A FIFTH-generation horseman and farmer, Mike Keenan's rollicking memoir of life on the land celebrates the role of horses, through the good times and bad.
Keenan, best-selling author of The Horses Too Are Gone, takes readers on a journey through his colourful life at family property Myall Plains, 120km north of Dubbo, to being sent away to boarding school in Sydney, and jackarooing in Longreach.
- The Shadows of Horses, by Mike Keenan. Bantam, rrp $24.95
When returning to the family farm, the youngster's improved riding skills saw Keenan flung into the track-rider's saddle for Coonabarabran trainer Jack McGroder.
This led to an unexpected career as an amateur jockey.
Keenan regales with tales of country race meets, from Roma in central Queensland to closer to home at Gunnedah.
He recalls the days of riding half-broken horses on the gibber plains of the Darr River country in western Queensland.
And he also tells the story of the great beef crash in 1973, which whacked farmers hard.
