Half Broke

A Memoir

By: Ginger Gaffney

Narrated by: Christa Lewis

At the start of this remarkable story of recovery, healing, and redemption, Ginger Gaffney answers a call to help retrain the troubled horses at an alternative prison ranch in New Mexico, a facility run entirely by the prisoners. The horses are scavenging through the dumpsters, kicking and running down the residents when they bring the trash out after meals. One horse is severely injured.

The horses and residents arrive at the ranch broken in one way or many: the horses are defensive and terrified, while the residents, some battling drug and alcohol addictions, are emotionally and physically shattered. With deep insight into how animals and humans communicate through posture, body language, and honesty of spirit, Gaffney walks us through her struggle to train the untrainable.

Gaffney peels away the layers of her own story - a solitary childhood, painful introversion, and a transformative connection with her first horse, a filly named Belle - and she, too, learns to trust people as much as she trusts horses. As her year-long odyssey builds toward a dramatic conclusion, the group experiences triumphs and failures, brave recoveries and relapses, as well as betrayals and moving stories of trust and belonging.

©2020 Ginger Gaffney (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Great.

I enjoyed Half Broke. It certainly was eye opening. I read it for the horse interest. But the human stories just broke my heart. So little hope in their lives or futures. It's a little disjointed. But still good. Yes, bored, unruly horses are no fun for anyone.

Excellent book! Totally enjoyed it!!

Excellent book for anyone who loves horses and for people who are trying to make it in a difficult World from difficult circumstances it was a treasure to read!

Great story ! Odd narration ,sometimes robotic

I love true life inspirational stories and this one didnt disappoint! Narration was periodically odd.

Wonderful Story, Reader Sounds AI

I loved the stories told within this book. Some felt like short stories that were mixed in but it all worked. I came to care for the folks at the ranch and have empathy for the author and her challenges. I think I would have enjoyed the book more had I read it instead of listening to it.

I was not a fan of the reader. At times, it sounded mechanical and AI. If the reader was a real person, there were a number of equine-related words that were either mispronounced or had the emphasis on the wrong syllable. As someone involved in the equine industry, these stuck out like a sore thumb. It didn’t seam that the editor or producer understood how some things were pronounced.

Amazing Experience

You don’t have to be a horse person to be captivated by this book. You need only to be open to learning about humans and horses. There is so much deep honesty and confession in Ginger Gaffney’s words that I am a changed person having read Half Broke.