The author of this interesting book was a cattle rancher. He bought a third ranch because the spread was so gorgeous, wanting to care for the land and practice good husbandry. Got the idea to run horses on it instead of cattle, and after lots of planning, research, even visit to the nation's capital, he got permission and funding from the Bureau of Land Management to turn it into a wild horse sanctuary. Fifteen hundred unadoptable mustangs, which had previously been living in corrals at a management facility, became his to care for. It's heartening to read about someone who cares about animals so much and wants to better their lives. How he studied the horses' behavior, learned how to work with them, even taught them (everyone thought that was impossible) to accept human presence and follow men on horseback, so he could move them between pastures to keep the land sustainable.

Throughout his account of establishing and running the wild horse sanctuary, the pages are enriched with stories of past horses and experiences that he learned from. I really enjoyed reading all that. There's also frustrations in running the ranch and sticky doings with bureaucracy. In the end I found myself becoming angry alongside the author at the decisions of higher-ups that didn't at all seem to be in the best interest of the horses. And even though he ended up sans wild horses, turning the ranch back into a cattle operation, there is a relatively good ending and I found I was satisfied with how things turned out (mostly because I appreciated the author's integrity in how he worked with animals, people, and the land).

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