Horseshoes, Cowsocks & Duckfeet: More Commentary by NPR's Cowboy Poet & Former Large Animal Veterinarian

by Baxter Black

The world’s bestselling cowboy poet and author of Cactus Tracks & Cowboy Philosophy is back in the saddle with a hilarious roundup of essays, commentaries, and campfire verse that speaks to the cowboy soul in each of us.

“Baxter Black is Mark Twain served up with a little Groucho Marx.”— The Weekly Standard

Share in the wit and wisdom of Baxter Black, public radio’s favorite former large animal veterinarian. Drawn in part from Baxter’s wildly popular NPR commentaries and syndicated columns, Horseshoes, Cowsocks & Duckfeet offers a generous helping of Baxter’s tender yet irreverent, sage-as-sagebrush take on everything from ranching, roping, Wrangler jeans, and rodeos to weddings and romance, the love of a good dog, dancing, parenting, cooking up trouble, and talking about the weather. 
 
With illustrations by noted cowboy artists Bob Black, Don Gill, Dave Holl, and Charlie Marsh and a timely foreword by historic cowboy sympathizer Herman Melville, Horseshoes, Cowsocks & Duckfeet will charm your chaps off.

Genres: Humor, Poetry, Horses, Nonfiction, Short Stories, Westerns, Essays

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Baxter Black (January 10, 1945 – June 10, 2022) was an American cowboy poet and veterinarian. He wrote over 30 books of poetry, fiction—both novels and children's literature—and commentary, selling over two million books, CDs, and DVDs.

Reviews

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Folksy, wryly amusing, and opinionated, this selection of short essays contains bits both provocative and silly, thoughtful and exasperating. Black knows what he thinks, and he isn't afraid to declare it straightforwardly yet with modest good humor. He'll debunk sacred cows where he sees them, tweak anyone he thinks deserves tweaking, and that includes equally the sensibilities of the ranchers and cowmen he's worked among for decades and those of his educated-yuppie-liberal NPR audience. Probably best read in short doses, the same way his NPR bits would have been heard - I don't think Black would be offended if I called this good bathroom reading. I also don't think he'd think I should care if perchance he was offended.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not recommended for vegans or animal-rights people. No outright abuse or horror stories of accidents, or descriptions of BBQ’s or recipes or cooking & eating meat. [EDIT: There is one about flying in live goats & then killing them to eat. Not a graphic description of exactly what they did, but still. He’s a large-animal vet who describes his diet as “meat & candy”.] Just a polar opposite attitude toward animals of say, farm/horse sanctuaries. e.g. Descriptions of rodeo activity.

I honestly have no idea how this ended up in my possession. I don’t recognize his name, don’t think I ever heard him on NPR, & a sampling of the contents doesn’t look like something I’d buy. Maybe someone sent it to me. But it was there, so I gave it a shot. Really not for me. Very farm-oriented, such that even after going thru the glossary, I still didn’t know what he was talking about sometimes! Struck me as kinda like Garrison Keillor for agricultural people. Also struck me that he writes dialect as well as Mark Twain. (And his cowboy twang is apparently pure affectation, part of his schtick, as evidenced by pieces written in “proper” English. Well—either that or the proper English is the affectation.) There were a few places that made me smile, but no guffaws. My favorite piece was the sarcastic letter from “Flynt and Frank” thanking him for his visit.

[SouthWestZippy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I gave this book a couple of tries but after reading four stories and knew this book was going to be one I wanted to finish. Writing style is not my taste and what few stories I read were just ok or slow stories.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun read.

[L.G. Cullens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Something I look at now and then, when I'm in the mood for imaginative western humor.

"The right to be heard does not include the right to be taken seriously."—Hubert H.

[Sally Andrews · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an ok book. I think I was hoping it'd be funnier. But the stories are all brief and from his NPR segments in most cases, I believe.

[Richard A · Rating 2 out of 5]

Baxter Black's radio spots on NPR are really great in audio form. This book is transcripts of many of those spots, but they are nowhere near as good in print as they are on the radio. Kinda boring.

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable book of small blurbs taken from Black's life experiences which were used as part of his NPR radio show over the years. Black relies frequently on humor to liven up his stories, as should be obvious from the front cover, which promises an introduction from Herman Melville, the long-dead author of Moby Dick. I imagine some of the stories come from sessions sitting around a bar or campfire 'shooting the bull' (has nothing to do with euthanizing the elder male in a cattle herd), but most seem to be those drawn from things seen by Black's own eyes. The cowboy/western theme is pervasive, and while I might have liked more from his experiences as a vet, as a city-born and raised girl from the East, every story was another small piece of education about a world in which I have no perspective. The addition of clever illustrations drawn by some of Black's buddies, in some cases the subject of the story himself, and a glossary at the end for some of Black's local slang (with appropriately humorous definitions that still get the point across) add to that education. Black's stories were short and sweet, perfect for reading in bits during a workout at the gym or over a solo lunch before work.

[David Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

Horseshoes, Cowsocks, and Duckfeet: More Commentary by NPR’s Cowboy Poet and Former Large-Animal Veterinarian by Baxter Black (Three Rivers Press 2003)(818). This is a collection of poems, songs, and verse from poet, large animal veterinarian, and National Public Radio commentator Baxter Black. My rating: 7/10, finished 2008.

[Jim · Rating 2 out of 5]

the one column in here i really liked was 2020 written about the past thirty years from the perspective of the year 2020. quite clever, written circa 1999, gingrich as presidet, hillary on the supreme court hehehe oh.

[Cormacjosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Baxter Black’s radio monolouge, you’ll like this. Amusing enough for leisure reading.

[Anne Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny and true and just what the doctor ordered when you need a funny book that is intelligently written.

[Heidi Busch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this collection of essays. It was a pleasure to read and kept me smiling the whole time.

[Shane Lutz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of funny and interesting poems that I can relate to.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Stories of the Southwest, told with humor.