Bareback Jack. Arena Lives, #2

Jack comes into the world on a spring morning in the San Juan Valley. A sorrel colt with a crooked blaze and legs that don't quite work yet. Four years later, a man named Clete tries to break him. It doesn't go well. Jack won't accept a rider. He can't. Something in his blood refuses. But when he explodes out of that saddle, throwing Clete into the dirt, a stock contractor named Cal Burdette sees something worth buying: a horse who doesn't need tricks.
A horse who just needs to be himself as hard as he can be. What follows is Jack's rise through the world of professional bareback riding, from dusty county fairs to the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. He becomes Bareback Jack, the horse every rider fears and respects. He finds a rival in Dusty Oldham, the one rider who can match his honest power. Together they chase a ninety-four point ride that will define them both.
But the circuit takes everything. The body keeps score. And when Jack's power finally fades, he must return to the valley where he was born and learn that teaching scared kids to ride might matter more than any championship ever did. Bareback Jack is a novel about greatness, partnership, and coming home. It's about what we give to the work, and what the work gives back. For readers who loved Seabiscuit, The Horse Whisperer, and All the Pretty Horses.
For anyone who understands that the best rides happen when both athletes bring everything they have. Real stories from real dirt.