Six Questions for Author Tom Groneberg

By Allen M. Jones, 1-16-06

Author of the highly praised memoir, The Secret Life of Cowboys, and now the upcoming One Good Horse, author Tom Groneberg recently sat down with New West to offer opinions on horse training, Teddy “Blue" Abbott, and James Frey.

New West Your newest memoir, One Good Horse, is about much more than simply horse training, but horse training is a large element. If you were to train another horse, what would you do differently? What are the mistakes people seem to consistently make with regard to horses?

Tom Groneberg I think I got lucky with Blue because he was such a good-natured horse to start with. I imagine--if I had to train another horse--it probably wouldn't go as smoothly, and I'd look for more outside help, either asking advice from horse trainers or reading up on the subject. I think most people want quick results when they're working with their horses; they try to do too much, too soon, and they don't just spend enough time just hanging out with their animals, taking small steps forward, building trust. I'd still say I'm a novice when it comes to training horses, but that's my take on it.

NW Like any honest tale, your book doesn't end so much as finish. There are so many questions left unanswered. Do you still have your horse? How's he doing? And how's your son Avery, born with Down syndrome? Is he doing all right?

TG Yeah, I still have Blue. I don't ride him as often as I should, and I have a lot of Horse Guilt over that, but he's doing great. And Avery is doing great, too. He'll be three in June. We're pretty fortunate because he doesn't have some of the health issues common to people with Down syndrome, like heart defects and hearing/eyesight problems. He's still behind his twin brother, Bennett, but we've learned that it's all the more special when Avery does master a skill. He's really a beautiful kid, and he has this way of making friends wherever he goes.

NW Unusual in a memoir, you spend about a third of the book recounting to the reader another book, Teddy "Blue" Abbott's We Pointed Them North. What made you decide on this particular work as a tent pole for your own narrative? Were there other books that were an influence?

TG I was captured by the way Teddy Blue Abbott's story mirrored my own. We Pointed Them North is about discovering new territory, about trying to find your way in the West, and about giving up certain parts of your identity once you get married and have kids. I guess it's more accurate to say that you trade parts of your identity: tobacco-spitting wrangler for husband, independent ranch hand for father. I found Teddy Abbott's book at just the right time in my life. And, as I mention in One Good Horse, Teddy's story was pretty spare in detail. I was trying to reimagine what it was like for him, as a young man, coming up the trail from Texas, finding his place in Montana Territory, building a life for himself.

NW One Good Horse is full of a kind of sweet, sad wisdom. At one point you say, "The little kid in the backseat is my hero, my star, because he just keeps trying. It is the bravest thing in the world to do, just keep trying, one tiny step at the time." What did you learn through the act of writing the book that you might not have learned otherwise?

TG Writing One Good Horse taught me that it's a small world, and that there are stories everywhere, and these stories all seem to connect somehow, if you look deep enough. My wife and I worked on a ranch outside of Miles City for four years, and I walked the same streets as Teddy Abbott, rode the same country, and I never knew about him when I lived there. Reading about Teddy's adventures in early-day Miles City brought it all back to me. To this day, I guess Abbott's grandson is still living outside of Lewistown in the house that Teddy built. I don't know...I guess, training the horse and having Avery come into my life really did teach me that the only sure way to fail in this life is to give up, to stop trying.

NW This is your second published book. What's next on the slate?

TG I'm hoping to finally get to work on a historical novel I've been kicking around for a few years, sort of a mystery story about George Custer and his wife. And I'm working on another project that I don't want to jinx by talking about it, but I will tell you that it involves enormous quantities of tofu.

NW As a memoirist, what are your thoughts on James Frey and how he apparently fabricated sections of his book A Million Little Pieces?

TG Wow, I have a lot of thoughts about the James Frey situation and, quite honestly, none of them are very positive. I don't know Frey, but we're both judges for this year's Barnes & Noble Discover awards. We've exchanged emails. He seems like a nice enough guy, and he probably got in over his head early on, but at some point a guy has to take responsibility. I mean, my book would probably sell more copies if I fabricated some broken bones or maybe even some gunplay as a result of training Blue. But I chose to tell the truth of what really happened, not the "emotional truth" of the story, whatever that is. I'm not trying to pat myself on the back here, I just thought, as a memoir writer, that I was playing by the same rules as everyone else. I should probably leave it at that.
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