Educated: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

Grandpa-down-the-hill was once a rancher who tended a huge herd of cattle on the mountain with sleek, well-trained horses. As Grandpa got older, he stopped ranching, and set the horses loose—now, a whole herd of wild horses lives on Buck’s Peak. Once a year, Luke, Richard, and Tara help Grandpa round up a handful of them to take to town and sell for slaughter. Out of every handful, Grandpas choose a young stallion or two to keep and tame, and Tara and her brothers take on the daunting work of training the wild, feral beasts. One year, when Tara’s grandpa is given a trained bay gelding from a relative, Shawn offers Tara help in training the horse. Tara, never having known a horse that wasn’t wild, is terrified, but is soon able to ride the yearling, which she names Bud, with ease—thanks to Shawn’s help.

Shawn’s return home has been calm and peaceful, but he refuses to speak of his “old life” or see his old friends. Shawn often drives Tara to her rehearsals down in town, and these drives are pleasant and jovial—but Tara notices a change in her brother as soon as he arrives in town and sees other boys. He often picks on the younger boys they run into, taunting and baiting them.

A month before Tara turns fifteen, she is outside on a summer evening helping Shawn train a new mare. Tara rides Bud, and Shawn rides the mare. When Tara’s horse gets too close to Shawn’s, Shawn’s horse kicks Bud in the chest, and Bud takes off. Tara is able to hold onto the saddle horn, but her foot slips through the stirrup—the one thing Grandpa-down-the-hill has told her to never let happen when riding. Tara holds fast to the saddle horn even as her instincts tell her to let go and try to fall, pulling her leg out of the stirrup in the process. While Bud bucks and rears furiously Tara holds fast to the saddle, hoping Shawn will come rescue her. Sure enough, he arrives on his mare within minutes, and is able to grab Bud’s reins and slowly calm the horse down.