The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss
A Gentle Horse Gentler
In the winter of 1917, nineteen-year-old Martha Lessen saddles her horses
and heads for a remote county in eastern Oregon, looking for work
“gentling” wild horses. She chances on a rancher, George Bliss, who is
willing to hire her on. Many of his regular hands are off fighting the war,
and he glimpses, beneath her showy rodeo garb, a shy but strong-willed
girl with a serious knowledge of horses.
So begins the irresistible tale of a young but determined woman trying to
make a go of it in a man’s world. Over the course of several long, hard
winter months, many of the townsfolk witness Martha talking in low, sweet
tones to horses believed beyond repair -- and getting miraculous, almost
immediate results. Ultimately, her gifts will earn her a place of respect in
the community.With an elegant sweetness like that found in Plainsong, and
a winning energy as in Water for Elephants, The Hearts of Horses delivers

a heartwarming, greatly satisfying story about the unexpected and
profound connections between people and animals.
Personal Review: The Hearts of Horses by Molly Gloss
I absolutely loved this book. I am a horse person, and have no idea how
significant that fact is to my enjoyment; but certainly I liked the book more
than most books about horses, because this gal knew her stuff, where so
many authors don't. But it was also a quietly unfolding and totally
believable picture of a particular time and place and the people in it.
While I agree with an earlier reviewer that sometimes the author tells
rather than shows, I personally was happy with that. I didn't need to be
shown every encounter between people; sometimes being told they
happened is sufficient. There were in fact plenty of opportunities to be
shown things, about countryside, people, horses, and the time.
The author used an interesting convention that bothered me the first time
but I enjoyed more and more as time went along. Once in a while, and not
often, the omniscient narrator appeared to compare the time being written
about with times to come. For example, she refers to the advent of electric
power, noting that power would not come to this valley until after the next
war. After the first occasion, this was not intrusive, but gave a perspective
to the piece whenever it was employed.
The one factual criticism I might make I will also entirely forgive, but must
make note of: it is extremely unlikely that even a young woman such as
Martha would so successfully use the horse training methods described.
This is a very recent improvement in horsemanship, which developed near
to the area Ms Gloss describes, but not for another generation. Still, the
author has got it right, and it's not impossible that someone - perhaps even
particularly most likely a woman - would have developed the thinking prior
to the Dorrance brothers - and in any case, I enjoyed reading of her efforts
from the perspective of a would-be follower of that approach today, the so-
called natural horsemanship.
Martha is a very appealing, believable character that I found it very easy to
relate to personally, and the scene in which she is living is also appealing
and believable. A wonderful book.
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