Customer Reviews

The Home Ranch

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4 star:		(3)
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I grew up in the desert of southern Arizona in the 50's and 60's. Surrounded by real cattle and real cowboys. This book rings true. I loved it as a kid. No gun fights, no bar room fights. Ralph paints a soft, rich picture, that is much more accurate then any movie you ever saw. I have purchased several copies to give to REAL good friends.

This is the third in Moody's autobiographical series, but is best read (if you're a continuity freak) between Chapters 25 and 26 of the second, "Man of the Family." It follows young Ralph (12 years old in the summer of 1911) through his first "man's job," riding for Mr. Batchlett, the livestock dealer, for 100 days at a dollar a day--big money to a boy who is lucky to get five cents an hour around his Littleton home, and who feels keenly his obligation to support his widowed mother and five siblings. Like Ralph, the reader plunges right into the job in the second chapter, and the story doesn't let up from there on out.

In 1911 the Colorado cattle business is changing, and Mr. Batchlett, who owns a big ranch, is changing with it, dealing heavily in dairy cattle, trading dry for freshened stock, then letting the drys bear their calves and selling them in turn. Ralph has worked cattle before, but those were range stock, and as he humorously explains, dairy stock is a different kind of animal entirely. Still, there are some things that don't change: picking out a string of horses, cutting out stock aboard Clay, his boss's prize cutting horse, and once getting lost in the mountains for 24 hours. What's more, the book is packed with unforgettable characters, both human and animal: old Hank, the boastful windbag cowboy who is humbled by his and Ralph's ordeal in the mountains, then redeems himself when he saves crew and herd from a flash flood; Blueboy, the half-wild roan gelding Ralph can't resist adding to his string; Jenny Wren, the schoolteacher moonlighting for the summer as home-ranch cook, and Sid, the cowboy who worships her; Zeb, the tall gangly cowhand who by preference rides a diminutive mule; Clay, the cutting horse who can practically do the job all by himself; Trinidad, the troublemaker of the crew; a constellation of dairy cattle, each with name and personality; Watt Bendt, the ranch boss, and Hazel, the oldest of his four daughters, a redheaded, freckle-faced tomboy who prefers rooting cattle out of the brush to wearing a dress (and proves to be better at it than Ralph), and who cleverly manipulates him into choosing a string that will keep him close to the home compound so he can (she's resolved) teach her to do his trick-riding stunts.

Moody evokes a time not yet a century past with love and skill, and paces his tale as well as any novelist. Anyone who loves or is curious about the Old West and how it has come to be what it is today should read this book.

The Home Ranch is more then a slice of the American West. It's a great
slice of business management tucked in the recollections of Ralph Moody's
summer on the Batchlett home ranch in 1910. Located near
Colorado Springs, the home ranch is a metaphor for today's office.
Batchlett sums up every business management theory written when
he tells Moody during a trading trip, "You play the hand you draw." And Batchlett's
hand is an array of characters that I see in the office everyday.
People like, Zeb, quiet and smart, but who doesn't like to be out of sight of Pike's Peak. Hank, a boastrous
old cowhand who's always telling everyone how it should be done but not doing any of it.
Sid, the fiesty redhead with a fondness for "Jenny Wren",
and Trinidad, the arrogant, rhinestone cowboy with the cowards heart. Mix in a manipulative 12 year old girl and a boy who sets his heart on turning a wild
stallion into a good cowhorse and you got a recipe for today's workforce.

Stick it next to Covey, Petersen, and Drucker. But don't be
suprised if you use it more often then any of them.<P

What a grand adventure for a 12 year-old boy to work in a real man's job, earning a real man's salary, working for a cattle rancher/trader Mr. Batchlet. Moody skillfully portrays the cast of characters who compose the ranch crew and the owner's daughter Hazel who is a commanding figure in the book and in Ralph's young heart.

This is a never to be forgotten look at a old west that was rapidly changing and would soon be forever altered, but here it is preserved forever for our enjoyment and education.

But is is more than an interesting story or an enlightening look at a historical time, it is a sotry that reads like a novel, and yet carries the authority of truth while embodying timeless values and demonstrating how character is formed and maintained.

A delight for the whole family and as with nearly all of Ralph Moody's books it retains the read-a-loud quality that makes these stories so treasured among those who still read in the family circle.

This cowboy memoir is a bit different from the rest. It is more about ranch work than the open range, and the cattle business there is in milk cows rather than raising beef. Notably, "womenfolk" also figure into the picture, a change from the usual all-male accounts of early-days cowboying. Written more like a novel than a memoir, the book tells of Moody's summer as a very young cowhand on a ranch in the foothills of the Rockies, outside Colorado Springs. The year is 1911 and Moody is just 12 years old, already helping to support his widowed mother.

While described by other reviewers as "wholesome" reading, suitable for all ages, the book is also full of closely observed details about the day-to-day work of ranching with horses. A reader becomes easily immersed in this world and its routines of rounding up, cutting, sorting, and driving cattle, picking and using a string of horses, and the adventures occasioned by dust storms, a flooding stream, and getting lost in the mountains while cutting trees for fence posts. The other hands are well drawn, including a villainous character who starts a vividly described fist fight in the bunkhouse. For the fatherless Moody, the boss and foreman provide the nurturing support needed by a youngster becoming a man. Meanwhile, the foreman's strong-willed daughter (to whom the book is dedicated) cuts her own wide swath through the story's narrative. Moody, who took up writing in his later years, is a masterful storyteller and makes this bygone world come to life for readers interested in the West of 100 years ago.

This book will remain in my memory for a long time. The writing style, the vividness of setting, emotions, relationships, and timeframe, all come together to pack a powerful punch to the reader. My son and I could not put it down.

shipping... fast! story... a new favorite! Condition... perfect! Service... great! will buy from u again! Anyway, I am a true-blue, down-to-earth horse enthusiast and this book was totally right up my hitchin' post! Really cute, especially since the story was written from the perspective of a plucky little boy who also loves horses. Anyway, once and for all, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!

My husband and son (6years old) are reading his book at bedtime. They have read all the books in the series so far. I get to listen in and read when my husband is not home. I think he looks forward to reading these as much as my son. Here's what I'm getting as an outsider...

Pros:

Well written, about authors life as a boy

Lots of life lessons (especially about hard work)

Good next step after Laura ingalls series

Enjoyable to read out loud

Cons:

None

Be warned some of the issues covered in the book are deep and tough and lots over my six year olds head. But the book is wholesome and he (we) is completely enjoying it nonetheless. Start with " Father and I Were Ranchers" and enjoy the series all the way through.

This is a part of a terrific series of auto-biographies by Ralph Moody. I highly suggest it for personal or family reading. The book was as described and arrived very quickly at a terrific price.Thanks!!!

The Home Ranch was a good old fashioned read, and very refreshing in this day and age. Its about life in the 1900s and a boy's journey on his way to manhood, and about hard work, dedication and being true to yourself. I liked how realistic the book was in regards to horses. The author obviously has a love and a real working knowledge of these animals. I liked the way the boy related to Blue Boy, the horse he chose for himself, and how he took the animal's needs and fears into account when he worked with him. His quiet understanding of what the animal really needed, instead of just "breaking" him and forcing him to do what was obviously not his calling. Doing what needs to be done, not whining about it, and sucking it up, taking responsibility, no matter how rough things get is what this book is about. I enjoyed it very much, and would recommend it to anyone liking to read about adventure, ranch life, and its a special treat for anyone who loves horses!