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The Western Legacies Series
Horses That Buck: The Story of Champion Bronc Rider Bill Smith
When asked in an interview what he most liked about rodeo, three-time world champion saddle-bronc rider “Cody” Bill Smith said simply, “Horses that buck.” Smith redefined the image of America’s iconic cowboy. Determined as a boy to escape a miner’s life in Montana, he fantasized a life in rodeo and went on to earn thirteen trips to the national finals, becoming one of the greatest of all riders.This biography puts readers in the saddle to experience the life of a champion rider in his quest for the gold buckle. Drawing on interviews with Smith and his family and friends, Margot Kahn recreates the days in the late 1960s and early 1970s when rodeo first became a major sports enterprise. She captures the realities of that world: winning enough money to get to the next competition, and competing even when in pain. She also tells how, in his career’s second phase, Smith married cowgirl Carole O’Rourke and went into business raising horses, gaining notoriety for his gentle hand with animals and winning acclaim for his and Carole’s Circle 7 brand.
Inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1979 and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2000, Smith was a legend in his own time. His story is a genuine slice of rodeo life—a life of magic for those good enough to win. This book will delight rodeo and cowboy enthusiasts alike.
Inducted into the Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 1979 and the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum’s Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2000, Smith was a legend in his own time. His story is a genuine slice of rodeo life—a life of magic for those good enough to win. This book will delight rodeo and cowboy enthusiasts alike.
208 pages, Hardcover
First published May 15, 2008
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28 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
April 12, 2021
Horses That Buck is about Bill Smith and is written by Margot Kahn. Bill Smith is a three-time World Champion Saddle Bronc Rider. The book shows his life experiences and many triumphs he encountered to reach those titles. Along with many hardships and health concerns that made him change his direction of career. He then went on to training colts instead of bronc riding. Bill now puts on the WYO sale every year, where around fifty colts are sold. Horses That Buck is an excellent book because of the descriptive text, and shows how ProRodeo was back then.
Margot does a very good job at being descriptive in every part of the book. It helps the reader understand what is going on as though they were experiencing it themselves. Those who aren’t knowledgeable in bronc riding or rodeo in general, get a good understanding of what goes into it. An example of this kind of text is on page number 121. “The horse lunged, and Bill followed, thrusting his heels into the muscled shoulders, raising his right hand high in the air. The horse’s front hooves slammed into the dirt and sank, the chest and shoulders taking the impact and the weight for the beast and Bill on its back. Bill’s spurs caught and held him in the saddle as the horse bucked, throwing its hind feet out behind and up into the air in a forceful punch.“ That is describing one of BIll’s bronc rides he made in Cheyenne Wyoming. Every movement made was told and gives a good idea what in a bronc ride.
The time period that this book was set in makes this book even more interesting. It was about Bill’s life in the late 1960’s to late 1980’s. ProRodeo has changed so much since then, and even money values have. Back then the amount of winnings earned was way less than they are now. It showed how much harder it was to make a living off rodeo alone. A time when the book showed the money value difference was on page 34. “Bill showed up later that and told his mom and his youngest brother, Rick, to get in the car. He drove them downtown, directly to the optometrist. His mother had never had eyeglasses, which she needed badly, and Bill took her to buy a pair. Then he took Rick and bought him a whole new set of clothes, a full outfit from the boots to the top.” Bill just won his first rodeo and earned $660, which then he had to treat his family with. It was fascinating now little the check was yet went a long ways to purchase items for his family.
Horses That Buck is about the world champion, Bill Smith. The text is very detailed and clear showing what all went into every part of the book. Along with the bronc rides it made a reader feel as though they were on that horse themselves receiving the same adrenaline, but without the physical pain. The setting of when the writing was in, shows how much everything has changed. From ProRodeo evolving, to the money value difference, and even showing how much work was into just making paying the bills. That is why Horses That Buck is an excellent book that received 5 out of 5 stars from me.
Margot does a very good job at being descriptive in every part of the book. It helps the reader understand what is going on as though they were experiencing it themselves. Those who aren’t knowledgeable in bronc riding or rodeo in general, get a good understanding of what goes into it. An example of this kind of text is on page number 121. “The horse lunged, and Bill followed, thrusting his heels into the muscled shoulders, raising his right hand high in the air. The horse’s front hooves slammed into the dirt and sank, the chest and shoulders taking the impact and the weight for the beast and Bill on its back. Bill’s spurs caught and held him in the saddle as the horse bucked, throwing its hind feet out behind and up into the air in a forceful punch.“ That is describing one of BIll’s bronc rides he made in Cheyenne Wyoming. Every movement made was told and gives a good idea what in a bronc ride.
The time period that this book was set in makes this book even more interesting. It was about Bill’s life in the late 1960’s to late 1980’s. ProRodeo has changed so much since then, and even money values have. Back then the amount of winnings earned was way less than they are now. It showed how much harder it was to make a living off rodeo alone. A time when the book showed the money value difference was on page 34. “Bill showed up later that and told his mom and his youngest brother, Rick, to get in the car. He drove them downtown, directly to the optometrist. His mother had never had eyeglasses, which she needed badly, and Bill took her to buy a pair. Then he took Rick and bought him a whole new set of clothes, a full outfit from the boots to the top.” Bill just won his first rodeo and earned $660, which then he had to treat his family with. It was fascinating now little the check was yet went a long ways to purchase items for his family.
Horses That Buck is about the world champion, Bill Smith. The text is very detailed and clear showing what all went into every part of the book. Along with the bronc rides it made a reader feel as though they were on that horse themselves receiving the same adrenaline, but without the physical pain. The setting of when the writing was in, shows how much everything has changed. From ProRodeo evolving, to the money value difference, and even showing how much work was into just making paying the bills. That is why Horses That Buck is an excellent book that received 5 out of 5 stars from me.
February 16, 2015
A good writer can take a subject foreign to themselves and/or their readership and bring it to life, infuse it with the energy of compelling interest.
Having grown up around rodeo in Kansas, but without an affiliation or affection for it, my reading of Margot's book was simply to read a friend's work.
It takes not a good writer but a great writer to bring to life a story that inserts you into it when you have familiarity with the subject, and puts you out the other end rapt with an attention for something you had dismissed. Margot is that writer. Her non-fiction narrative is full of nuance, moves effortlessly across Bill Smith's life, never pandering and always moving. I thoroughly enjoyed it, more importantly I felt it.
I recommend picking it up at your local independent bookseller. Mine is Elliott Bay Books.
Philip Swanstrom Shaw
Having grown up around rodeo in Kansas, but without an affiliation or affection for it, my reading of Margot's book was simply to read a friend's work.
It takes not a good writer but a great writer to bring to life a story that inserts you into it when you have familiarity with the subject, and puts you out the other end rapt with an attention for something you had dismissed. Margot is that writer. Her non-fiction narrative is full of nuance, moves effortlessly across Bill Smith's life, never pandering and always moving. I thoroughly enjoyed it, more importantly I felt it.
I recommend picking it up at your local independent bookseller. Mine is Elliott Bay Books.
Philip Swanstrom Shaw
May 11, 2009
Biography of a top-ranked world champion rodeo bronc rider of the 60s and 70s -- NOT a natural topic of interest for me, but written by the woman I used to babysit every week in high school (but when she was a girl, so not as weird as that sounds) so I thought I'd give it a try. It really is beautifully written, and while most of it is an account of Bill Smith's rodeo days, I especially liked reading about the post-rodeo years -- his description of the challenge of retiring from the all-consuming rodeo life, and his approach to training horses and people today.
August 12, 2008
This is not the type of book I would ordinarily think to pick up, but after attending the book release party and hearing the author (who just happens to be one of my favorite students - but I'm not biased) read from it, I looked forward to cracking open my very own autographed copy.
Read
May 19, 2010Non fiction biography. Although this author attended our bookclub and provided flowing descriptions of Bill and his life, the written work didn' have enough "relationship meat" to keep me interested. Was more of a report of events, rather than the "story"
Want to read
August 31, 2008Written by my sister's niece. I'm looking forward to reading this one.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews