Balch, Glenn

About the author

Glenn Balch (1902–1989) was born in Texas. His books were about ranching, horses and outdoor life, all of which he had experienced in his youth. His first ambition was to work outdoors, and he managed to find a job as a fire guard in the Forest Service, this being more secure than being a cowboy. He worked in Garden Valley, Idaho for a season, and then found work as a journalist. In the years that followed, he developed a passion for polo, but found he couldn’t edit the newspaper, work on his own writing and play polo too, so he became a freelance writer.

His first stories were published in American Boy Magazine, and formed the Hide-Rack series. It was popular, and he carried on writing. While he was taking a writing class at Columbia University, his first novel, Riders of the Rio Grande (1937), was taken up by the publisher Thomas Y Crowell. His second novel, Tiger Roan, caused some discussion at his publishers, who couldn’t decide whether to aim it at the adult or child market. Robert Crowell convinced Balch to make a few alterations to the manuscript, as he was convinced the book would appeal to boys between the ages of 12–15. Crowell was right, and so started a succession of books.

Almost all Balch’s stories involved horses, with a few about dogs. Horses, dogs and reading were part of his earliest memories. He recalled being put on the back of the sorrel mare, Nellie, which sounded like a hugely enjoyable experience, unlike the death of this first dog, Trix, which affected him profoundly. “Perhaps the most potent and absolutely shattering grief I have ever known in my whole life was when my first dog, Trix, died,” he said. He preferred to write about the relationships which can develop between man and animals, and his favourite book was the first which explored this theme, Tiger Roan. He was born, he said, “with a love for horses, dogs, and the outdoors which I have never outgrown.”

For those who like series, Glen Balch wrote the Ben and Dixie series, about a wild black Stallion, King, and a pair of books about the Indians Pan-Sook and Mots-Kay. His papers were donated to Boise State University (now at Archives West) by his children after his death, and include several unpublished full length manuscripts.

Finding the books
Five titles were published in the UK by Hutchinson: Tiger Roan, Indian Paint, Wild Horse, Indian Saddle-up, and Wild Horse Tamer. You might have to wait a bit for them to turn up, but they are generally cheap when they do. The other titles will all have to be sourced from the US. Most are easy to find and not expensive, though very good, non library, firsts with dustjackets may well be expensive. Trickier titles include Indian Saddle-up, Keeping Horse, Winter Horse and Horse in Danger.

Links and sources
The fullest information was at the Boise University site. Note: the archives are now at Archives West (2023).
More biographical information at the Balchipedia
Indian Paint – the film, on IMDB
Terri A. Wear: Horse Stories, an Annotated Bibliography, Scarecrow Press, 1987
Many thanks to Lisa Catz and Alison for all the photographs.