This is a well written book about the mustang, the feral horses of North America. Mr. Dobie, was a Texas liberal Democrat who was fired from his job at the University of Texas for being aghast at the firing of another liberal professor. He also taught American History at the University of Cambridge in England during WWII. He was very well versed in Texas history. Not all cowboys are rednecks, you see. ( )

This is one of several books Dobie wrote about Texas during the times of the open range, before the fences came. It’s rich in folklore, marked by some wonderful language, and somehow, without a time-linear trend, gives a nice history of the Mustangs from the first horses introduced by the Spanish, to the almost complete removal of all wild horses in North America. The stories, largely folklore, cover the Spanish conquistadors, the Native America handling of horses, the Anglo, Mexican, Native American and South American Mustangers who would capture the wild horses, and, of course, the cowboys and gauchos who used the horses as a fundamental part of their livelihood. For me, the best stories were about the wild Mustangs themselves, wild and free, and unhindered by men. But, as much as I liked it, I found it a tough read. The topic is a little obscure, as are the stories. I was never riveted and completely sucked up into the book. I had to read it small bits at a time. ( )