Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies, Revised and Updated

By Ginger Kathrens

Book Overview

This bestselling book, originally published as a companion volume for public television's Nature series, Cloud: The Wild Stallion of the Rockies is documentary filmmaker Ginger Kathrens's personal retelling of her years following the wild horse she named Cloud. Beautifully designed, the book is elaborately photographed and divided into seventeen chapters that follow the life of a wild stallion, just one of hundreds of horses that have roamed wild in the Rocky Mountains for two hundred years. The book begins with the author and filmmaker witnessing the birth of a helpless white colt, that will soon capture her heart and imagination. Each subsequent chapter documents Cloud's interaction with his mare Raven, his brother Diamond, and other colts in the wild as well as his adventures encountering dangerous predators, older stallions, and human trappers. The author follows Cloud over the course of five years, taking note of his physical and behavioral development, as his begins to take on more of a leadership role in the band of wild bachelors he's joined, to become a fighter, a survivor, and a father. Kathrens's emotional involvement in Cloud's story is palpable, such as when she tearfully watches the young stallion get captured by trappers. Due to his unusual coloration, he is set free, though the other members of his band and sisters are removed and sold. Returning to the mountains every season, the author continues to look for Cloud in the vast wild habitat, always relieved to find him still living, despite fights, predators, and encounters with trappers. She is later is touched to see how Cloud, the five-year-old mare, grazes with his yearling son, the first of his new family. Kathrens's gripping observations of wild horses of the Arrowheads, their fights, struggles, and alliances, give the reader much insight into the fascinating behavior of these wild horses. Now published in paperback for the first time, this updated and fully redesigned volume coincides with the one year anniversary of the last sighting of Cloud.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1889540706
• ISBN13: 9781889540702
• Release Date: September 2001
• Publisher: Companionhouse Books
• Length: 160 Pages
• Weight: 2.38 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 9.4" x 11.3"
• Age Range: 9 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 4 to 7

Customer Reviews

Cloud Wild Stallion of the Rockies

The heck with being a book for teen girls ----- it is a book for all horse lovers and non horse lovers alike! Beautiful photos and a GREAT TRUE Story! It is WONDERFUL!

BEST EVER!!!

Cloud, Wild Stallion of the Rockies is the BEST horse book that I have ever read! It is a true story about wild horses in Montana. It is interesting and very exciting! I also enjoy watching the DVD. I highly recommend this book to any one who likes horses! Definitely a 5 star book!

Cloud is a beautiful real life story of amazing wild horses

This is a delightful, moving and insightful book for kids and adults of ALL ages. The print is big enough and the reading level easy enough for young children of reading age but the never before seen photography and insightful understanding shared by the author will thrill adults as well.No one has ever observed and recorded the real life of any of America's precious, bold, highly intelligent and majestic Wild Horses as Kathren's does in this book. Their evolved social order and sometimes difficult but natural lives are fascinating to get a close look at. I would expect most people to keep this where guests to their home or offices would see it for years to come. This book makes a great gift for many occaisions. The only way this view can be enhanced is to go see the wild horses for oneself. If interested to ride to see the wild ones, contact the American Horse Defense Fund ... and see about taking the ride of your life to see other wild horses.

A must read book for all ages!

Ginger Kathrens book Cloud: Wild Stallion of the Rockies captures the spirit of our love affair with wild horses and the trials of this long relationship. They have epitomized the American spirit and image yet suffered terribly from our ignorance and disregard all the while maintaining their magnificence. Kathrens book, through vivid images and heartfelt writings, allows the reader both young and old, from east or west to those who have never seen a horse in person or someone that has had the bliss to feel their aura, to all experience the wild horse. This is certainly a book for all ages.Rarely do we get to enjoy the uniqueness of an animal such as we do with Cloud. People tend to write and think about animals as though they don't have lives of their own, but that is a serious and devastating human shortcoming. As the bumper sticker says, "Humans are not the only species on the planet, we just act like it." Yet from when we first see Cloud as a wobbly-kneed young foal, struggling to keep up, but persevering, we know he is a special and unique soul. This does not waiver all the way to when he is a strong young stallion facing the challenges of nature and man. We can only hope that Kathrens book (and accompanying documentary) will help us again recapture our respect for these magnificent animals before it is too late. Because if wild horses like Cloud disappear, so does the American spirit.

Wonderful true story about the life of a wild stallion

I couldn't put the book down. The many pictures are beautiful and the story reads like fiction, but is the true story of a wild horse. The writer, who is a film maker, follows Cloud for 5 years beginning on the day he was born. She records the intimate and poignant moments about him and his family and the other wild horses in his Montana wilderness home. As a kid who grew up reading "The Black Stallion" books, I was completely captivated by the true life adventures of this remarkable horse.