The American mustang-wild, wind-tossed, and thundering across the open West-might have vanished into myth if not for Velma Bronn Johnston. A shy woman who was left with physical effects from a childhood battle with polio, Johnston was living a quiet life on a struggling ranch near Reno, Nevada, when she discovered wild horses being brutally transported to slaughter. Outraged, she reported it-only to be offered a permit allowing her to do the same horrific deed. But instead of backing down, Johnston took a stand. Her refusal to profit from cruelty launched her into a firestorm of activism, upending her life. Laughed at, threatened, and dismissed, she pressed on. When a rival mocked her as "Wild Horse Annie," she seized the name as a badge of honor and purpose. Embracing her new identity, she began to raid illegal holding pens under the cover of darkness, captivated the media, and became the voice of a movement. Her biggest allies? Schoolchildren across America, whose letter-writing campaign swept the country. Johnston's commitment to these majestic animals was finally recognized in 1971 when Congress unanimously passed legislation to protect the nation's wild horses-an enduring victory for one determined woman and the animals she refused to abandon. Award-winning author Terri Farley presents the captivating story of Horse Girl, revealing Velma Bronn Johnston in a new light through family photos and journal entries never before published. Farley's storytelling brings Johnston's unwavering courage into the spotlight, revealing a woman determined to protect the wild mustang-no matter the cost.
Terri Farley has always loved books, horses, and wild places. One of those wild places was inner-city Los Angeles, where she first taught high school English and journalism before moving to Nevada. Farley now rides and hikes the range, and spends time researching and writing the books that have made her an acclaimed author and advocate for the West's wildlife-especially wild horses. She is the author of the Phantom Stallion adventure series and Wild at Heart: Mustangs and the Young People Fighting to Save Them. She was inducted into the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame in 2017.
"This is the little-known history of how the American mustang was saved from slaughter and extinction largely by the determined efforts of one woman. But beyond that, it is a story of a young girl's coming of age, and a window into a way of life that although not far in the past has now almost entirely disappeared from our world. I was completely taken with it from the first page." -Molly Gloss, award winning author of The Jump-Off Creek and The Hearts of Horses "At a time when environmental news seems to be nearly all bad, here is an uplifting, inspiring story about a compassionate, intelligent, ethically centered woman who rose above her personal challenges to achieve meaningful protections for fellow creatures in the Intermountain West. Horse Girl is a compelling, well-written narrative about a remarkable Nevadan whose accomplishments deserve to be more widely known and celebrated." -Michael P. Branch, author of On the Trail of the Jackalope and Raising Wild
