A surprise birthday gift plunged Joe Camp and his wife, Kathleen, into the world of horses as complete neophytes without a clue as to what horses needed or wanted. The Camps went searching for logic and sense in the rule books of traditional horse care, and what they found was not what they had expected. This memoir leads us on a voyage of discovery as Joe and Kathleen navigate uncharted, often politically incorrect territory on their way to achieving a true relationship with their horses. As the creator of the Benji series, Joe has spent most of his life luring us into the heart and soul of a famous dog, but now he deftly lures us into the heart and soul of a horse. In doing so, he exposes astonishing truths that apply not only to horses but to life and to people as well. -- From publisher description.

Includes a foreword by Monty Roberts.

The herd -- The student -- The language -- The plot -- Raison d'être -- The starting gate -- To sleep perchance to dream -- The wild horse model -- Bloodlines -- Survival -- Relationship -- Connection -- Off with the shoes -- Nature lives -- And nature dies -- Love is the gift of oneself -- Horses aren't us -- The bond -- Feelings -- Sonny Boy and Painto -- Confined -- Cute hitching posts -- The legacy of sojourn -- The big round circus ball -- New life -- Uh-oh -- Coming down -- Mouse -- Empty stalls, again -- Part of the herd -- Synthesis -- Afterwhinny.