This is a western that tells you things
you didn’t know instead of repeating the timeworn clichés. True enough, the
central character is a cowboy and “the worst no-account fool west of the
Mississippi but the finest horseman anywhere.”
He’s got his eye on a girl who’s his
boss’s granddaughter, an independent-minded suffragist he lacks the class for. But
further resemblance to the standard western formula ends there. The plot of the
novel involves a “big hitch” of six matched Clydesdales, who perform in public
for an Omaha brewer, and that makes all the difference.
Plot. Mase Grayson is discovered by the brewer,
August Heillman, on an excursion into Arizona Territory in search of an
artesian well to supply water for a new brewery. Hooking up a team of wild
horses and mules to cross a flooding creek bordered by quicksand, Mase demonstrates a fearless and uncanny command of draft stock.
He is soon hired on by Heillman as driver
for his Clydesdales. They have been disappointing him in competitions and
reflecting poorly on the Golden Age Beer they represent. Only problem: the team
already has a driver, one Chauncey Battlestock.
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| Budweiser Clydesdale hitch |
He’s an Englishman with not only a
proprietary attitude toward his hitch of horses. As a former sergeant-major in
the Royal Horse Guards, wounded in India, he has no intention of yielding rank
to a scruffy cowboy. As a further hold on his position, he’s also won the
affections of Heillman’s granddaughter, Ilene, who is ready to run off with him
if the old man will not approve of a marriage.
Mase settles for a job breaking and
training three-year-olds and eventually hatches a plan to put together a Big
Hitch of unmatched teams. This is where you learn something you probably don’t
already know, and horse lovers among readers should be especially taken by how
Reese presents the subject.
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| John Henry Reese |
Romance blooms confusingly for Ilene as
she finds herself drawn to Mase despite her attachment to Chauncey. And a
crisis looms as Chauncey loses face as a driver unable to bring home the blue
ribbons like he used to. Mase finally has to save the day—with both teams of
Clydesdales and something called “the water trick” he once learned from
Indians.
Wrapping up. At 168 pages, Big Hitch is a short novel with much to
recommend it in the way of humor, strong characters, conflict, and suspense.
You won’t look at the Budweiser Clydesdales again without thinking, “Oh, I know
something about that.”
Big Hitch is currently available at amazon and
AbeBooks. For more of Friday’s Forgotten Books, click over to Patti Abbott’sblog.
Further reading:
Image credits:
Budweiser hitch, Wikimedia Commons
Author's photo, goodreads.com
Coming up: Glossary of frontier fiction
"a former sergeant-major in the Royal Horse Guards"
ReplyDelete...except there is no such rank as sergeant-major in the Royal Horse Guards. The equivalent is corporal-major.
Thanks for clearing that up. Reese either didn't know or was taking liberties.
DeleteRon, you are right about the Budweiser Clydesdales. I've seen these horses in pictures but I'd never heard of the term Clydesdale defined as a "Heavy feathered-legged breed of draft horse originally from Scotland." The "big hitch" is an interesting idea for a plot.
ReplyDeleteThis one appears to be one that has to go on my TBR list.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the main character. Will have to give this one a look.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip, Ron.
ReplyDelete