Winner of the High Plains Book Award
“The most beautifully written rodeo or human story I have ever read.” Larry Mahan, six-time World Champion All-Around Cowboy
Bill Smith redefined the image of America’s iconic cowboy. Determined to escape a miner’s life in Montana, he went down the road as a professional rodeo cowboy in 1960 and became, over twenty years, one of the greatest bronc riders of all time. But when he retired at the age of 40, at the top of his game, Smith still had a lifetime ahead of him. With the help of master horsemen Tom Dorrance and Ray Hunt, Smith learned a new way to ride--and a new way to love and live. Original, inspiring, and quietly moving, Horses That Buck is the portrait of a modern man who helped shape the new American West.
In print from Elliott Bay Book Company, University of Oklahoma Press, Amazon.com, and your local bookstore. Or listen to the audiobook, narrated by Wilford Brimley, with Libro.fm or Audible.
A marvelously told biography of Bill Smith, the Montana native who became a long-running champion rodeo bronc rider. (Kahn’s) meticulous effort pays real dividends. – THE SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
“In Margot Kahn’s carefully rendered and lovingly told biography of Bill Smith, we find the story of how a talented and determined man forges himself into a champion, both inside the arena and out. Horses That Buck is about family and freedom and, ultimately, how they braid themselves together in the human heart.” – Mark Spragg, author of Where Rivers Change Direction
A captivating portrait. – THE MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW
… draws us into the meaning of life from a fresh perspective. A well-researched introspection offers an honest and intriguing look into the culture of Western rodeo as it developed along the timeline of Bill Smith’s life. – BIG SKY JOURNAL
For the rodeo tales alone, Horses That Buck is a must-have. Inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1979 and the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum’s Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2000, Smith’s accomplishments in several facets of the horse industry are worthy of being celebrated. For those who’ve witnessed his abilities firsthand, Kahn's biography provides a great account of how a broke young boy went from sneaking into rodeos to accepting gold buckles on the sport’s biggest stage. – THE WESTERN HORSEMAN
