Jim Gath

J.D. Spencer, a one-time West Coast executive, has settled into his new life as a farm & horse owner outside of the Hudson Valley's Rhinebeck, NY. J.D. & his friend, Parker, a retired Englewood, NJ detective, are suddenly thrust into the middle of today's headline-grabbing social & political discord. And they quickly have to find a way to help some innocent people from having their lives ruined. Their law-skirting strategy is off-the-wall, to say the least. But will it work? Remember, this part of the Hudson Valley was home to the Headless Horseman......

Jim Gath has lived in the Sonoran Desert of Arizona for nearly two decades, on a ranch that is home to Tierra Madre Horse and Human Sanctuary, which he founded in 2006. Scores of horses - most of whom were injured, abused, neglected or abandoned - have called, and continue to call, Tierra Madre their forever home.Living in a desert clime, with horses, dogs, cats and all kinds of desert critters, Jim has come to love and appreciate the world around him - the big things and the little things - often as seen through the eyes of the truth and a healthy modicum of innocence.In LUNA SONORA, he explores those big and little things - along with the realities, the feelings and emotions that they bring with them.He hopes that what you take away from reading it are a sense of hope, a sense of joy, a sense of the bittersweet and a sense of wonder. And, most of all, a sense of love for the world around us.

When Valerie and Jackie, a pair of attractive young advertising executives from New York City, meet up in a saloon in the Arizona desert, with Jake, a dusty but big-hearted local cowboy, they had no idea that all of their lives would forever change. Unbeknownst to Valerie, she has inherited a small fortune from the father she never knew. After finally being found and apprised of her father's will by Milton Shebach, Esq., a Manhattan lawyer with a penchant for lunch at The Four Seasons, all Valerie has to do is deliver her parents' ashes to her Uncle Arch, a chicken and egg farmer in Marion, Indiana and the fortune would be hers. Little does Valerie know that Lisa, the half-sister she's never met, has designs on their father's posthumous bounty as well. Lisa and her husband, Walt, devise a maniacal plan to steal the ashes from Valerie and pass off an imposter as Valerie. Walt has his own secrets, too. Even Lisa is unaware of them. In addition to his career as a mogul in rice futures, he's deeply involved in an international ring of illicit traders specializing in the import and export of endangered and exotic animals. Having fallen head over heels for each other, Jake and Valerie come to the other's rescue; she, to donate a huge amount of money to Jake's horse sanctuary and he, to help her deliver her parents ashes to Indiana. Jackie is along for the ride, too - a city girl who learns how to play 'Cows' somewhere on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Over a several-day period, Jake and the girls encounter a plethora of absurd characters, from has-been detectives to wayward religious fanatics to meth dealers to Jon Voight and Rudy Giuliani to the producers of Shark Tank and many more that you wouldn't necessarily want to introduce to your mother. A high-speed chase results in the absurd converging on Arch's farm in a cloud of dust one fateful morning. It is up to Marion Police Lt. George Armstrong Custer to sort out the entire mess. And, according to Arch's son, JP, the whole thing is one gigantic clusterfu-----er, Custerfluck.

I Hear You, Horse. is full of meaningful life adventures as shared by an ex-corporate executive who found his calling when he founded the non-profit organization, Tierra Madre Horse Sanctuary. Tierra Madre Horse Sanctuary, located in Cave Creek, Arizona, is a sanctuary rescue ranch - a "Forever Home" to 31 previously unwanted, neglected, injured or abused horses. Ex-racehorses, ex-show horses, ex-rodeo horses, ex-ranch horses, ex-trail horses - horses of all sizes and breeds have found their way to Tierra Madre. Jim Gath comes from a family of horsemen - his grandfather was a trick rider, trainer and horse trader, one of his uncles was a jockey and another was an owner of rather questionably talented racehorses. As a kid, horses were an important part of his life, but he began his adult life taking a different trail. This book provides a guide that offers riders a proven method of establishing an excellent physical and emotional relationship with their horse. Horses are great at trying to tell us what they need. The trouble is we aren't always listening Horses communicate with body language and behavior to inform us when something isn't right. Sometimes it is a question of understanding their behavior, sometimes it means we need to change our way of handling them. Author Jim Gath has never, ever met a horse he didn't like. "You just have to listen to them", he says. "They'll tell you everything you need to know." TIERRA MADRE HORSE SANCTUARY is simply a very nice, very loving home for horses who, through no fault of their own, have no better place to go. Good food, good care, a lot of room, a lot of love and understanding and a lot of treats - a place where horses can enjoy being horses. Jim Gath is also the author of 264 W 40th Street - A memoir of his life in New York City in the 1970's.