Some Horses

Some books are hard to classify, in spite of their seemingly simple titles. Among them are "Rats, Lice, and History" by Hans Zinsser, most of John McPhee's natural history books, and "Some Horses" by Thomas McGuane. One could call them philosophy as focused through Nature--the very opposite of religion as focused through the tribal mind. I've been on enough horses to know that you don't tell them what to do. You ask them, and if the horse trusts you, he'll respond favorably if he knows what you want. The author discusses the equine-human relationship in depth, focusing on the art of cutting cattle from a herd. I suppose if McGuane had been more mellow Californian and less Wyoming rancher, he would have called this book, 'The Zen of Cutting Horses.' Writer, rancher, horseman, and conservationist Thomas McGuane is the author of nine novels, a collection of short stories, several collections of essays on sport and horse, and he also wrote the screen play for "Missouri Breaks." The latter just goes to show that an author can be an expert on his subject and still end up as a grease mark on the Hollywood Wall of Shame. My favorite essay in "Some Horses" concerns Chink's Benjibaby, a black cutting mare, who worked cattle with an intensity that verged on loco. She went through many owners, including the author, until she found her rider. The author asks, "How did you train the mare?" '"I didn't," says [Chink's new owner]. "I never won a fight."' The black mare had a glint of what McGuane calls 'unlost wildness.' She knew she was special and demanded respect. When a new ranch hand fed other horses before Chink, "she was simply so offended at not being fed first that she hurled herself on the ground and held her breath until she was given her grain." This is not a book that rants and lectures about the plight of the ranchers, like, say the Peter Bowen mysteries. McGuane reminds me more of Mary O'Hara, author of "My Friend Flicka" and "Thunderhead"--lean, beautiful prose suffused with melancholy about a vanishing way of life.

I greatly enjoyed this well-written and amusing book of essays by novelist Thomas McGuane. Although I have ridden a horse and get out to the occasional rodeo, it's mostly my interest in Western literature that got me to read "Some Horses." And it turned out to be an entertaining journey into the complex relationship that can exist between human and equine intelligence.One essay is about rodeo calf-roping and another about mountain trail riding and camping in snow, but most of the essays are about McGuane's experience with cutting horses. Developed as a specialized skill of horse and rider on open rangeland, cutting is the exacting art (and now sport) of separating out a single cow or calf from a herd of cattle. Given the strong herd instinct of cows, this is no mean feat, and it takes a fine horse, superior training, and a competent rider to do it well and consistently. In these essays, each devoted to individual horses, McGuane invites the reader into this world of nonverbal communication between horse, rider, and cow.In the hands of another writer, this subject could easily be arcane, technical, vague, or dry as corral dust. But McGuane makes literature of it. The opening essay owes its rambling form and spirit to Montaigne, and all of them are rich with sharply observed details, nuances of emotion, and fascinating character sketches of both people and horses. The only thing dry is McGuane's wry sense of humor. In the essay about a winter road trip with his wife and four horses from Southern California to Montana, I was laughing out loud.You don't have to be a horse lover for this one. All that's required is a curiosity about animal psychology and the place where it comes in contact with the psychology of humans.

Some Horses is an honest work by someone with a mastery of saying just what they mean. The prose is spare enough to stay out of your way, but descriptive enough to carry you deep into the story. They key to how good I think the book is comes from my response, I am not a "horse person" yet nowhere feel snubbed by the fact that the horse world is really a pretty tight sphere of people, horses, situations, and landscapes. McGuane opens the window to the world he experiences with insight and humour and lets you know something of the fabric of traveling to cuttings, training intractable animals, and ending up pretty close to ground level. I put the book down feeling right at home with the author's western writing style(Abbey to Stegner I guess, an appreciation of his deep feeling for western life and horses, and I think I'll pick it up again when I feel the need for a dose of fine prairie dust and open space....maybe it will serve you the same way

What a wonderful book for all horse lovers! I enjoyed every page, and am looking forward to reading more by the author on this subject. This is not another piece written on "horse whispering" in order to cash in on the latest craze. McGuane reveals himself as a true horse person with just the right amounts of humor, insight and truth. Great Christmas gift for your horse lover friends, whether they are into cutting, dressage, or just being around horses.

Granted, fans of McGuane novels may whine a bit about this book. It's not very long; it's not fiction; it doesn't take us under the uncomfortable skins of some misaligned characters. But like the McGuane we've loved for decades, this is good writing. A master at the art of conjuring up a world and peopling it with folks that seem at the same time like escaped mental patients and our own relatives, McGuane in this book sets all that aside. Gone is the detached--albeit affectionate--irony. This book is passionate. Though he is most often likened to Faulkner and the more language-rich of his own comtemporaries, McGuane reminds here of Hemingway. I guess this is what happens when great writers write about what they love. Makes you wonder what would have happened if Faulkner had written about horses.