Sketches from the Ranch

Dan Aadland is a former teacher who ranches and breeds horses near Absarokee, Montana. He is the author of seven books, including The Best of All Seasons: Fifty Years as a Montana Hunter (Nebraska 2007) and The Complete Trail Horse: Selecting, Training, and Enjoying Your Horse in the Backcountry.

• PrefaceIntroductionAcknowledgmentsA Note to the ReaderTHE RANCHSPRING1. Calving - The stud colt - A new "snipe hunt" - The nature of the cow - A close call - Lion bait2. "Freedom, heyday," cried Caliban - My breakout - Pronghorns - St. Olaf - Rattlesnakes under the outhouse3. A decidion about the stud colt - The story of the leg - A premature trip to the funeral home4. Testosterone machines - A spring ride - Killer baby antelope - Banks and noxious weeds5. Stallions, mares, and foals - Centaurs and minotaursSUMMER6. Pancho and Lefty - Running W's - The one-hoss shay - A bend in Butcher Creek7. A big head of water - Reedy River - Hunting fish - Dead end - Sweet Charlotte - Steeplechase8. Dry times - A shovel for a shield9. White shorts and tennis shoes10. Starting a filly11. Farrier tales12. First ride - A lady vet - Horse trading - Bicycles for bracelets13. A big expensive bucket of bolts - Overshot stackers - Sergeant Fleming - "A time to sow, a time to reap"FALL14. A dusting on the mountains - New neighbor - A nice Lutheran girl - Return of the stud colt15. Roundup - Elsie's pets16. "Some people prefer dogs" - On eating your friends: Napoleon and Squealer17. Moose18. Weaning time - Discovery in the hillsWINTER19. A lone sentinel - Coyotes - Patience20. Requiem21. El solEpilogueAbout the Artist

"Dan Aadland is a cultivated, witty and intelligent inside observer of ranch life. This is a valuable and entertaining book."—Thomas McGuane, author of Missouri Breaks "In many ways, [Dan Aadland's] writing will be most powerful in capturing the uniqueness and importance of this way of life."—Marc Racicot, former governor of Montana "Running through this engaging book is Aadland's love of the Montana landscape and its inhabitants, and his implicit destruction of the politically correct myth that ranchers are ruthless exploiters of nature."—Robert C. Steensma, Western American Literature