These essays are glimpses of a life with horses shared by Frederica Steinberg and her father, Roger Maher. Horses symbolize the strength of a father-daughter relationship, as well as some confusion and ambiguity. As a young girl, a teenager, and even a young married woman, Frederica has to work hard to maintain independence from her domineering and hard-drinking father because of their shared love for riding. Despite this tension and contradiction, Frederica finds that riding gives her a deeper joy, as well as the peace and quiet that she needs.