Half Broke, Ginger Gaffney
Half Broke, Ginger Gaffney
4 Rating(s)
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Half Broke
A Memoir

Author: Ginger Gaffney

Narrator: Christa Lewis

Unabridged: 8 hr 12 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 03/17/2020


Synopsis

At the start of this remarkable story of recovery, healing, and redemption, Ginger Gaffney answers a call to help retrain the troubled horses at an alternative prison ranch in New Mexico, a facility run entirely by the prisoners. The horses are scavenging through the dumpsters, kicking and running down the residents when they bring the trash out after meals. One horse is severely injured.

The horses and residents arrive at the ranch broken in one way or many: the horses are defensive and terrified, while the residents, some battling drug and alcohol addictions, are emotionally and physically shattered. With deep insight into how animals and humans communicate through posture, body language, and honesty of spirit, Gaffney walks us through her struggle to train the untrainable.

Gaffney peels away the layers of her own story—a solitary childhood, painful introversion, and a transformative connection with her first horse, a filly named Belle—and she, too, learns to trust people as much as she trusts horses. As her year-long odyssey builds toward a dramatic conclusion, the group experiences triumphs and failures, brave recoveries and relapses, as well as betrayals and moving stories of trust and belonging.

About Ginger Gaffney

Ginger Gaffney is a top-ranked horse trainer. She received an MFA from the Institute of American Indian Arts in Santa Fe, and her work has been published in Tin House and Utne Reader. She lives in Velarde, New Mexico.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Athena on March 04, 2024

Review copy provided in exchange for an honest review. I sat on this review for a long, long time because i just...idk. I am a horse person who spent a few years riding professionally in various environments and I don't know what I was expecting here. All the descriptions say the author is a "top ra......more

Goodreads review by Felicity on December 26, 2019

Compelling read about surrendering control, asking for cooperation, and learning to listen. How we can heal ourselves when we can learn to do these things. All through the vehicle of horse training, and building confidence for people who have not had much of a chance in life. Beautiful, empathetic s......more

Goodreads review by Tiffany on March 17, 2022

Touching. I read this book in two sittings. If you love anyone who has struggled with addition, this story will resonate. The cycle of hope, disappointment, frustration, and heartbreak play out again and again. I cried a few times in recognition of how a relapse ripples outward. How fortunate that G......more

Goodreads review by Stephanie on October 04, 2019

Powerful memoir! Raw and honest I was captivated by the pain expressed by Ginger and her livestock team. But there was purpose ,hope and progress and this made for an inspiring read. I loved it and couldn’t put it down!......more

Goodreads review by Kayla on January 22, 2020

Thanks to Net Galley and the publisher for allowing me to read this ARC! Ginger Gaffney’s Half Broke will likely be filed under nonfiction as It deals with the rehabilitation of both humans and animals on a New Mexico ranch. I would like to suggest it have be given the sub-categorization of poetry, b......more