Book Review: Half-Broke Horses

A True-Life Novel, by Jeannette Walls

Chalk up another bestseller from Jeannette Walls. Half-Broke Horses, although not exactly a prequel to Jeannette Walls’ best-selling book, The Glass House, does flesh out her family history dramatically.

Overview of Half-Broke Horses

Jeannette Walls’ Half-Broke Horses is not wholly a horse story. Instead, it is an intriguing account of the life of the author’s own grandmother, Lily Casey Smith (told in first-person narrative, from Lily’s point of view).

The story starts in a whirlwind and leads readers through one storm after another in the life of daring and undaunted Lily Casey Smith throughout the first half of the 20^th Century in the American West.

Half-Broke Horses follows Lily through her childhood, youth and adult years, as she learns to break horses, dance, teach school, drive a car, run a cattle ranch and even fly an airplane. Lily lived through tornadoes and tragedies, floods and droughts, divorce and delight. She fought back against bigotry and biases, with her spirited determination.

Even as a child, Lily Casey Smith had a strong sense of herself and a fiery forcefulness that propelled her forward.

“’Life would be easier,’ Dad kept saying, ‘once we got our due. But we were only going to get it by fighting for it,’” writes Jeannette Walls, in Half-Broke Horses (p. 13).

The bulk of the story is factual, according to the author. However, because Jeannette Walls admits that she added details and dialogue, she labeled the fictionalized account a true-life novel, rather than a biography of her grandmother.

Jeannette Walls’ narrative, as her grandmother might have told it, even includes the author herself (as a child) and the hint that young Jeannette might grow up with a similar spirit to that within the indomitable and perhaps legendary Lily Casey Smith.

Half-Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls, comes in clothbound and paperback volumes. (The book is also available in large-print, compact disc, Kindle, MP3, and e-book versions.) Tagged by the author as a true-life novel, Half-Broke Horses was listed as one of The New York Times Book Review’s “Top Books of 2009” and Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Nonfiction (2009). The book was also a New York Times best-seller.

Fiction lovers, (particularly American history buffs), both young and old, will likely enjoy Half-Broke Horses, by Jeannette Walls. This is no romantic rendering of the American pioneers or the women of the Wild West. Instead, this is a fresh and feisty recounting of the life of a gutsy and adventurous can-do individual, who found and forged her way in often difficult conditions.

About the Author: Jeannette Walls

Based in New York City, Jeannette Walls is a career journalist, an MSNBC contributor, and an author. Her additional published books include The Silver Star and Dish: How Gossip Became the News and the News Became Just Another Show.

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Book Review: Bubba to the Rescue

A horse novel for preteens by Jennifer Walker

Arabian Horses are occasionally tagged stereotypically as fiery, but these intelligent and highly trainable equines may also demonstrate excellent athleticism and loyalty, as author Jennifer Walker portrays in her latest Green Meadow Series.

Bubba to the Rescue, Walker’s second installment in the young horse lover collection, hits the ground running with a story that sweeps readers up in its path. The 2011-published book opens with the wedding of the father of the protagonist, teen equestrienne Leslie Clark, and her horse trainer/barn manager, Helen Green. The happy couple fell in love in Walker’s first Green Meadow book, Bubba Goes National, also published in 2011.

Next, the tale hits the trail, as a casual ride is transformed in a few hoof beats into a fire-rescue adventure. Riding with pony pal Alex, Leslie discovers a seemingly abandoned horse in the woods after the two teens have saved a neighbor’s horse herd from a barn blaze. Fittingly, the girls name the mysterious equine Spark.

As the story unfolds, Leslie attempts to find Spark’s real owner, while helping her friends cope with such challenging real-life issues as injured animal care, teen romance, abusive relationships, death and grieving, financial responsibility, stepfamily relationships, and more.

The title focuses on Clark’s Arabian gelding Lucky (or Bubba), which the teen rider purchased at auction in the first book. But Walker’s plotline focuses much more on Clark, her family, her friends, and the strange new horse known as Spark. With each page turn, readers are left to wonder when Bubba will enter the story again.

Reviewer’s Note:

This book reviewer received a complimentary copy of the book described and evaluated here, although the reviewer has no prior or existing relationship (either familial or professional) with the author or publisher.

Walker’s Bubba to the Rescue is penned for young teen readers, but the story may appeal to older horse-loving readers as well. Although this book is a sequel, per se, the story also stands alone for readers who may have missed the first book.

Published by Twin Trinity Media, Bubba to the Rescue includes several drawings by illustrator Debra Torrico, who created the cover art for the book. Torrico also illustrated Bubba Goes National.

About the Author: Jennifer Walker

Horse lover Jennifer Walker is the author of Bubba to the Rescue, Bubba Goes National, and Leslie and the Lion. Her articles have appeared in Arabian Horse Times, Horseman’s News, Modern Arabian Horse and Sierra Style. Jennifer Walker has published short stories in Elements of the Soul and The Ultimate Horse Lover.

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Horsey craft for kids: Bottle-cork horse ornaments

Looking for a simple, but clever, horse craft for your summer pony camp, fall open house, riding student get-together, or another special equestrian event? Start saving those wine corks!

Here’s a fun art project for kids of all ages – or even adults.

Bottle-cork horse ornament craft

First, gather the essential supplies. You will need these for each ornament project:

• 6 bottle corks
• Two craft buttons
• Felt or fabric scraps
• Yarn
• Garland tinsel
• Kid-safe scissors
• Ruler
• Hot melt glue gun and refill glue sticks

(Note: Wine corks may also be purchased in bulk, if desired.)

Here’s how to make these adorable ornaments for the holiday tree or everyday decorating.

Plug in the hot-melt glue gun. Distribute the other supplies to all of the participating crafters. Instruct them to assemble the corks, gluing them together (with adult supervision and assistance, if needed).

Use the tinsel to add the mane and tail. (Or make these from additional yarn.)

Cut long, straight sided ovals to form the saddles. Snip small triangles to make the ears. Measure and cut the yarn to the desired lengths to create the bridle and reins. Glue all of these to the cork-formed horse body.

Make a hanging loop from another piece of yarn, and tuck it through the reins.

Bottle-cork horse ornaments are ideal for holiday adornment of the riding stables or the home. They're also great items to offer at a fall tack swap/fundraiser. Plus, they make pretty neat gifts for horse-loving parents too.

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Equestrian terms: What is a bombproof horse?

A bombproof horse is a blessing indeed, particularly for beginning riders. What is a bombproof horse?

“He’s the bomb.”

A bombproof horse is a well-trained equine that is not easily rattled, having a calm temperament and a generally easy disposition. Most bombproof horses have been exposed to an extensive variety of potentially startling stimuli, such as sudden loud noises and sights. Police horses and parade mounts, in particular, experience considerable training to make them as bombproof as possible.

This article originally appeared on another publisher’s site, which is no longer open. All rights reverted to the author, so it appears here with full permission.

That horse may be bombproof, but how about wearing a helmet and boots anyway?

Some say a bomb could go off near a bombproof horse, and he wouldn’t go off like a rocket.

Certainly, a real bomb would startle any horse. No horse is 100 percent bombproof, but certain equines lend themselves readily to safer riding and handling, particularly with solid training and experience.

A bombproof horse tends to be forgiving, easily packing young children and beginning equestrians safely.

Often, the older a horse becomes, the more likely he is to become bombproof, although some horses seem naturally to possess a more bombproof bent than others. Other equines may seem to be more like ticking time bombs, just waiting for an excuse to explode.

The term "bombproof" tends to be used less often than in the past, perhaps because it is difficult (read: impossible) to guarantee such a trait in even the best trained and gentlest equine.

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