“Riding Barranca: Finding Freedom and Forgiveness On the Midlife Trail”
by Laura Chester
Trafalgar Square Books, 2013
236 pages
Our community is blessed with many fine authors who write all kinds of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and other genres. Among the best is Laura Chester. Cast as a one-year journal, her most recent book, “Riding Barranca,” chronicles her trips on horseback into the far landscapes of Arizona’s borderlands, the Massachusetts Berkshires, and even forays into Australia, India, and Mexico. Some segments are brief, barely a single page long, containing a single thought or observation; others approach chapter length as Chester celebrates the vast beauty all around her, and ventures into the darker regions of her childhood. The counterpoint of Chester’s explorations into the emotional turmoil of her upbringing set against the joy found on the back of her equine soulmate, Barranca, make this a compelling read. The various sections are generously accompanied by black and white photos from Chester’s past and present, portraits of her horses and her relatives, giving the prose even more immediate life.
Chester’s life contains so many of the elements that make for great storytelling—a daughter’s adoration of her handsome, enigmatic, larger-than-life father, a stormy relationship with a difficult and often cruel mother, parental behavior often bordering on abuse and yet a privileged childhood full of adventure, travel, eccentric relatives, and always horses. Indeed, this is an adult coming-of-age story, a frank and honest portrayal of a woman in midlife taking stock of her past with all its flaws and sadness, set against her unfolding understanding of both her parents. As she unlocks the strange dynamics that shaped her relationship with her mother and father, she gains a capacity for forgiveness that accompanies her mother’s decline into Alzheimer’s and death, setting her free to embrace the next chapters of her life unencumbered by regret.
Of course, the true core of this memoir is Chester’s love for her horses, especially Barranca, whom she credits with giving her emotional as well as physical safety. As she describes their countless rides, she speaks of the trust and affection that flows between them, and of her debt to him for keeping her safe and taking her into places that few have ever seen. Chester’s style intimately draws the reader into her own experience and we feel ourselves carefully picking over rocks, stepping through streams, standing on high bluffs looking out across the San Rafael Valley, shivering in rainstorms, galloping over green hills, giving our horses their heads to find their way home when we are lost, and finally rubbing them down and closing the gates after a long day in the saddle. As Chester writes, “Few people know the land around here as well as we do, having ridden over so much of this landscape.” And though there are colorful episodes set in Australia, Mexico, and India, the most heartfelt passages come from Chester’s observations riding in her two familiar home territories, southern Arizona and the Massachusetts Berkshires.
Laura Chester’s honesty shines through “Riding Barranca,” and in the end we admire her courage and are grateful for her sharing of her emotional journeys with her family and her beloved horses. This is a book to savor, one to stay on the shelf for years—not to donate to the Patagonia Library sale! If it has a flaw, it is that there is so much in it to think about, so much experience to absorb. The only remedy, then, is to turn back to page one, and begin all over again! Highly recommended for readers young adult and older.