Half Broke

A Memoir

By: Ginger Gaffney

Narrated by: Christa Lewis

Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins

Publisher's summary

At the start of this remarkable story of recovery, healing, and redemption, Ginger Gaffney answers a call to help retrain the troubled horses at an alternative prison ranch in New Mexico, a facility run entirely by the prisoners. The horses are scavenging through the dumpsters, kicking and running down the residents when they bring the trash out after meals. One horse is severely injured.

The horses and residents arrive at the ranch broken in one way or many: the horses are defensive and terrified, while the residents, some battling drug and alcohol addictions, are emotionally and physically shattered. With deep insight into how animals and humans communicate through posture, body language, and honesty of spirit, Gaffney walks us through her struggle to train the untrainable.

Gaffney peels away the layers of her own story - a solitary childhood, painful introversion, and a transformative connection with her first horse, a filly named Belle - and she, too, learns to trust people as much as she trusts horses. As her year-long odyssey builds toward a dramatic conclusion, the group experiences triumphs and failures, brave recoveries and relapses, as well as betrayals and moving stories of trust and belonging.

©2020 Ginger Gaffney (P)2020 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Great story ! Odd narration ,sometimes robotic

I love true life inspirational stories and this one didnt disappoint! Narration was periodically odd.

Excellent book! Totally enjoyed it!!

Excellent book for anyone who loves horses and for people who are trying to make it in a difficult World from difficult circumstances it was a treasure to read!

Great.

I enjoyed Half Broke. It certainly was eye opening. I read it for the horse interest. But the human stories just broke my heart. So little hope in their lives or futures. It's a little disjointed. But still good. Yes, bored, unruly horses are no fun for anyone.

Great read

Loved this book and the emotional humanity it reveals; and the horses teach us.

Love itLove it!

Great book. Not one I would have chosen, but my book club did and I’m so glad!

this book is a must

Absolutely worth the credits if you love or have a Passion for horses this book is worth while listening to listening to I found myself listening to it every chance I got even at night before bed

Heartbreaking

Thank you so much for the beautiful memoir. It broke my heart. It gives me hope.

Amazing Experience

You don’t have to be a horse person to be captivated by this book. You need only to be open to learning about humans and horses. There is so much deep honesty and confession in Ginger Gaffney’s words that I am a changed person having read Half Broke.

Fueled with Recovery

I thoroughly enjoyed reading a book that beautifully integrated the honest reality of the author, her equine world, and their gift to those who desire recovery from addiction. thank you.

Very disappointed

Being an equestrian, this book was recommended to me by several friends. If you know equines, some of it is so far fetched it left me shaking my head as I listened. “That’s not right, that’s not how it’s done, that isn’t how things work.” Even the “stage” of a 17 acre ranch where more than 100 people live along with the herd of horses, multiple outbuildings, etc. Come on! The author’s disclaimer at the beginning about this being how she remembers things?? Is that the new way to excuse a made up story as fact? Definitely not a book for me. I can’t even finish it because it’s so annoying. The writing isn’t even that good. The descriptive language is lacking. Talking about a horse stomping its foot on the ground? Really? Where else would a horse stomp it’s foot? I also found the use of a narrator that is not well versed in equestrian equipment to be a poor choice. Hearing her say “round pen” as if she were saying blue shoe was very annoying. Equestrians pronounce and enunciate that differently than someone who doesn’t, and hasn’t ever used one. That is something the director and author should have corrected. The narrator was very good other than that. Returning without finishing.