The Horse Lover: A Cowboy's Quest to Save the Wild Mustangs

He already owned and managed two ranches and needed a third about as much as he needed a permanent migraine: that's what Alan Day said every time his friend pestered him about an old ranch in South Dakota. But in short order, he proudly owned 35,000 pristine grassy acres. The opportunity then dropped into his lap to establish a sanctuary for unadoptable wild horses previously warehoused by the Bureau of Land Management. After Day successfully lobbied Congress, those acres became Mustang Meadows Ranch, the first government-sponsored wild horse sanctuary established in the United States.

The Horse Lover is Day's personal history of the sanctuary's vast enterprise, with its surprises and pleasures and its plentiful dangers, frustrations, and heartbreak. Day's deep connection with the animals in his care is clear from the outset, as is his maverick philosophy of horse-whispering, with which he trained fifteen hundred wild horses. The Horse Lover weaves together Day's recollections of his cowboying adventures astride some of his best horses, all of which taught him indispensable lessons about loyalty, perseverance, and hope. This heartfelt memoir reveals the Herculean task of balancing the requirements of the government with the needs of wild horses.

Purchase the audio edition.

Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: Bison Books
Published: 03/01/2014
ISBN: 9780803253353
Pages: 243
Weight: 1.03lbs
Size: 8.86h x 5.95w x 0.95d
Award: New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards - Winner

Review Citations: Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2014
Booklist 03/01/2014 pg. 10
Library Journal 04/01/2014 pg. 106