Big Red: A Wild Stallion

by Rutherford G. Montgomery

There was a time when there were many wild horses on our western ranges. They had their beginnings mostly from horses shipped into this country by the Spanish explorers. Bands of horses were allowed to run loose so that they could forage for grass. Many of them simply deserted the camp and trail herds and became wild. Later on, economic changes added to these wild bands. When a railroad was built into the Comstock Lode country in Nevada, the Wells' Fargo freight and passenger stages had to give up the log trail routes. This left them with a lot of fine horses which they could not sell. Many were just turned loose to become wild horses. Trouble came to the wild herds when meat hunters found they could get good prices for wild horses from processors of dog and cat food. All the horses cost the meat hunters was the trouble of catching them. With trucks and planes available, the slaughter began. Today wild stallions like Big Red are faced with a desperate how to save the small bands of mares they still have in their harems. This is the story of one wild stallion and his mares. Like the bison which were exterminated on the wild range, Big Red faces extermination finally given to a few herds of buffalo.

164 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1971

About the author

Rutherford George Montgomery
Also published as Everitt Proctor, Al Avery, Art Elder, A.A. Avery and E.P. Marshall.

Montgomery was born in Straubville, Sargent County, North Dakota, "a true ghost town" as of 2005. to George Y. and Matilda Proctor Montgomery. He studied at Colorado Agricultural College, Western State College of Colorado, and University of Nebraska; taught elementary school in Hot Springs, Wyoming; and from 1917 to 1919 served in the United States Air Corps. During the 1920s, he worked as a teacher and principal at junior and senior high schools in Montrose County, Colorado.

Montgomery married Eunice Opal Kirks in 1930; they had three children. He served Gunnison County, Colorado, as a judge from 1931 to 1936 and as county commissioner from 1932 to 1938, then became a freelance writer.

While still at school, Montgomery began writing stories about the wild animals that lived around his family's farm. He went on to write books about aviation and the people, landscapes and animals of the American West, particularly horses. In all, he wrote more than 100 books.

From 1941 to 1946, Montgomery was a writer for Dick Tracy. He worked as a creative writing teacher 1955–57 and as a scriptwriter for Walt Disney Studios 1958–1962.

From Wikipedia

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well, this was a disappointment. The sire of Golden Boy, equine hero of Montgomery's Golden Stallion series, was named Big Red. In the first book, there were hints of a complicated backstory on Big Red, but the series never went into it. When I saw the title of this book, I naively thought this was FINALLY the story of Big Red.

Turns out this is a different Big Red. Apparently, Montgomery could only think up a handful of horse names in his career. How many mares named Lady were in his books? Three? Anyway, this story is set over twenty years and who knows how many miles away from the Golden Stallion series. There is even mention of the recent passing of the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, meaning this was set in 1971, the year of this book's original publication.

I think this was Montgomery's swan song, and he tries to pack way too much into 150 pages. There are far too many long passages about wildlife in the mountains, about being a ranger (whatever the fuck that was) and hardly anything about Big Red.

There's even a horrible passage about Eddy, the ranger's son and supposed hero of the story, hunting pronghorn antelope. This was 1971. You did not have to hunt a species on the brink of becoming endangered just because you wanted something different for dinner.

There is a lot here about hunting Mustangs. It's hard to read, since most of the horses mentioned are killed in horrific ways. The subject is much better done in Marguerite Henry's Mustang: Wild Spirit of the West.

I'm also disappointed in Pers Crowell, the illustrator. He seemed to've only skimmed the text, since a stallion named Hammer Head -- is portrayed without a hammer head. Another time the text clearly states there are two pack horses, but Crowell draws three.

Big Red is also not portrayed correctly. According to the text, he's part draft horse, with noticeably thick legs. But here he's drawn and painted as a stereotypical wild stallion.

Montgomery clearly was upset at the loss of natural habitat and species by humans in 1971. Well, soon no one will have to worry about that anymore. All landscapes and animals will soon be killed because of America's greed and stupidity.

[Mythical Mishmash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating 3.5 out of 5

A fun little adventure that reminded me of old western tv shows. The villains were pretty funny 😆