Still Horsin' Around [Hardcover]

Don's "Horsin' Around" is a syndicated weekly newspaper column, continuous since 1971. It has been published in several states, and in HORSE OF COURSE magazine.

Originally about horses and horse people, the feature has evolved. It now deals with people, humor, current events, pets, seasonal topics, country living, nostalgia, and the human condition. Once, Don mentioned an original crock-pot recipe of his own, ("Easy Barbecue"), and was nominated "Cook of the Week" by the readers of one of his subscribing newspapers.

There have been two anthology books of selections from the column: HORSIN' AROUND in 1975, and HORSIN' AROUND AGAIN, 1981. Both are out of print, and occasionally found as collector's items on the Internet.

Dancing Goat Press is proud to announce publication of the third collection: STILL HORSIN' AROUND, published in June 2002. This compilation includes 84 of Don's favorite "Horsin' Around" articles from the 1990s and early 2000s.

In 1971 we were raising kids and horses, and I was beginning to write occasionally for horse magazines. I really had no ambitions to become a writer. I was asked by a friend, Merle Bird, editor of the small weekly Emporia Times, to write a weekly column about activities of the local and regional horse-oriented organizations. I doubted that there was enough material to keep it going, but agreed to give it a try.

That was 30 years, nearly 1600 columns ago. The Emporia Times was defunct within a year or so, for which I claim no credit. But, by that time, other papers were carrying "Horsin’ Around." In the winter months, with horse activity pretty scarce, I’d write about something else. Now the feature has evolved into a general interest column. It’s published in three states, and varies in distribution as we lose or gain subscribers.

In 1975, an anthology of "Horsin’ Around" columns was published in book form. The publisher took bankruptcy about 90 days later. Again, I take no responsibility. Only about 1,000 copies were ever circulated. Those are now high-dollar collector items. In 1981, another collection, HORSIN’AROUND AGAIN, was moderately successful. But again, these volumes are now sought on the internet by collectors, at outrageous prices.

Meanwhile, I had started to write historical novels about the American West, now nearly forty books. Writing is now my full-time job. Readers of the Spanish Bit Saga and of the weekly columns have asked "When will you do another "Horsin’ Around" book?" Okay, maybe it’s time.

STILL HORSIN’ AROUND is a collection of columns, mostly from the decade of the ‘90s. As before, not actually a horse book. But then, horsin’ around doesn’t necessarily have to involve horses, does it?

A number of people have told me that they keep one of the Horsin’ Around books in the bathroom. They’re in there just about long enough to read a page or two. Maybe three. Whatever works, I guess...

Hope you enjoy!

Don Coldsmith has written 40 books, 150 articles and 1600 newspaper columns. The bulk of his fiction is a series of historical novels, "The Spanish Bit Saga" (Bantam/Doubleday) which focuses on the Indians of the Great Plains from the time of first contact with Europeans. There are more than six million copies in print, as well as editions in German, French and Swedish...

Born in Iola, Kansas, son of a Methodist minister, Coldsmith graduated from high school in nearby Coffeyville and entered the U.S. Army in 1944. He served as a combat medic in the Pacific theater during World War II. Among the first troops to enter Japan at war's end, he was assigned primary medical care of the upper echelon war criminals, including Premier Tojo.

Returning to the States after the war, he graduated from Baker University in 1949. He worked as a YMCA youth director, bringing about the first interracial swimming in Topeka, Kansas, in the same school district that would later be involved in the famous "Brown vs. Board of Education" case. He earned his doctorate in medicine in 1958. He served as a family practitioner in Emporia, Kansas until 1988, when he closed his office to devote his time to writing.

Coldsmith is a Past President of Western Writers of America. He has been a finalist for the Western Writers' Golden Spur award six times, winning the award for best original paperback in 1990 for his book The Changing Wind. The Native Sons and Daughters of Kansas chose him Distinguished Kansan of 1993 in 1993. In 1995, he won The Edgar Wolfe Award for lifetime contributions in literature. His 1997 book Tallgrass was chosen as a Book Of The Month Club selection, while his next title Medicine Hat (Oklahoma University Press) was a Doubleday Book Club choice that same year.

He is popular speaker and lecturer, especially on topics dealing with the Great Plains and the American West. He is a member of the Speakers' Bureau for the Kansas Humanities Council. With his wife Edna, he maintains a ranching operation and has raised cattle, Appaloosa horses and five daughters, though not necessarily in that order.