The Cowgirl and the Racehorse: A Recovery

The Cowgirl and the Racehorse offers a moving, intimate, and richly descriptive memoir on the relationship between a girl and her horses. Beginning with a traumatic horse-riding accident, Wells reflects on the personalities and characters of the many horses--both real and fictional--who have accompanied her through often difficult life experiences, teaching her strength, resilience, discipline, care, and trust.

The Cowgirl and the Racehorse is also a scholarly reflection on the many cowgirl narratives--films, television shows, music, and books--that have marked the author's life passages and which offer complex and compelling images for girls as they grow: particularly in terms of their independence of spirit and the social and familial expectations with which they are burdened. Finally, The Cowgirl and the Racehorse is a detailed examination of the ethical and societal questions raised by the sometimes dangerous and cruel, and sometimes seductive and compelling, world of horseback riding.