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Horse Heaven Hill
Hurd Blanding and his men stampeded 3,000 wild horses into a savage trap--to slaughter and sell them for chicken feed. But one young girl loved the strength and beauty of these wild animals. With the help of a wealthy rancher, she fought to free them. And only a bullet could stop her!
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
About the author
Zane Grey
1,986 books616 followersPearl Zane Grey was an American author best known for his popular adventure novels and stories that presented an idealized image of the rugged Old West. As of June 2007, the Internet Movie Database credits Grey with 110 films, one TV episode, and a series, Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater based loosely on his novels and short stories.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 29, 2024
“Horse Heaven Hill was a mountain with two rounded peaks, the vast southern gray-green slopes of which converged in an amphitheater rolling away into the level sage. The whole south front of the mountain appeared to be a bowl of horseshoe shape, tilted toward the open. The two points, leagues apart, descended in low timbered ridges to vanish on the floor of the valley.”
It was also the home of thousands of wild horses.
This Western/Romance goes onto my list of top three Zane Grey novels with Riders of the Purple Sage and The Lone Star Ranger. What this story lacks in typical western action surely makes up for with romance and character development.
Meet Lark Burrell, the most enchanting female character ever to grace a Grey novel.
“Lark was a second cousin of Marigold Wade, who had prevailed upon her father to offer a home to their orphan relative. Lark was eighteen. Most of her life she had lived in Idaho, far south of the great ranges of a still unfenced desert country. Burrell, her father, had owned a big stretch of land there, wild land which no one but Lark considered worth anything. He left it to her along with a ramshackle cabin, a fine stream of water, a few head of stock, and a drove of wild mustangs. Lark had come honestly by her love of wild horses. She had been brought up among them. She herself was like an untamed colt. But much as she desired it, she could no longer live on the profitless ranch, with only an old herder. So when the Wades sent for her, she was grateful and accepted the home offered, feeling in her heart that someday she would return to Idaho.”
Lark’s Cousin, Marigold is a beautiful woman who knows it, and doesn’t mind using her beauty and wiles to attract the affections of the local cowboy population in southern Washington state. Although she’s engaged to her lifelong friend, Stan Weston, she’s almost as wild as the mustangs that run through the valleys and mountain passes. Despite Stan’s wish to settle down and get on with their lives together, Marigold keeps postponing the nuptials because she “hasn’t lived enough yet”.
After Stan takes Lark Burrell on a tour of Horse Heaven Hill and its environs, the fun begins.
“But what had his senses grasped during this interval? Only the sailing white clouds across the blue sky, the quivering and soughing of the pine-needle foliage, the protection of the black-trunked, black-branched trees, the warmth of the sun on his face and the thick mat under his shoulders, the mingled spicy odor of pine and sage--these, and physical things that he could go on naming indefinitely, had been all that had occupied his mind. But to feel them again, as of old, their sweetness and beauty, their relation to the remote past, this was what charmed him so. Right there a connection between Lark Burrell and the cherished dreams of his boyhood had been established. Marigold Wade had never roused any associations that included his mother, or his barefoot days, his watching his image in still, deep pools, his hours on the windy sage hillsides.”
Hurd Blanding has his sights set on Marigold and the trapping of 3,000 wild horses he plans to sell to a manufacturer of chicken feed. He’ll have his hands full as he goes up against Lark Burrell and her love of horses.
There are not many scenes of guns being drawn in this moving tale, but when they are, they’re exquisite. There’s plenty of action besides, described in Grey’s vivid prose. A gem of a story all the way around.
It was also the home of thousands of wild horses.
This Western/Romance goes onto my list of top three Zane Grey novels with Riders of the Purple Sage and The Lone Star Ranger. What this story lacks in typical western action surely makes up for with romance and character development.
Meet Lark Burrell, the most enchanting female character ever to grace a Grey novel.
“Lark was a second cousin of Marigold Wade, who had prevailed upon her father to offer a home to their orphan relative. Lark was eighteen. Most of her life she had lived in Idaho, far south of the great ranges of a still unfenced desert country. Burrell, her father, had owned a big stretch of land there, wild land which no one but Lark considered worth anything. He left it to her along with a ramshackle cabin, a fine stream of water, a few head of stock, and a drove of wild mustangs. Lark had come honestly by her love of wild horses. She had been brought up among them. She herself was like an untamed colt. But much as she desired it, she could no longer live on the profitless ranch, with only an old herder. So when the Wades sent for her, she was grateful and accepted the home offered, feeling in her heart that someday she would return to Idaho.”
Lark’s Cousin, Marigold is a beautiful woman who knows it, and doesn’t mind using her beauty and wiles to attract the affections of the local cowboy population in southern Washington state. Although she’s engaged to her lifelong friend, Stan Weston, she’s almost as wild as the mustangs that run through the valleys and mountain passes. Despite Stan’s wish to settle down and get on with their lives together, Marigold keeps postponing the nuptials because she “hasn’t lived enough yet”.
After Stan takes Lark Burrell on a tour of Horse Heaven Hill and its environs, the fun begins.
“But what had his senses grasped during this interval? Only the sailing white clouds across the blue sky, the quivering and soughing of the pine-needle foliage, the protection of the black-trunked, black-branched trees, the warmth of the sun on his face and the thick mat under his shoulders, the mingled spicy odor of pine and sage--these, and physical things that he could go on naming indefinitely, had been all that had occupied his mind. But to feel them again, as of old, their sweetness and beauty, their relation to the remote past, this was what charmed him so. Right there a connection between Lark Burrell and the cherished dreams of his boyhood had been established. Marigold Wade had never roused any associations that included his mother, or his barefoot days, his watching his image in still, deep pools, his hours on the windy sage hillsides.”
Hurd Blanding has his sights set on Marigold and the trapping of 3,000 wild horses he plans to sell to a manufacturer of chicken feed. He’ll have his hands full as he goes up against Lark Burrell and her love of horses.
There are not many scenes of guns being drawn in this moving tale, but when they are, they’re exquisite. There’s plenty of action besides, described in Grey’s vivid prose. A gem of a story all the way around.
February 10, 2013
I thought this would be more Western and less Romance.
Teensy spoiler alert:
I would have given the book two stars instead of three, BUT! I appreciated that Mr Grey allowed Lark, the heroine, to save not only the day, but the man. It would have been a less enjoyable read if her love interest had done the job instead of her.
Teensy spoiler alert:
I would have given the book two stars instead of three, BUT! I appreciated that Mr Grey allowed Lark, the heroine, to save not only the day, but the man. It would have been a less enjoyable read if her love interest had done the job instead of her.
August 11, 2025
Som na nostalgickom výlete na chalupe, kde som trávila letá ako dievča a teenagerka, a na zaprášených policiach som našla Zanea Greya, ktorého som v tom období úplne hltala.
Nešlo inak ako si nejakú jeho knihu zas prečítať...
Úplne rozumiem, čo som na tých knižkách vtedy videla: nespútané a krásne hrdinky a hrdinovia, ktorí v prostredí Divokého západu zažívajú dobrodružstvá a zahoria k sebe nádhernou romantickou láskou. V tom životnom období, kedy som Greyove knižky čítala, moja dievčenská duša potrebovala práve takéto príbehy.
Po rokoch ale vidím, ako zhruba bude ten šablónovitý romantický príbeh prebiehať, už po prvých vetách o každej novej hlavnej postave, ktorá sa v príbehu objaví. Presne tak je to aj v Pohorí divokých koní. Knihu som i tak dočítala, ale od tohto autora už sa budem držať preč.
Nešlo inak ako si nejakú jeho knihu zas prečítať...
Úplne rozumiem, čo som na tých knižkách vtedy videla: nespútané a krásne hrdinky a hrdinovia, ktorí v prostredí Divokého západu zažívajú dobrodružstvá a zahoria k sebe nádhernou romantickou láskou. V tom životnom období, kedy som Greyove knižky čítala, moja dievčenská duša potrebovala práve takéto príbehy.
Po rokoch ale vidím, ako zhruba bude ten šablónovitý romantický príbeh prebiehať, už po prvých vetách o každej novej hlavnej postave, ktorá sa v príbehu objaví. Presne tak je to aj v Pohorí divokých koní. Knihu som i tak dočítala, ale od tohto autora už sa budem držať preč.
June 23, 2025
Can't believe I've been a horse girl my whole life and only just now read my first western. I loved it. It was a little boring/old fashioned/too romancy. That's why only four stars. I've heard there are more that are better. I love the love for horses and how Lark saved the wild horses and was even the one to fire the gun expertly to save her lover. It was a bit old fashioned in the depictions of love, but Lark was far from being depicted as the helpless submissive woman. Can't wait to read even more westerns!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 7, 2025
My grandpa loaded me up with his Zane Grey paperbacks. This was the first I’ve read since he passed away a few months ago. I picked it out because it was slim and would fit in my purse in case I needed something to read and the setting turned out to be near where he lived. Great characters, plot and setting—I’d read it again!
January 30, 2021
Most excellent! As a horse lover, one scene was hard to bear, and definitely not for the faint of heart. In the end, though, the good guys win and the bad guys lose. And the heroine gets her hero. :happy sigh:
January 28, 2022
Quite progressive for its time.
January 2, 2023
Easy to read Western romance. I'm not huge on romance reading, but it wasn't over the top mushy or sex-driven.
October 5, 2025
very pleasant reading
November 15, 2025
my first of Grey. enjoyed it, will read more.
June 11, 2015
I enjoyed the story and characters enough to finish the book. The prose was far from great in many places and the plot was too straightforward so I'm only giving it two stars. I did appreciate Lark and her independence. She was an interesting character who did not need a man, even though this book is definitely a romance.
June 30, 2009
Big disapointment in this Grey book. It was too much of a love story and not enough horse crap. Still flows effortlessly but totally disappointed in the storyline.
January 18, 2011
Another book by Zane Grey, when I was in the mood for westerns.
January 8, 2014
I'd swear that Zane Grey was a woman...where's all the shootin and bronco bustin?
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews