View the Book

It's hard to clearly see this wonderful, evocative cover on the blog home page so here it is. Book covers are interesting creatures with everyone, from authors to editors and sales people having an idea about what best represents (and will sell!) a given book.

Truth be told authors are usually at the bottom in terms of having a say. Still, we are delighted with this slightly understated look. We wanted the cover to lure the reader inside and we think it does.

The book is available within days so order from the links to the right. We hope you enjoy it and are moved by Wild Horse Annie.

Why We Picked Wild Horse Annie

We’ve written about many different people during our careers but no one as intriguing as Wild Horse Annie. As soon as we came across her story and realized that there was no biography of her life, we knew we had to write it.

Disfigured by polio Velma Bronn dreamed of having an important job, a ranch, children and a man who loved horses just a little less than he loved her. Her mother’s friends dismissed her fantasies. Women who looked like Velma didn’t marry Prince Charming. And her father didn’t believe women should work. Yet Velma fulfilled all her dreams, except for children. She became an executive secretary, and lived on the Double Lazy Heart ranch with her Prince Charming, Charlie Johnston.

She was content with life, “full to brimming”, she would have said. Then, in 1950, as she drove to her job in Reno, Nevada, she encountered a nightmare -- a truck loaded with brutalized wild horses on their way to a slaughterhouse. These horses had been captured after being chased by airplanes, with air raid sirens blaring and shot at with guns.

Velma, an animal lover, and in particular a horse lover, vowed to do something about it. Though shy and disfigured with no political savvy or money, she fought a decades long battle to protect wild horses that culminated in the federal laws of 1959 and 1971. Beneath her heroic achievements was a very real person; she loved to drink, party and belt out show tunes until all hours of the night. She was also very passionate and sometimes, in her zeal to save “the wild ones”, she would cross the line.

Being rather skeptical by nature, we initially doubted the impact of Velma on others. We just thought she was a good story. But we came across dozens of people who’d been touched, influenced and stimulated by her. Such is the true legacy of an individual which transcends what they actually accomplished.

We’ve started this blog to share some of the material that didn’t make it into the book. Hopefully you will share your experiences and pictures with us. David Cruise and Alison Griffiths