Half Broke

November 11, 2019
In this powerful debut, horse trainer Gaffney shares stories of her 18-month stint at an alternative prison ranch in northern New Mexico, which she spent teaching its residents how to work with troubled horses. The residents, felons who suffer from drug and alcohol addictions, are intimidated at first by the seemingly feral animals—“giant gods with dominion over all things.” Believing “horses mirror their owners,” Gaffney realizes that the residents have been “beaten down by poverty... by the prison system” and are “unknowingly communicating their pain to the horses.” She begins with basics, telling the residents that, “If you want these horses to respect you, you have to respect yourself.” Reflecting on her own extreme introversion, Gaffney describes how Bella, her first horse, shifted her focus outside herself, a technique the residents learn in their own horse training. Strong bonds develop between trainer, horses, and residents (success is measured by how well the residents and horses cooperate with one another), until an illicit drug cache is discovered in the barn. Half the team is subsequently kicked off the ranch, but Gaffney continues to work hard with the remaining residents. The narrative culminates in a community-wide fund-raiser showcasing the trained horses that are then sold—an event that brings attention to the program. Gaffney’s story will delight horse lovers, and her anxieties as an introvert will broaden the appeal of this passionate memoir.

November 15, 2019
An engaging debut memoir about the rehabilitation of damaged horses--and humans. The Delancey Street Foundation's New Mexico ranch is an alternative prison facility where drug offenders can serve out their sentences. Gaffney, a horse trainer and riding instructor, has volunteered at the ranch since 2013. It initially presented "the most dangerous horse situation I had ever encountered," she recalls: The herd had gone feral, raiding dumpsters and threatening their keepers. Two mares, including Luna, who had an infected facial injury, were still on the loose. The author believed that livestock team members like Tony, an ex-junkie with anger issues, and Sarah, a former addict and prostitute who'd survived multiple near-fatal attacks, were "unknowingly communicating their pain to the horses." Gaffney's first task, then, was to teach the inmates to walk with confidence. Horses "keep us present, keen, concentrating," she writes. They help Randy conquer his fears and Eliza snap out of her depression. Former addictions remain strong temptations for these residents, though. In a major setback, Gaffney found a stash of drugs and condoms under the barn floorboards, and most of the livestock team got kicked off the ranch. Sharp descriptions bring the book's human and equine characters to life while present-tense narration animates vivid vignettes: rescuing one horse from a septic field and training another in a 100-day Santa Fe Horse Shelter competition. The book shifts easily between the ranch storyline and the author's history of extreme introversion and fraught lesbian relationships. The first horse she owned, high-strung Belle, "hinged the broken parts of me back together," as did her long-term partner, Glenda. This 1990s-set strand feels less essential, but it helps build a solid trajectory of recovery as Gaffney, like the ranch's residents and horses, changes "into a softer creature...one who can finally trust others and feel like she belongs." A heartening story of healing and interspecies connection.

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December 1, 2019
Gaffney is appalled by what she sees when she arrives at the alternative prison ranch in New Mexico, where a herd of nearly feral horses lash out at anyone who dares try to control them. As Gaffney gets more acquainted with the ranch, run entirely by prisoners serving out their sentences, it becomes apparent why the horses are acting this way. Surrounded by 100 people whose every movement reflects their hard lives, from the way they hold their faces to their gait and the tension they carry in their bodies, the perceptive horses have picked up on the signals of danger. Slowly, Gaffney teaches the residents?some of whom are more willing to learn than others?how to bring the horses back to normalcy. Along the way, she learns the prisoners' stories and sees their struggles and occasional triumphs. She also recounts her own journey to ranch life, her sense of never quite fitting in, and how she found solace with these beautiful, powerful animals. With exciting showdowns and poignant moments, Half Broke finds freedom in self-control.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2019

As recent news stories have shown, the bond between human and horse can be supremely healing, something top-ranked horse trainer Gaffney proves handily with her work at an alternative prison ranch in New Mexico. There, she brings together residents--often addicted, certainly broken physically and emotionally--with aggressive, sometimes abused or abandoned horses, to teach them both trust.

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