Midway through Sid Gustafson's new novel, Horses They Rode, I found myself put in mind of all the second chances I have had. His take on the reknitting of family, friendship, and one man's tumultuous life is such a story-a tale of second chances where hope effervesces across a storyscape of high country, horse corrals, drunkenness, and regret that seems, at moments, irresolvable. It's a wholly American novel, for of course, America is a land forgiving of first mistakes-where a shot at trying again is fair and right.Wendel Ingraham, Gustafson's protagonist, is a ranch hand who has roamed Washington State's Inland Empire, Idaho's panhandle, and Big Sky Country on a multi-year binge, leaving a daughter and a broken marriage in his wake. A series of experiences, including encounters with a high-school sweetheart and with mentor, companion, and part-time Blackfoot medicine man Bubbles Ground Owl, leads to his sobriety and amends.Wendel and Bubbles take jobs as hands on a ranch where they worked as youths. And this is where the novel cries its message in earnest. The protagonist is never so competent as when he's reunited with his beloved horse. The symbiosis that is rediscovered between them, a language of faithfulness and trust, portends atonements awaiting Wendel. A gathering of horsemen and their mounts prompts language from Gustafson that is a gorgeous but gritty admixture of potential: "Whoever they were, whatever breed of horsemen, they brought horses and they brought hope, hope that horses could revive a manifest heart."At the ranch there are additional reconciliations required of Ingraham. In their execution, he emerges whole, ". . . grateful for all the people who'd gathered to live the life they knew best, everything and everyone connected, men and animals, fishes and birds, grass, trees and stars."As in his first novel, Prisoners of Flight, Gustafson often joyfully eschews writing conventions. By turns, his forms are starkly tangible or cloaked in mythology. His prose is exuberant and accessible. Rhythmic, he often reads like a long poem: "Parents want their children with them, children of the land, something about having your children with you on the land, native children on native land."Horses They Rode is a one-sitting book. And it's the kind of book about something important in a world full of books about unimportant things. Readers of classic Montana fiction will like it.Reviewed by Brian Ames '85Washington State Magazine Steeped in Native American spirituality and stories, Horses They Rode is a compelling tribute to contemporary ranch culture. Like his debut novel, Prisoner's of Flight, Gustafson's latest is thick with metaphor, weaving together both inner and outer journeys. By rail, by horse, and by mountain highway, Gustafson paints a magical landscape as his protagonist recreates his life and connections with others, the land and himself. Annahttp: //wsm.wsu.edu/r/index.php?id=37#.Wamzv62ZNE5http: //www.outsidebozeman.com/fall-2006/horses-they-r

Max's wife, Deborah, is about to have her baby, and the Saddle Club girls are keeping her company before she goes to the hospital. Stevie, Carole, and Lisa all recount—in their own words—what their lives were like before horses, and how they've never been the same since. When the last tale has wound down, Deborah realizes that the baby is about to arrive.

EXCLUSIVE: CARVILLE RESPONDS TO THE STARR REPORT ...And the Horse He Rode In On gives the first full accounting of what's really behind the longest-running, most expensive dirty trick in politics: Ken Starr's investigation.

Tells the story of Secretariat's victory in the 1973 Belmont Stakes, the last of the three races in the Triple Crown, from the point of view of the winning jockey, Ron Turcotte.

A true story full of strong medicine for the eighty percent who have struggled with their self-worth and identity.

They Rode Good Horses is a culmination of stories, both humorous and entertaining, about the author and his father-in-law who is throughout the book referred to as the ole cowboy. Together and for the better part of fifteen years, they raised, trained, and rode good horses but were more like water and oil whenever together. Perhaps it was because the man the ole cowboy would introduce his friends to as his wife's son-in-law had married his only daughter and was probably not the cowboy he would have preferred she marry. Unfortunately, it was not until after the ole cowboy lost his life in a freak accident by one of the young horses he had raised that his son-in-law came to admire, respect, and understand more of who this man was and the integrity and wisdom he possessed. Follow this journey of real-life experiences as my hope for you, the reader, is that before you come to the end of your trail, you will realize what is most important in life.