J. R. Williams aka Jeanne Williams

Full name Dorothy Jean Williams. American author who writes as both J. R. Williams and Jeanne Williams. She lived for many years in the Rio Grande area near Mexico and wrote a number of books which featured the history and traditions of the area. Best known for her historical female-driven novels set in the Western frontier, although she has written in a number of other genres, including young adult, mystery and gothic romance, with books set in a wide range of locales.

As with most authors who write about the so-called 'wild west,' horses appear in some of her books. Two are historical adventures, the third to feature horses is a young adult romance.

She won the Texas Institute of Letters Cokesbury Bookstore Award for one of her horse stories: Tame the Wild Stallion.

Ms. Williams has her own website where you can find out more about her and see a complete bibliography of her work.

Horse & Pony Books:

TAME THE WILD STALLION
FIRST PRINTED: PRENTICE HALL [USA] 1957
FIRST UK EDITION: WORLD'S WORK [UK] 1958
ILLUSTRATED BY WALLE CONOLY
Reprinted in hardback and paperback by Texan Christian University Press in 1985.
Published in the UK in hardback by World's Work in 1958.
EDITIONS PICTURED: Texan Christian University edition, UK edition.
SUMMARY: Historical adventure. When his father's herd of wild mustangs are stolen Joe  tracks the horse thieves to Mexico.

PROMISE OF TOMORROW
FIRST PRINTED: MESSNER [USA] 1959
Reprinted in paperback by Berkley in 1965.
A paperback edition was available as a print on demand title from 2000
and is still available at time of writing (winter 2018).
EDITION PICTURED: Print on demand paperback edition.
SUMMARY: Young adult historical horse story with a romance element. Sammy is devastated when the man she loves does not want to share her ranching way of life. She tries to dull her heartbreak by opening a school for Spanish speaking children and attempting to tame a wild horse.

THE HORSE TALKER
FIRST PRINTED: PRENTICE HALL [USA] 1960
A paperback edition was available as a print on demand title from 2000 and is still available at time of writing (winter 2018).
EDITION PICTURED: First edition, print on demand paperback edition.
SUMMARY: Historical horse story set in the 1850s. White born Lan lives with the Commanche Indian tribe. His light skin makes him an outcast in the village, but he can tame horses better than the Indians. When another boy, Yellow Wolf, persuades him that catching the runaway horse of one of the soldiers will win his respect in the village, Lan sets off in search of it. But it seems he has walked straight into a treacherous plot which leaves him living in the wilds with the Mustang herds and searching for the great legendary stallion know as The Ghost.

Collector's Info:
Tame the Wild Stallion is easy to find in the USA in the 1985 reprint edition, but first editions are quite hard to find. There is a UK printing of the book but it is rarely seen. The other two books are available as print on demand titles in the USA and UK. Again, first editions of these two can be hard to find, especially outside of the USA.