"Half Broke —with its painful candor and spare, incisive prose—is captivating."
Seattle Times - Michael Upchurch
"Fascinating.… Some of the most compelling characters here don’t speak in words: They are horses. And in Gaffney’s story, they come alive."
BookPage - Deborah Hopkinson
"This marvelous memoir, peopled with folks in serious trouble of one kind or another, and the horses they care for, creatures with their own sophisticated ways of communicating, taught me as much about language as have my seventy-seven years on the planet."
"Gaffney pulls off the impressive feat of translating horses and humans. She creates lyricism through experience, landscape, and empathy."
Washington Independent Review of Books - Gretchen Lida
"With sensitive, soul-bearing prose, Gaffney weaves together her personal experiences as a horse trainer with the struggles of damaged humans and damaged horses. I was also moved by the depth of vulnerability and intuition of the horses. As Lorin Lindner’s Birds of a Feather reveals for traumatized parrots and soldiers, so Half Broke reveals for horses and parolees."
"Half Broke is the rare gift of a story exquisitely told, a book that shows us how to save ourselves by saving what we’ve left behind."
"Ginger Gaffney is a bold and original talent.… Savor this book, and then buy a copy for your best friend."
"Heartfelt and healing, Half Broke asks us to look at horses and ourselves in a new way. A very moving book for all animal lovers from a true horse whisperer."
"[Half Broke ] shows a side of New Mexico that is seldom seen—the poverty and the struggle, but also the hopefulness and odd beauty of spirit within the people and the horses."
Gaffney has a breathtaking and at times nearly otherworldly ability to read horses by closely studying their bodies, and then to capture what she sees with her prose…Perhaps even more remarkable is that she also can see the humans through the horses' eyes…
The New York Times Book Review - Jessica Lustig
11/11/2019
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. (Feb.)
2019-10-23
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.
