About the author
Edmund Gilligan (b.1899) was born in Waltham, Massachusetts, was educated at Harvard University. He served in the United States Navy during World War I. He was for many years rod and gun editor of the New York Herald Tribune, and wrote many short stories for national magazines, 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.)
Finding the book
The book is reasonably easy to find, and is generally not hideously expensive. It wasn’t published in the UK.
Links and sources
Dustjacket of Shoe the Wild Mare
Many thanks to Susan Bourgeau for her help with this section.
Bibliography (horse books only)
Shoe the Wild Mare
Knopf, New York,1956, 112 pp, illus Richard Bennett
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.
