Where Horses

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School Library Journal
It's impossible to read this book with a dry eye. Poignant oil paintings, most covering full spreads, depict the collective fear, flight, captivity, and dejection of the herds of "useless" wild mustangs corralled onto Bureau of Land Management feedlots. Focusing on one horse and her cowboy rescuer (identified in the flap copy as the real-life Dayton O. Hyde), Cowley and Johnson do an admirable job of condensing the story of Hyde's dream, doggedly fulfilled, of creating an 11,000-acre South Dakota sanctuary for these displaced animals. Sentimental? Sure (and the irritating, stanzalike layout of the text doesn't help). However, readers come away with a feeling of overwhelming optimism shown by one man's ability to correct an injustice. The illustrations superbly convey the magnificence of the wilderness and the adaptation of rejuvenated, galloping residents to it.

Children's Literature
Once horses did run freely across the plains. But when the land is fenced, the horses are taken away to holding pens, where they have no space and become dispirited. A cowboy sees them and vows to get them out. He finally raises enough money to buy land in South Dakota and ship the horses there. The old lead mare, who at first seems too ill to enjoy the freedom, soon gets well again. As more horses arrive, the cowboy watches their happiness with love and satisfaction. This simply told tale of human compassion and heartless actions is visualized in double-page paintings which depict the horses first as demoralized captives and then as vigorous animals running free. They are clearly meant to stir our emotions when we compare the before and after. The scenes integrate a sense of the Dakota landscape as background to the relationship of the man and the animals. The tale is based on the true story of Dayton O. Hyde and his Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary. 2003, Boyds Mills Press,

Children's Literature - Sarah Nelson

Cowley's version of Dayton O. Hyde's quest to remove horses from their prison on the plains of the American West and free them to the Black Hills Wild Horse Sanctuary of South Dakota is a dream come true for horse lovers everywhere. Cowley and Johnson team up to effectively capture the grave injustice, great struggle and deep emotion involved in this little known story of our American frontier past. Young and old animal lovers alike will grasp the helplessness of the penned horses and rejoice in the fulfillment of the cowboy's dream to liberate them. The extraordinary paintings make the story real as the reader is able to see the beauty of the wild horses, the ugly fear of uncertainty, and the horror of the gaunt, captive horses. This delightful work of art appeals to younger readers through its accessibility and to older readers because of its beauty and powerful message. Cowley's carefully placed words tug at the deep, yet simple themes pervading this amazing story of the struggle to set horses free. 2003, Boyds Mills Press, Ages 8 to 14.