Recommended Reading

This is a list of some books we think you will enjoy and that we recommend. In some cases we've included our comments and thoughts about the book. The list is broken into sections by subject area, including GENERAL (which includes horses, history and conservation), LONGHORNS, DONKEYS, and FOR KIDS. More will be added on an ongoing basis as time allows.

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GENERAL

The Man Who Listens to Horses
By Monte Roberts
Published by Ballantine Publishing Group

The Man Who Listens to Horses spent over a year on the New York Times Best Seller list for a very good reason: its excellent! It flows, inspires, educates and entertains simultaneously. If you have the slightest interest in horses, American history, the American west, cowboys, or in good old-fashioned American values, you have to read this book. Even though it is all about horses, it is not ALL about horses. It will make you feel good!

Frugal with words, Roberts moves rapidly from one interesting and meaningful story to the next. The style is smooth and has an intriguing rhythm, and it made me, a guy who hates verbose authors, wish he would linger longer and share more. Like all good books, this one makes you wish you hadn't finished it.

Buy it! Its great, it has a lot of social value, and you'll learn some things you didn't know.

Larry Jones

(paperback)

(hard cover)

GENERAL

Mister, You Got Yourself a Horse
Tales of Old time Horse trading, and another fun book from the University of Nebraska Press
Edited by Roger L. Welsh

This is a collection of fascinating horse trading, swapping and swindling stories collected during The Federal Writers Project, a part of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which in turn was one of FDR's relief programs during the Great Depression.

In the 1930's Government employed writers were still able to interview Civil War Veterans, Oregon Trail Riders, individuals who remembered the Indian Wars, and, for the purposes of this book, horse traders who made their living by travelling and trading horses before the days of the automobile. This book is a collection of the best of those stories.

Back then, due to lack of cash, no cars or trucks or other convenient transportation, and the isolation of the farms in rural Nebraska, travelling horse and mule traders with stock to swap were an important and usually welcome part of rural life. With the trader came the chance to hear some news, socialize, match wits and perhaps come out on top of a swap with some "boot" or hard-to-get cash.

These stories exude the sense of the male ego, of matching wits, and the I-did-it-to-you-first challenge that was a part of swapping stock back then. While buying a used car today may instill fear and loathing in the buyer, back then it was a two way street-both parties thought they had a chance of coming out on top and tried their best to do so. The challenge of the trade was a way of life and all parties knew the rules: watch out!

The Glossary may be worth the price of the book by itself. It not only includes terms used in trading, but also describes in simple terms the many diseases and conditions you don't want your horse or donkey to have. Another part of the book warns about and elaborates on tricks used to cover these things up. Interestingly, these pointers were part of The People's Home Library, an information source that provided advice to the public on lots of things, including how not to be had on a horse trade.

This book is funny, colorful, nostalgic and entertaining. Tall tales or not, it is well worth the reading. You need to get it.

Larry Jones

(paperback)

GENERAL

Taming The Nueces Strip
The Story of McNelly's Rangers

By George Durham as told to Clyde Wantland

This is the true story of George Durham's violent and awe inspiring adventures riding with Captain L. H. McNelly in 1875 and 1876. Durham went on to spend the rest of his life on the King Ranch, but his time with Captain McNelly had to be one of the high points of his life.

The Nueces Strip was a wild stretch of Southwest Texas plagued by bandits and rustlers following the Civil War. The Governor of Texas assigned Captain McNelly to command a company of Texas Rangers and clean it up. George Durham was the youngest Ranger in that company. This is Durham's fascinating account of those two years and his memories of an extraordinary man, Captain Leander M. McNelly.

Really good reading.

Larry Jones

(paperback)

GENERAL

The Voice of the Coyote
By J. Frank Dobie

The product of 30 years of research, this book is so good we no longer shoot coyotes on our ranch. (Actually, we don't shoot much of anything anymore because of some experiences "getting inside an animal's head" and finding out there is more there than we used to believe.) The Voice of the Coyote made me appreciate the coyote for more that just a nighttime song and may have been part of the reason for the cease fire.

Dobie once again weaves an intriging tale that wraps you up in it and educates and entertains at the same time. As with other Dobie books part of the charm is the re telling of tales from old timers who were there "back when." Fact or fiction or somewhere in between, the added color makes for a mighty interesting book.

Larry Jones

(paperback)

GENERAL

Bob Kleberg and the King Ranch
A worldwide Sea of Grass
By John Cypher

John Cypher worked for the King Ranch for forty years, a lot of that time as assistant to Bob Kleberg, mastermind of the whirlwind assent that expanded the ranch into a nine country, 15 million-acre agricultural empire. His story is one of grand dreams, bold execution, high living and hard work. It's the story of a man, albeit an exceptional one, and of his flaws, dreams, life and heritage, The King Ranch.

This is an easy to read book with an insiders perspective on a world famous ranch and one of its most memorable leaders. Cypher injects a lot of interesting stories about famous and not-so-famous visitors who stayed at the ranch which add a lot of human interest and keep the book moving.

If it's true that there is nothing constant but change, then the King Ranch is a world class example of it. The ranch was hacked out of nothing, built into an empire, expanded globally, and then torn back down and is now being converted into who knows what for the future. This book enhances our understanding of the changes that occurred during the glory years and provides the perspective for changes to come.

Larry Jones

(paperback)

(hard cover)

LONGHORNS

The Longhorns
By J. Frank Dobie

This book is classic Dobie in style and is "the book" on Texas Longhorns. Romanticizing his subject as few others can, Dobie makes the Texas Longhorn "walk on water". Those of us that love these wonderful animals believe it all. For anyone with an interest in this breed, and especially anyone intending to have Longhorns of their own, this book is a must read. For anyone else with a feel for the Southwestern United States, or cowboys, or the land or large animals, it's time well spent.

Dobie takes us through the history of the breed, through the animal, through the men and women that loved, used and abused them, and through the many tales that surround them, both fiction and fact. The animal stands large in this work, but the flavor of the old days, of the hardships, of the ranch life, of the love for the land of the people who lived and died there is a part of it too.

This is a comprehensive, extensively researched work. In true Dobie style, he makes you a part of it, so you can taste it and feel it and savor it. It's a pleasant experience. Try it.

Larry Jones

(paperback)

CHILDREN'S BOOKS

The Christmas Donkey

By Gillian McClure

Ages 4 to 8

A wonderful Christmas story for children.

Sandy Jones