Is this nikon lens any good?

I'm looking to buy the 55-300mm Nikon Nikkor lens for my Nikon D5100.
I will mostly be using it for action shots of horses and sometimes other animals, not professionally, but i do want good, clear and un blurred pictures. But obviously need a lens with a good zoom because i can't always be as close as i need to be when photographing the animals.

Is this lens any good for this?

Yes, but you'll have all kinds of entertainment trying to hold it steady. Invest in a tripod or monopod as well - at least until you get the hang of using it.

The 55-300mm is good but not great. The 70-300mm AF-S VR (the good 70-300, not the cheap one) is reputed to focus faster and more accurately. The new 70-200mm F4 coming out should be even sharper and better for action shots, but that is a bigger jump in price.

One problem with the 55-300 is the autofocus isn't particularly quick. That's okay with some subjects, but not for fast moving creatures. The 70-300mm VR is much faster to focus and also much better optically.

Also the 70-300mm VR has a separate "active" VR mode, which is designed for use from moving vehicles!

I agree with those who recommend the 70-300mm f4.5-5.6G ED-IF VR, it's superior quality lens with the added VR functionality, and because of it's IF design (as designated), the AF is considerably faster.

Yes that would be good enough for pulling the horse closer to you but you need to stop referring to zoom for that. It's actually focal length. The more mm the lens has, the stronger the pulling power of the lens. A non-zooming 800mm lens (1X) can make a distant object 2.6X more closer to you that that 55-300mm 5.45X zoom lens.

I have this lens with vr and a d5100 and have had no problems at all.