Workshops & Clinics. There are no upcoming events. Please contact Ginger for private individual sessions. She is available for public clinics and workshops. Contact her at: ggaffney@newmexico.com. Ginger Gaffney ggaffney@newmexico.com Publisher. Erin Lovett, Assistant Director of Publicity W.W. Norton And Company, Inc. 500 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10110 212 354-5500 ELovett@wwnorton.com Website: wwnorton.com.
Overview
Winner of a 2020 Border Regional Library Association Southwest Book Award
“Truly transcendent.” —Jessica Lustig, New York Times Book Review
Ginger Gaffney Book
This riveting memoir follows professional horse trainer Ginger Gaffney’s year-long odyssey to train a herd of neglected horses at an alternative prison ranch in New Mexico. Working with her is a small team of ranch “residents,” men and women who are each uniquely broken by addiction and incarceration. Gaffney forms a bond with them as profound as the kinship and trust the residents discover among the troubled horses. Through these unforgettable characters—both animal and human—Half Broke tells a new kind of recovery story and speaks to the life-affirming joy of finding a sense of belonging.
In the author’s note of this fascinating memoir, Ginger Gaffney lets readers know exactly what’s to come. The dialogue is drawn from memory, and yes, she’s made some character composites of the more than 50 residents at the alternative prison ranch where she volunteered during the year and a half the book covers. But some of the most compelling characters here don’t speak in words: They are horses. And in Gaffney’s book, they come alive.
Gaffney has been a horse trainer for more than 20 years. In 2013, she was called to help with a small herd of aggressive horses at an alternative prison ranch near where she lives in New Mexico. In Half Broke, Gaffney alternates reports of her visits to the ranch with flashbacks about her own circuitous path to fulfillment and success.
The ranch’s residents are former addicts and felons; few have any knowledge of livestock. Gaffney focuses on healing—for both humans and horses—and recounts in vivid prose many of their successes. A wary mare named Luna with a dangerous injury finally lets the team close enough to treat her. The inmates slowly gain confidence, and we cheer when troubled Eliza blossoms, or when Randy is motivated to lose enough weight to be able to ride.
Ginger Gaffney Half Broke
Things don’t always go smoothly, and Gaffney doesn’t shy away from setbacks when trouble strikes. But the horses never disappoint—whether it’s loyal Moo, spirited Rootbeer or damaged Luna, willing to trust and give humans another chance. Let’s hope there are more horse stories to come from Gaffney’s talented pen.