The Private Passion Of Jackie Kennedy Onassis: Portrait Of A Rider

The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis: Portrait of a Rider

In The Private Passion of Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Vicky Moon illuminates just how vital a role horses played throughout Jackie's often tumultuous life. Jackie's mother propped her up on a horse when she was just a year old, and throughout her childhood Jackie turned to her pony Buddy to distract her from the stress of her parents' precarious marriage. As a woman struggling under the intense pressures of her role as First Lady, riding a horse through the countryside was a much-needed tonic. And later in her life, as a mourning widow and then a reluctant celebrity, riding offered Jackie peace and privacy. Whether cantering up and down the emerald hills of Ireland, galloping through the woods in New Jersey, racing cross-country, or taking long, quiet rides with her children down the dirt trails of Virginia's hunt country, Jackie's lifelong passion for horses was a mainstay during difficult years, a refuge from a life in the limelight, and a constant source of joy.