easily the tradition could have faded away into the annals of history. The Spanish Riding School and it celebrity equine breed is an intrinsic part of the Viennese identity. It would have been a shame for it to fade into obscurity. I am grateful to publisher Ballantine Books and Goodreads First Reads for having provided a free advance uncorrected proof of this book. Their generosity, however, did not influence this review - the words of which are mine alone. I am hopeful that corrections to spellings of formal names, (i.e., Habsburg), dates, age calculations and geographic directional inaccuracies were all caught and corrected, thus presenting the reader with an even richer experience.Synopsis:From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Eighty-Dollar Champion comes the riveting true story of the valiant rescue of priceless pedigree horses in the last days of World War II. As the Russians closed in on Hitler from the east and the Allies attacked from the west, American soldiers discovered a secret Nazi effort to engineer a master race of the finest purebred horses. With the support of U.S. general George S. Patton, a passionate equestrian, the Americans planned an audacious mission to kidnap these beautiful animals and smuggle them into safe territory—assisted by a daring Austrian colonel who was both a former Olympian and a trainer of the famous Lipizzaner stallions.

[earthwind_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The Perfect Horse is awesome.This writer lives and breathes horses and no one I have ever read writes it better, a magnificent addition to the horse world. The research is most impressive, but the capture of the spirit in horses and horse people is unique. She has dozens of photographs of Arabians at the Polish Stud and Alois Podhajsky with the Lipizzaners from Austria, as well as the American Cavalry who had just recently been dismounted.

[janarose1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This book chronicles the history of the Lipizzaner horse and how the breed was nearly destroyed during WWII. I was pretty interested in this book, however, every chapter the author repeated the history of the horses, the people involved, and the sports involved with horses, classical dressage. I found this very tedious and repetitious. Due to this, I eventually lost interest in the book. This book is definitely in need of some heavily editing. Overall, a bust.

[stewartry · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This review has not taken a ridiculously long time to put together. I have no excuse; the closest I can come to a reason is that the emotions and the quality of the writing and my own back story with the subject matter all made it hard to write.So, the story goes that when I was five or six my parents took me to a party their friends were throwing. Someone must have mentioned what a little horse freak I was, and one slightly drunken man decided to play Stump the Smartypants. I can just about remember him looming over me when he asked me to name the largest breed of horse. I'm told I responded (correctly) with all the contempt such a softball deserved. I used to trace the diagram in one of my books that charted the points of the horse, close the book, and fill in all the labels. (It's true what they say about stuff learned when small – I can still tell a forelock from a fetlock and a cannon from a croup. I'll bet I could still label a diagram.) My father, with extraordinary patience, used to drive me to riding lessons and wait while I gloried in learning to post the trot. (Well, no, I gloried in cantering when they let me – the trot was never fun. And that time Spiz the appaloosa ran away with me on a trail ride? Awesome.) And when in some elementary school English class we learned about tall tales and were asked to write our own, I – being deep under the spell of Marguerite Henry, wrote a thing which must have left my teacher utterly baffled: my tall tale was about a Lipizzaner who could hold a levade for hours and perform as many caprioles as you could possibly want. This was pre–internet, so I still wonder if the poor woman had to go hit the library to figure out if I was being esoteric or just a truly weird little kid. So obviously the horse–mad parts of this book were made for me. I thrive on details of horsemanship and stable life, and there is no stable on earth in which I would rather experience horsemanship than the Spanish Riding School of Vienna. It's nice to be given the explanation for why there is a Spanish Riding School in Vienna. (It's a breed of Spanish origin named after a village in Italy (which is in current–day Slovenia) and perfected in Austria.) I'm still boggled by the fact that a Standardbred can "trot the distance of one mile in less than two minutes and thirty seconds" when Thoroughbreds galloping all out take about two and a bit minutes to run the mile-and-an-eighth Kentucky Derby, doing the hour in about 1:35. That's astonishing, although it was just a side comment; this book has lots of details I knew and also lots I never knew before. I never knew Poland was so highly regarded for its Arabs – perhaps because by the time I was born the breed had not yet recovered there (like so many other things). (And now I feel extraordinarily stupid for never processing "Polsky Arab" into what it actually means. Well, I was a kid.) I never knew that WWII actually used twice as many horses as WWI. This was a long tale of heroism – the men who worked so hard to save the Lipizzanners and other fine horses were amazing – and of horror. The reasons the horses needed saving are just one part of the awfulness of the war; I never knew that the Third Reich's goals of pure blood extended to horses as well; I don't think I want to get into the corollaries between Reichian eugenics and the breeding of horses to foster certain qualities. I had no idea about the seizures of horses all over Europe – and the equine massacres that often resulted. And I'm not thrilled by how America handled the recapture, the "rescue" of thousands of horses. "Trakhenen, Germany’s famed 'city of horses,' had seen a mass exodus of all of its equine inhabitants. The owners and breeders of the famed Trakhener cavalry horses, close to eight thousand in number, had fled across the frozen Vistula River while being strafed by Russian bombers. Germany’s greatest Thoroughbred racehorse, Alchimist, was shot to death on April 15, 1945, after Russian soldiers tried to seize him and the stallion refused to load onto their truck.""Among the numerous heartbreaks of this terrible war, the innocent horses shot, abused, and killed would not rank among the worst atrocities—but somehow, the killing of innocent beasts, domesticated animals who existed only for man’s beauty and pleasure in a good, seemed to highlight the barbaric and depraved depths to which man had allowed himself to sink." Yeah. That about covers it. I didn't fail to see how … off it was to be so outraged by horses' deaths and abuse when all over Europe more than six million people were in the process of being murdered. But I'm not about to apologize for it. It's similar to the human tendency to weep over the death of a single child when outright genocide might result in simple numbness. I love horses. I know horses. I want more to do with horses. Le plus je connais les hommes, le plus j'aime mon cheval – I had that on a mug when I started taking French in school. And it was, and is, the absolute truth (except for the "my" part, since, I've never had my own horse). Horses are innocent – as were all of the civilians killed and displaced and abused. But horses are entirely dependent on humans. They have no agency to relocate to a safer area on their own, or to fight back in any way but in the moment with teeth and hooves. We, people, have put them in the situations where they exist – to then make those situations painful, or lethal, is unforgivable. It was horrible to read – and a relief that there was heroism to dilute the pain. This tale reminds me a bit of a shallow stream, beautiful in places, pooling in places, in some places trickling slowly over rocks, occasionally diverted a bit before coming back on track. There are frequent recaps (where the stream flows backward for a minute before resuming), which began to feel like padding. I was not overly fond of the author's departures into what Capote liked to call a non-fiction novel, with notes about what subjects' thoughts must have been here, or what someone saw there; a straightforward history might have been better. Sentences like "The two chestnuts followed Hank’s movements with their big, soft eyes", while quite possible accurate, begin to make it sound like a novel I might have read when I was fourteen. These fictionalized moments softened the focus – and also felt a bit like padding. (I was also a little bothered by the fact that the author consistently used the adjective "white" for the Lipizzaners. There's no such thing as a white horse, unless it's an albino.) (I know, I know – but I don't make the rules.)I got a chuckle out of one quote from Alois Podhajsky (Ah–loys Pod–hey–skee, thank you Ms. Letts), director of the Spanish Riding School: "Excited applause does not help in the least; what is needed is perfect sympathy and harmony with one’s partner." I saw the Lipizzaners perform years ago, and the announcer specifically encouraged the audience to be loudly enthusiastic and take lots of pictures, because the stallions loved the approval and attention. They're apparently big ol' gorgeous hams, which is incredibly endearing – and, now that I've learned more than I knew then, pretty surprising considering horses in general and stallions in particular don't tend to handle noise and flashing lights with what could be called aplomb. Or sanity. But maybe the stallions' enjoyment of the attention increased as technology advanced. Honestly, I think Lipizzaners are responsible for the layman's misunderstanding that stallions are easy to handle (which in general they are not. "And to all the fallen horses— may we honor their sacrifice."The usual disclaimer: I received this book via Netgalley for review.