I got this book back when I was going through my everything horse phase. It's a coming on age / running away to join the rodeo story. It's akin to the Journey of Natty Gan but not quite as good. ( )

Abandoned at birth to the mercies of Missouri children's services and raised mostly in foster homes, Ann Tucker has one prized possession - a silver trophy belt buckle from the National Finals Rodeo. She's had it since before she can remember, along with a yen for horses, but when Tuck, as she calls herself, realizes just what the buckle is, she decides that rodeo's in her blood and she might as well answer the call.

Fiction being what it is, although the odds are against her, Tuck manages to hook up with a goodhearted elderly bullfighter and his grandmotherly wife. Fascinated by the cowboys, speed, sights, smells, and drama of her new surroundings - not to mention actual, real live horses! - Tuck is a bit dismayed to find that if she wants to be successful in rodeo, the only event open to women at a professional level that might make her a living is barrel racing (as opposed to buckle bunny - a suggestion also made).

A quick study, she's also aware that a career in barrel racing isn't going to be easy, or cheap - after all, she doesn't even have a horse - yet. But Tuck takes challenge & adversity in stride. It isn't long before she acquires a roughstring washout bound for the kill pen for failing to buck, and friends willing to teach her about horses and the rodeo way of life. Along the way to her own rodeo finals, Tuck also learns a few lessons on the value of friendship, what makes a family, and the places a good horse can take her.

Written in the early 1980s, there are a few dated details, but surprisingly little at the heart of the story doesn't ring as true today as it did twenty-five years ago. ( )