Renegade Champion: The Unlikely Rise of Fitzrada

by Richard R. Rust

Foreword by best-selling author Rita Mae Brown
Introduction by William Steinkraus, four-time Olympic medal winner

“If you buy that horse, you’re buying your daughter’s death warrant,” Jane Pohl’s father was warned at the Army’s Schofield Barracks in Hawaii in the spring of 1941. Fitzrada was condemned to be destroyed.

Jane, a fourteen-year-old, horse-crazy Army brat saw potential in the stubborn, unpredictable, and dangerous Thoroughbred, and she persuaded her father to buy the horse. Her sensitive and patient re-schooling overcame the inevitable accident and injuries to both, and the astounding postwar showjumping success of Jane and Fitzrada helped break down the barriers that prevented women riders of the time from competing in the Olympics side-by-side with men.

Jane and Fitz’s story is a beautiful, personal, and authoritative account written by Jane’s son, the late Colonel Richard Rust. The story was also the subject of an award-winning documentary film.

Reviews for
Renegade Champion: The Unlikely Rise of Fitzrada
“This true story reads like a Hollywood script, but better....While I am a firm believer that one should pass on good books to friends to also enjoy, this is one that will remain in my collection.”
-Tricia Booker, The Chronicle of the Horse

“Four stars out of four stars”
-Javan Kienzle, The Free Press

“Honest, compelling, and sometimes bittersweet.”
-Lauren R. Giannini, In & Around Horse Country