FLAXY MARE

The flaxy mare is only a few hours old when cowboy Jim Thorne finds her waiting for her cougar-killed mother; he carries her home and feeds her milk from a cup. An unfortunate accident separates them and Flax grows up wild, joins a stallion's harem, gets caught, escapes, gives birth to a colt and then a filly. When Jim finds her again, she's the leader of a band, but she comes to him at the sight of the remembered milk bucket; then the former captor shows up and Jim reluctantly decides to free her. The simple, unsentimentalized story moves quickly over the four year span, more exposition than description; the horse is convincing in her conflict between instinctive fear of human beings and tender memories of early kindness. Slight but acceptable.