Edmund Gilligan

Shoe the Wild Mare

Knopf, New York,1956, illus Richard Bennett, 112 pp.

Limerick, a stallion, has belonged to Daniel for 5 years, but when he is offered $2,000 by the government in
Halifax for Limerick, so he can improve the stock on Sable Island, Daniel accepts the money because his
family needs it desperately.  Daniel has to accompany Limerick to the island, but learns that he will die sooner
or later, killed by the other stallions.   Limerick is still shod, and when his shoes have to be removed because
that is why the wild mares reject him, Limerick loses his best defence against his enemies.  

Edmund Gilligan (1899- ) was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, was educated at Harvard University, and served in the United States Navy during the First World War.  He was for many years Rod and Gun Editor of the New York Herald Tribune, and wrote many short stories for national magaziness, as well as several books for adults.  His one horse story, Shoe the Wild Mare, is set on Sable Island.  Gilligan himself lived on the island, and knew about its herds of wild horses, and the bleakness of life there.  (Note:  there is an earlier novel called Shoe the Wild Mare, by Gene Fowler  and published by H Liveright, New York, in 1931.  Not to be confused with Edmund Gilligan’s story, this is about Adam Brook, a self-made millionaire, and his marriage to a woman who married him for his money.)  

Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau for her help with this section.

Finding the book:  The book is reasonably easy to find, and is generally not hideously expensive.  It wasn’t published in the UK.

Sources and links:

Dustjacket of Shoe the Wild Mare

Bibliography: horse books only