Ben K. Green – författare

Here are the yarns of a true cowboy for those who have in their blood either a touch of larceny, an affection for the Old West, or better yet, both. These twenty tales add up to a true account of Ben K. Green’s experiences around the corrals, livery stables, and wagon yards of the West. Green was a veterinarian who took down his shingle and went into horse trading, in what he imagined would be retirement. No stranger to the saddle, Green claims to have “with these bloodshot eyes and gnarled hands measured over seventy thousand horses.” His tales range from tricks to make an old horse seem young (at least until the poor creature died from the side effects of the scam) to a recipe for making a dapple-gray mule from a bucket of paint and a chicken’s egg. So you want to go into the horse business? You can learn the knavery, skill, salesmanship, and pure con man hokum of horse trading here, in a book every westerner or horse fancier should have on hand.

In thirteen stories full of rope burns and brush scratches, the author of the classic Horse Tradin’ tells of the days when he made a specialty of catching wild cows.Ben K. Green calls himself a “stove-up old cowboy,” and readers of this book will learn soon enough where the broken bones came from. Green tells of his adventures with wild steers, sharing with readers the years he worked in thorny brush and canyon country delivering those animals that were too wily or too wild for the normal roundup. Finding them was hard, even dangerous, work. Few cowboys looked for such chores. Green declares, “I got real good at it, but of course in those days I didn’t know any better.”

In the inimitable yarn-spinning fashion of Horse Tradin’ and Wild Cow Tales, Ben K. (Doc) Green now takes us back with him to the deep Southwest and the never-a-dull-moment years he spent as practicing horse doctor—working out of Fort Stockton, Texas—along the Pecos and the Rio Grande, in one of the last big “horse countries” of North America.  With precious little formal schooling, but with a perfect (if sometimes profane) corralside manner and plenty of natural wit, Doc became the first to hang up a shingle out there in the trans-Pecos country. And he didn’t start small! The territory he had for his practice was 420 miles north and south by 360 miles east and west. And he covered that territory by all means known to man—shank’s mare, horseback, buckboard, and (his standby for long hauls) a beat-up old coupe on whose body panels he kept his books in chalk.  To go with Doc on his rounds, visiting his “patients,” is a nostalgic and hilarious journey into a spacious yesterday—and a liberal education in the kind of horse and cow savvy of which precious little remains in the modern world. As a horseman it was a savvy he came by naturally. But perhaps he learned most from his own research: his own book on horse confirmation, privately published in several printings, is still a bible among practical horsemen; his research in his own laboratory on horse colors and pigmentation has made him an expert on what makes a “strawberry roan” or a “coyote dun.”  But the meat of Ben Green’s books is in his yarns. To hear him tell the tales of his struggles with mean and friendly stockmen, yellowweed fever, banditos, poison hay, and “drouth”—to say nothing of his canny mix of science and horse sense when treating animals “that ain’t house pets”—is a 100-proof old-time pleasure.

From the same corral that produced the widely loved Horse Tradin’, Ben “Doc” Green has rounded up fifteen new yarns filled with the ornery yet irresistible “con” that has branded Doc’s books as classics of Western Americana.  Some More Horse Tradin’ recounts the go-arounds of Doc and a whole slew of craggy old-timers and rangy characters, including a watermelon hauler “who has a bit of snuff that seeps out a little on his whiskers,” Professor Know-It-All, the “charitable” Mr. Undertaker, and the well-known public cowboy Will Rogers. See all of them matching their wiles and hear a lot of palaver, dealin’ and tradin’ for well-bred usin’-type mares, snorty-like range horses, and even used-to-be bad horses from the tumbleweeded plains of Texas to the mountain meadows of Yankee Vermont. Watch the Doc stretch a city ordinance with a frustrated lawman in “The Last Trail Drive Through Downtown Dallas” and admire the old-time knavery, skill, and salesmanship in such tales as “Gittin’ Even,” “Brethren Horse Traders,”  “Mule Schoolin’,” and “Water Treatment and the Sore-Tailed Bronc.” So here you go—with Doc Green and his horse-tradin’ West in finest fettle. As he puts it himself, “These apples come from the same barrel as Horse Tradin’ but they ain’t none of them spotty.”

Here are the yarns of a true cowboy for those who have in their blood either a touch of larceny, an affection for the Old West, or better yet, both. These twenty tales add up to a true account of Ben K. Green’s experiences around the corrals, livery stables, and wagon yards of the West. Green was a veterinarian who took down his shingle and went into horse trading, in what he imagined would be retirement. No stranger to the saddle, Green claims to have “with these bloodshot eyes and gnarled hands measured over seventy thousand horses.” His tales range from tricks to make an old horse seem young (at least until the poor creature died from the side effects of the scam) to a recipe for making a dapple-gray mule from a bucket of paint and a chicken’s egg. So you want to go into the horse business? You can learn the knavery, skill, salesmanship, and pure con man hokum of horse trading here, in a book every westerner or horse fancier should have on hand.

In thirteen stories full of rope burns and brush scratches, the author of the classic Horse Tradin' tells of the days when he made a specialty of catching wild cows. Ben K. Green calls himself a "stove-up old cowboy," and readers of this book will learn soon enough where the broken bones came from. Green tells of his adventures with wild steers, sharing with readers the years he worked in thorny brush and canyon country delivering those animals that were too wily or too wild for the normal roundup. Finding them was hard, even dangerous, work. Few cowboys looked for such chores. Green declares, "I got real good at it, but of course in those days I didn't know any better."

Ben K. Green takes us back to the deep Southwest and the never-a-dull-moment years he spent as a practicing horse doctor along the Pecos and the Rio Grande. With precious little formal schooling but a perfect corral-side manner and plenty of natural wit, Green became the first to hang up a shingle in the trans-Pecos territory. Hear him tell the tales of his struggles with mean stockmen, yellowweed fever, banditos, poison hay, and "drouth." His canny mix of science and horse sense when treating animals "that ain't house pets" is 100-proof old time pleasure.

From the same corral that produced the widely loved Horse Tradin’, Ben K. Green has rounded up fifteen new yarns filled with the ornery yet irresistible style that has earned his books a place in classic Western Americana.Some More Horse Tradin’ recounts the dealings of a whole slew of craggy old-timers and rangy characters. See them match wits as they trade well-bred mares, snorty-like range colts, and used-to-be-bad horses from the tumbleweed plains. Admire the old-time knavery, skill, and salesmanship in such tales as “Gittin’ Even,” “Brethren Horse Traders,” “Mule Schoolin’,” and “Water Treatment and the Sore-Tailed Bronc.” Ride along with Green, and he’ll tell you what he knows about horseflesh--but keep your wits about you, and hang on to your wallet.