For the money, I was expecting a little bit more. Then again, paltry little fluff paperbacks are going for 8 bucks a pop these days, so I shouldn't have been too surprised to find this petite volume going for $20+.
It seems very well-researched, with lots of history for each breed. The section on Icelandic horses is particularly entertaining. The cover proclaims "Five-Gaited American Saddlebred, Tennesee Walking Horse, Missouri Fox Trotter, Peruvian Paso, Icelandic Horse, Paso Fino, and _More_". The "And more" is a dissapointing 7 pages covering 10 other breeds rather perfunctorily. Rather disappointing to me, a reader looking for more info on Tiger Horses (3 paragraphs) and the Rocky Mountain Horse (a rather substantial 5 paragraphs/about a page and a half). And while I know there are entire books about the lovely Lipizzan, I would have liked a mention in this one, as well.
For those of us who enjoy looking at pretty horses, this book is a disappointment. The photos are mostly small and all in black and white. Instead of a diagram of the various gaits, I would have probably been more educated by stop-motion photographs of the horse in motion, to watch their feet, with perhaps a diagram or description of the gait underneath the photo.
The writing is good, the research is fine, the description of gaits seems very comprehensive, but...there just wasn't enough!