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"Within the firm walls of flesh that held him prisoner the foal kicked out angrily. He did not want to be born."

What an amazing opening for a novel! In two short sentences O'Hara deftly sketches the personality of the difficult, willful horse around which the story will turn. But I suspect she is also giving us a hint of the novel's central theme: the often pain-filled physical and emotional struggles that are an inevitable part of life for both humans and animals.

I think O'Hara outdoes herself on nature descriptions in this book. I actually found myself looking for real estate listings in Wyoming. Hey, Karlyne, got any more leads for good buys in your neighborhood? I found myself succumbing to the call of high mountain passes the way I, an East Coastal water baby, usually find myself longing for the ocean.

I think this is definitely foreshadowing of the difficulties and misunderstandings ahead for everyone on the ranch.

I never saw it until this re-reading!

Have you gotten to know horses as personalities, Peggy?

Hana wrote: "Have you gotten to know horses as personalities, Peggy?"

Sadly, only through books and movies. But the horses certainly have vivid personalities in this trilogy.

The preparations that Rob and Nell make for winter in Chapter 8 make the toughness of life on the ranch very clear. And the rats! "They kept the Marlin twenty-two handy and shot those that got past the cats." Yikes.

Hana wrote: "I think O'Hara outdoes herself on nature descriptions in this book. I actually found myself looking for real estate listings in Wyoming. Hey, Karlyne, got any more leads for good buys in your neigh..."

Haha, Hana! The Californians already have us surrounded! Actually, a couple from California did buy the ten acres next to us a couple of years ago, and then their good friends bought the last ten acre piece on our other side. We have the twenty acres in the middle, so our solitude is pretty uninterrupted - and they've turned out to be absolutely sterling neighbors. But, if anybody decides to sell, you'll be first to know!

Glad the Californians are proving friendly ;) When one of my aunts and her family moved to Southern California they all gradually went a little weird....as for me I never could consider palm trees as real trees :D

The Never Summer Range that keeps cropping up in Thunderhead is just gorgeous.

Wyoming is breath-taking - if you get off the Interstate! When my daughter lived in Cheyenne, I took every route imaginable to get there and avoid the highway. Spectacular state!

Palm trees are NOT trees.

No palm trees there!

Karlyne wrote: "Palm trees are NOT trees." HA! I just knew that rumor couldn't be true ;)

I actually think this range is in Colorado. The horses don't care about state borders.

Hana wrote: "I actually think this range is in Colorado. The horses don't care about state borders."

I think it is, because I looked up the actual ranch when I was reading her autobiography and it's south of the interstate, which is super close to Colorado. We took a day trip with the kids through there, lakes and streams and green grass, one summer (they used to camp up there often), and I loved it. Louis Lamour wrote a book or two featuring that area; if I remember right, Down the Long Hills runs through a part of it!