All the Pretty Horses - Post 4

This reading covered pages ninety-seven to one hundred and thirty-two. In the previous reading assignments, very little was said concerning horses leaving me wondering how the book got its title. Chapter two certainly makes up for the lack of horses in the prior sections. John Grady and Rawlins find work as cowboys on the Hacienda de Nuestra Senora de la Purisima Concepcion (which translate to Ranch of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception if you were wondering), a ranch owned by Don Hector Rocha y Villareal. After the boys work there for a couple days, a “spooky bunch of horses” is brought to the ranch. The sixteen colts, once wild, are frightened of the humans because in the words of John Grady “they’ve never seen a man afoot.” John Grady decides he wants to “break” every colt in four days. As soon as they start this task, John Grady excels in handling the little horses, speaking to them calming and explaining everything he plans to do. John Grady’s natural instincts contribute to his role as the Western hero of the novel. His innate ability to train the wild horses indicts that he belongs in the West.