Dan thinks he wants to be a rancher; his father wants him to enroll in a university. He has been granted a year's stay at his godparents' Wyoming ranch to learn what ranching involves. He came to stay with them in early summer. Now he must go thru a winter in the high country, a test even for those from New York state.
Receiving a horse of his own -a young pinto that he names Toby- he finds additional complications: Toby may be blind, he needs training, and his ownership is in question. There are times when work must be done, Dan learns, at a ranch or anywhere, even if a person is tired....

Spending two weeks at a dude ranch is a dream-come-true for Karen, 17. She delights being at Credenda Ranch, and the reader will enjoy all the details of her stay. What makes the story intriguing is the legend that surrounds this ranch, the "Tale of Echo Valley." Every evening the first week, old Hank unfolds a little more of the legend and its poem. It is about a girl and a horse:
Have you ever seen Echo Valley, in the best of its glory? Have you ever listened to its tale, of a great love story?
Karen's first summer "on her own," she learns a great deal about life and herself. She...