Tame the Wild Stallion

by J.R. Williams, Jeanne Williams, Walle Conoly (Illustrator)

A Texas boy spends a year in captivity on a Mexican hacienda, where he learns respect and affection for the Mexican culture and gains an understanding of what freedom really means.

182 pages, Hardcover

First published April 28, 1985

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Jeanne Williams also published under this name.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jeanne Williams is the only author I have met in person, so I have a soft spot for her and her work. She still lives in Portal, Arizona, a tiny little town in the Chiricahua Mountains northeast of Douglas, where I lived before moving to Mexico. I may be farther away now, but I still consider Williams a neighbor.

I've read quite a few of her titles but have only reviewed three; others were read pre-GR and were not brought down south when I moved. They are still waiting in my bookshelves up at Mom's house though, so Someday I will get to read them again.

Anyway, I found my autographed copy of Taming The Wild Stallion in a thrift shop in Douglas during one of my recent visits. The book is the first one Williams had written and was originally published in 1957. Seeing the signature (Happy Trails! -- Jeanne Williams) made me remember the first few years after I moved to Douglas. There was a drug store near the house that had a section featuring books about the area as well as books by local authors. All the ones by Jeanne Williams were signed. I always thought that was cool.

So enough trivia, right? What about this story? Tame The Wild Stallion is a book about growing up and broadening your horizons. Fifteen year-old Joe Mitchell and his dad are planning to leave the borderlands of Texas for the gold fields of California. They have spent over a year catching and taming eighty head of mustangs to sell to the army in order to fund their trip. But the very night before they plan to drive the herd to their new owners, every single horse is stolen when Joe falls asleep on watch. He feels terrible, but his dad tells him not to worry, they will go tracking the horses in the morning. Only Joe is too impatient to wait, so he sneaks off before the sun rises, planning to get the horses back on his own, since it was his fault they had been stolen.

He follows the tracks into Mexico, and just happens to find his horses and sees Indians with them. But Joe is caught by some Mexican cowboys before he can do anything. The book was set not long after the Mexican-American war of the mid-1800's, so there is much hatred on both sides of the border. What will happen to Joe when he is taken to the owner of the hacienda, whose fifteen year-old son was killed at the battle of Chapultepec? Will Joe simply be executed in revenge or will he be allowed to live and learn more about a culture he has been trained to disrespect?

I thought this was a gripping story, and would be good for any young person even these days (I should say especially these days) to read and learn from. There are differences between the people of these two countries, but many similarities as well: there is no need to be afraid or to hate simply because we do not fully understand each other. This book helps to prove that.

[Sally taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this could be a young adult book. It was good for what it is. A cute story of loyalty and accepting other cultures

[Lori Walk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rated for ages 9 and up . . . very realistic. Loved it!