Book review: ‘Fur Mama’
Fur Mama: How I Found My Best Life Adopting an Ex-Racehorse and a Shelter Dog by Diana du Pont. Four In Hand Press, 2026. Softcover, 360 pages.
Something was missing in Diana du Pont’s life. An art museum curator, she was a career-driven workaholic with little time left for soul nourishment. Raised in a chaotic household, Diana found childhood comfort in horses and the natural world on the California coast. Marrying in her mid-30s, she and her husband decided not to have children.
As her life balance began to spiral out of control, she was drawn to bring horses back into her world in the hope that caring for another creature would help fill the ache inside her. When she and her husband went to meet some ex-racehorses, she felt inexplicably drawn to a thoroughbred she called Blackie.
As Diana worked with Blackie over a number of years, she built a strong and loving bond with this high-strung horse. Whether riding him for pleasure or taking part in dressage, she and Blackie both matured, allowing Diana to realize that work was becoming less than central in her life.
Always fond of black Labrador retrievers, she adopted Shadow, whose life had been at risk in a shelter. Realizing how much caring for Blackie and Shadow had changed her perspective on what was important, she left her high-powered job to nurture her family of four.
Fur Mama is much more than an animal book. It is an examination of how women see themselves and how society sees childless women. It is also a keen look at what makes a family as Diana finally finds the loving home she had longed for as a child. Most of all, Fur Mama is a hymn to what occurs when love is given and abundantly returned.
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