Set during a tumultuous time in Zimbabwe's history, Mandy and her family are on a quest to keep their horses safe (and pick up some more along the way from the people who fled the country). They move from place to place as their land keeps being seized. Ultimately, they flee to Mozambique, horses in tow, to try find a better life.

The blurb may make this sound like it will be a feel good story "Oh look, a woman saving her horse, amazing". But I'd disagree. While it makes sense that this would be one-sided (it is a memoir), the tone is frustrating and a little problematic at times. This could used a much more comprehensive edit, improving the writing itself. I think a foreword with a bit of background surrounding the history of he events written by a different person (either impartial or on the other side of things) would help readers to get a fuller understanding of the environment that this was happening in. The author is clearly coming from a place of privilege and I suspect that that also strongly influenced the way she experienced the events (which are horrifying, don't get me wrong. The other side isn't as evil and faceless as she portrays them though).

The horses would also have been super stressed through all of this. They are randomly rounded up and hurried around the country. A lot of them are in terrible condition by the time they leave the country (this is noted on when they are in Mozambique) and a lot of them don't make it (not completely related in most cases, but there is a lot of horse death here). ( )

As I love stories in Africa, I loved this one of Mandy and Pat Retzlaff adventures in Zimbabwe and later Mozambique. Their love of horses comes through so clearly and helpedmake this book a tender recollection. They experienced so much corruption by Mugabe's war vets . The injustices , like having to pay bribes, pay for wrongly accused horses destroying maize fields etc, made my blood boil. I really liked these people who love and care for horses. ( )

When Pat and Mandy Retzlaff settled on Crofton farm in lush Zimbabwe, they imagined giving their children the same sort of idyllic African childhood that Pat had experienced and leaving them the thriving farm as legacy when they were grown. For a while, it seemed as if that would be the case as they threw themselves into farming tomatoes and tobacco, taking their kids for rides into the wild African bush on their favorite horses, and making friends with the family on the neighboring farm. Unfortunately, the life they had dreamed for themselves and their children was not to become a reality. Instead, the couple became wrapped up in the living nightmare of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, where farms were often stolen from their rightful white owners to be redistributed back to the African natives, or, more accurately, Mugabe's political cronies.

The Retzlaffs and their neighbors on Two Tree farm were driven under threat of violence from their homes and livelihoods in one shot, leaving them on the run for safety with their beloved horses in a nation that would continue to grow increasingly hostile to its white population. Fleeing from farm to farm in search of a safe haven, each time refusing to leave their horses to uncertain, violent fates, Pat and Mandy soon got a reputation as being the "horse people," and many farmers and ranchers fleeing Zimbabwe sought them out to take in the horses that would otherwise be left behind. Eventually forced to leave behind the country they loved, One Hundred and Four Horses is Mandy's story of how she and her husband managed to ferry a nation's abandoned horses to new life.

I loved One Hundred and Four Horses. It proved to be a huge reading funk-buster for me. After struggling with a few books that were lackluster and whose characters seemed too affected for real life, the authenticity of Mandy Retzlaff's voice was a breath of fresh air. The writing, while occasionally artless, gave the impression of being written letters by a well-loved friend going through an incredible trial. Retzlaff's love for her kids and her occasionally hot-tempered, always determined husband shines through in her writing. Furthermore, the couple's love and admiration for their horses, both the ones that started out as theirs and the ones that they adopted along the way, penetrates Retzlaff's narrative, so much so that I felt as if I knew and loved the horses, too, and would practically be biting my nails as they were rustled out from under one dangerous situation or another.

This is a book that animal lovers will both love and hate. The Retzlaffs' actions in saving so many horses under such terrible circumstances were downright heroic and when things went their way, my heart soared. Unfortunately, bad situations were rife in two countries in Africa where the rule of law had gone by the wayside, and obviously, death, destruction and frustration follow. My heart was both warmed and broken at the same time as I experienced Mandy Retzlaff's roller coaster of a book. There were some occurrences that were truly difficult to read about, but the Retzlaffs' tale is so irresistible that there was no stopping until the last page was turned and the fate of the horses secured. ( )

This is a story that would make any animal lover proud. And for that very same reason many will choose to keep off this book, not realizing what the book really is about. My first impression based on the title was to keep hands off policy, and I almost missed a really good book.

One Hundred and Four Horses: A Memoir of Farm and Family, Africa and Exile by Mandy Retzlaff is a heart-touching and beautiful story. It is a gripping story of one family's dogged determination to do something good in the midst of ruins in Zimbabwe under dictator Robert Mugabe.

Mandy Retzlaff, her husband Pat and their three children, along with four horses, arrived in Crofton, Zimbabwe to begin a new life. They spent over a decade leading a contented and happy life. But their happiness was short-lived. In 2002, they were told to leave Crofton within four hours. The sea of change sweeping over Zimbabwe was dramatic. A country once known as Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. Once considered the breadbasket of Africa was now a devastated country, almost in total ruins. Its economy has plummeted beyond salvage. A free country was now under a dictator.

Though fearful for their own lives, the Retzlaffs refused to be cowed down. They kept moving from one friend's farm to the next, and kept on sheltering any horse in need. Soon, the number swelled to 104. And with all their horses they managed to escape to neighboring Zimbabwe.

Though not a great writer, Mandy has rendered in a lovable way a beautiful story that will touch the reader's heart. This book is not just about the Retlaffs' love for horses, it is also a book of history and adventure - about and in Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe. ( )