The Spirit of Dogie Long is the story of an infant boy who is found by cowboys on a cattle drive from New Mexico to California in the 1870s. During his first 12 years, the crew teaches the boy how to handle himself among cattle, horses and cowboys the Cowboy Way, with honesty, compassion, and integrity. His horses, in effect, teach him the same values.
On the trail, cowboys tell stories of bravery, cowardice, anger and comedy, friendship and enmity, tales about the goodness of their mothers and sisters, or other relationships they’ve had with women. Conversation, stories, and songs are their only entertainment. Dogie grows up deeply dedicated in his way of life, because his cowboy partners are proud, zealous, skilled, and very happy about what they do.
The crew has a ranch near Magdalena, New Mexico. In the Spring, Summer and Fall the cowboys run the ranch and cattle. In the Fall, the owners also buy their neighbors’ cattle and combine them with the crew’s herd that will be driven across the winter trail to California for sale.
Dogie’s life goes on fine, although he never knows the affections that only mothers and sisters can give. One day when he is 12 a young mother and her daughters come to his rescue after he is lost in a snowstorm after a stampede. In their company he continues as a trail driver, but he also fulfills his ambition as a horse-breaker and trainer and starts what he thinks will be a new life.
However, too soon, he is forced to go out on his own again, as orphaned or otherwise displaced young cowboys often did in those days. He is separated from his outfit in an extraordinary and unexpected way.
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