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Gentle Like A Cyclone: Stories Of Horses And Their Riders
selected by Phyllis R. Renner, Illustrated by Lorence Bjorklund
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1974
About the author
Phyllis R. Fenner
86 books6 followersPhyllis Reid Fenner was an American librarian, writer, anthologist, and storyteller.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
March 21, 2026
The best thing about this bad anthology was the illustrator. Bjorkland is excellent with a pencil. Horses are realistic and vibrant. Too bad his talents were wasted on this book.
There was only one story I'd never read before, the final story. All of the others have been printed in other anthologies. Only two of these stories are any good. In another two, the horses senselessly die. Another two aren't even proper horse stories, but people stories with horses sprinkled throughout.
Selections:
* "Horse Sense" by Our Editor. A whopping two paragraph intro about why horses are so fab.
* "That Mark Horse" by Jack Schaefer. From The Plainsman. A decent beginning, but you can find this in other anthologies. It's a monologue from a cowboy trying to sell a string of horses ... but not his favorite horse, the ever-frustrating Mark.
* "Blood Royal" by Montgomery M. Atwater. The first story about Tuckee, horse of a forest ranger. This story is found in a zillion horse anthologies.
* "Breakneck Hill" by Esther Forbes. A guy gives his horse Cuddy, scheduled to be shot for visciousness, a last ride. Gee, thanks for nothing, Esther. Unbelievably, this crap can be found in more anthologies than "That Mark Horse."
* "Chiltipiquin" by William Brandon. Rather bizarre story of a Mexican theif and his colt, named after a type of red pepper. WARNING: Tons of animals die in quicksand.
* "Throw Your Heart Over" by Stuart Cloete. Such a gosh-darm heartwarming story set in 1959 of a white South African girl with polio who learns to ride. No -- this hasn't exactly aged well.
* "Last Bronc" by Colin Lofting. Long, dull story of a rodeo cowboy, with horses just in the background. Amazingly, this can be found in at least one other horse anthology.
* "Lanko's White Mare" by H. E. Bates. Guy abuses his mare and she drops dead. Jesus Christ on a cracker.
* "Jeremy Rodock" by Jack Schaefer. From The Plainsman. Although a reasonably interesting novella about an old horse breeder hankering for revenge on a trio of horse theives, this really isn't about horses. It's about people. There are some scenes of animal cruelty here.
There was only one story I'd never read before, the final story. All of the others have been printed in other anthologies. Only two of these stories are any good. In another two, the horses senselessly die. Another two aren't even proper horse stories, but people stories with horses sprinkled throughout.
Selections:
* "Horse Sense" by Our Editor. A whopping two paragraph intro about why horses are so fab.
* "That Mark Horse" by Jack Schaefer. From The Plainsman. A decent beginning, but you can find this in other anthologies. It's a monologue from a cowboy trying to sell a string of horses ... but not his favorite horse, the ever-frustrating Mark.
* "Blood Royal" by Montgomery M. Atwater. The first story about Tuckee, horse of a forest ranger. This story is found in a zillion horse anthologies.
* "Breakneck Hill" by Esther Forbes. A guy gives his horse Cuddy, scheduled to be shot for visciousness, a last ride. Gee, thanks for nothing, Esther. Unbelievably, this crap can be found in more anthologies than "That Mark Horse."
* "Chiltipiquin" by William Brandon. Rather bizarre story of a Mexican theif and his colt, named after a type of red pepper. WARNING: Tons of animals die in quicksand.
* "Throw Your Heart Over" by Stuart Cloete. Such a gosh-darm heartwarming story set in 1959 of a white South African girl with polio who learns to ride. No -- this hasn't exactly aged well.
* "Last Bronc" by Colin Lofting. Long, dull story of a rodeo cowboy, with horses just in the background. Amazingly, this can be found in at least one other horse anthology.
* "Lanko's White Mare" by H. E. Bates. Guy abuses his mare and she drops dead. Jesus Christ on a cracker.
* "Jeremy Rodock" by Jack Schaefer. From The Plainsman. Although a reasonably interesting novella about an old horse breeder hankering for revenge on a trio of horse theives, this really isn't about horses. It's about people. There are some scenes of animal cruelty here.
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