Heather Smith Thomas Biography
Heather Smith Thomas grew up on a ranch and started writing stories and articles about horses and cattle during high school. She graduated from the University of Puget Sound in 1966 with a degree in English literature and history and wrote her first book — A Horse in Your Life: A Guide for the New Owner — the summer before she graduated, then married her high school sweetheart.
She and her husband, Lynn, spent their first summer on a dairy farm in southern Idaho, then moved back to Salmon, Idaho, where they both grew up. Since 1967, she and Lynn have been raising beef cattle and a few horses on their Idaho ranch. She has raised and trained horses for 65 years, written more than 20,000 stories and articles (mostly for livestock, horse and agricultural publications) and published 25 books, including Storey’s Guide to Raising Horses, Storey’s Guide to Training Horses, Storey’s Guide to Raising Beef Cattle, The Horse Conformation Handbook, Care and Management of Horses, Essential Guide to Calving, The Cattle Health Handbook, and Beyond the Flames — A Family Touched by Fire (about her daughter’s burn injuries and survival, and how it affected the family).
She has also written several books about her experiences on the ranch (Horse Tales: True Stories from an Idaho Ranch; Cow Tales: More True Stories from an Idaho Ranch; and Ranch Tales: Stories of Dogs, Cats and Other Crazy Critters). Her most recent book, soon to be published, is Raising Cattle on Your Homestead Farm.
