One Good Horse [Paperback]

Since moving west over a decade ago, Tom Groneberg has worked with horses as a trail guide, as a ranch hand, and as the manager of his own ranch in Montana, but he has never owned a really good horse. Until, on an autumn night, in a warm barn under a blanket of snow, Blue is born. Soon, he will belong to Tom Groneberg. If I had a good horse, writes Tom, I could give it my life. I could ride it for years. We could grow old together. So begins this unique American love story about a man and his horse.

In straightforward, poetic prose, Tom Groneberg chronicles the early successes and failures of trying to train Blue, earning the animal's trust, and saddling him for the first time. The experience is challenging, but ultimately rewarding for Tom. Through his relationship with the animal, he develops a deeper understanding of the land and his community, and of himself -- as a man, and as a husband and father. In a world in which horses are fast becoming nothing more than warm-blooded lawn ornaments, Tom still believes these animals are important in human lives.

At its heart,One Good Horseis about the power of hope, the simple story of a horse and the way people connect with nature and with each other across the generations.

This is a fascinating narrative of cowboy and ranching life, both in the present and before the turn of the century.

-- Temple Grandin, author ofAnimals in Translation One Good Horseis a hymn to Tom Groneberg's husbanding, fathering, neighborly, horse-loving life in Montana, dead-on accurate in its nuances and a considerable pleasure.

-- William Kittredge, author ofHole in the SkyandThe Best Short Stories of William Kittredge How does the cowboy find his way in the postmodern American West? Tom Groneberg draws from the best of the past to find a gentler hope for the future in his children and in one good horse.

-- Mary Clearman Blew, author ofAll but the Waltz Sometimes stories about lÓh