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The Village Horse Doctor: West of the Pecos | 
 enlarge | Author: Ben K. Green
Publisher: Castle Books
Category: Book
List Price: $9.99
Buy New: $3.95
You Save: $6.04 (60%)
New (10) Used (9) from $3.83
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 68135
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 306
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.8 x 1.4
ISBN: 078582099X
EAN: 9780785820994
ASIN: 078582099X
Publication Date: January 1971
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: New - may have a small remainder mark on the edge.
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Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews:
Practicality fine tuned August 7, 2008
William J Higgins III (Laramie, Wyoming United States)
Ben Green's veterinary tales from the war years of the 1940's are an entertaining and at the same time realistic glimpse into ranch life on the drought stricken Texas range.
Humorous, straightforward and most of all full of common sense approaches to doctoring and playing detective in solving the many medical dilemmas to the thousands and thousands of horses, cattle and sheep in this region.
The man was totally committed and worked tirelessly in his profession, a trait which is somewhat wanting nowadays in all walks of life.
 Village Horse Doctor January 20, 2008
Donald E. Petersen (Humid, Florida)
I have read The Village Horse Doctor a couple of times since the early 1970's. It is among my favorite books. I've lent the book to old timers who grew up in OK and Texas during the depression have told me that The Village Horse Doctor is one of the best books about the west they've ever read. I lent the book to the veterinarians I worked for, they loved it. (No James Harriett in Fort Stockton!)
I do not have the book handy to skim it to refresh my memory and evaluate how much Dr. Green may be pulling our leg. After reading the book the first time, it made perfect sense to me why Mr. Green would retire all the way across Texas after publishing The Village Horse Doctor.
Perhaps some of the stories are exagerated. But, the point of the loco weed story is NOT what he detected in the lab. It's his observations in the field. As far as the loco weed goes, the lab and the pills were a deception so that he'd recover for his time spent on the field work.
Like O Henry, the sense of humor often involves a bit of chicanery.
(For example, O. Henry's The Gentle Grafter).
I would rate this book higher than Wild Horse Tails although it is also a fine book.
Not as good as "Wild Cow Tales" October 31, 2007
GARY W. MARKHAM (HOUSTON, TEXAS United States)
Interesting and often funny, sometimes a little far fetched. Not as good reading as Wild Cow Tales or Hoss Trading.
 Disappointed January 27, 2006
A reader
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I like the Ben K Green from Wild Cow Tales and 1000 Miles of Mustangin' (one of my favorite books) - funny, low key, and highly descriptive of people and experiences. This book just follows him from call to call, solving mysteries and lacking (for the most part) the sense of humor evidenced in his other books. The Village Horse Doctor reads like Ben is Quincy M.E. without the "charm."
FEATS OF CHEMISTRY IN COUNTRY LAB STRAIN CREDULITY May 28, 1998
7 out of 10 found this review helpful
GREEN HAS A BIG COW COUNTRY FOLLOWING. IN OTHER BOOKS HE TELLS OF VIRTUOSO PERFORMANCES IN AUCTION HOUSES, BRUSHY PASTURES, AND SMALL TOWNS WITH FIRST MONDAY HORSE SALES. NOW WE FIND GREEN ALL GROWN UP AND WORKING IN WEST TEXAS AS A VET. WITH LABORATORY EQUIPMENT AVAILABLE DURING WORLD WAR II, HE ANALYSES NOXIOUS WEEDS, FINDS SPECIFICALLY TOXIC SUBSTANCES, AND COMPOUNDS CURES RIGHT THERE. THIS IS PROBABLY NOT POSSIBLE WITH TODAY'S RESOURCES, SO THE ACCOUNTS IN THIS BOOK DO NOT RING TRUE TO ME. I'VE WORKED CATTLE IN A BRUSHY COUNTRY AND I'VE DONE SOME ORGANIC CHEMISTRY AND THE MORE I READ OF GREEN'S DOINGS, THE MORE SKEPTICAL I BECOME. I THINK GREEN MAY HAVE WORKED US TEXAS BOYS THE WAY CARLOS CASTENADA WORKED HIPPIES.
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