Half Broke Horses

This theme is threaded throughout the entire novel. Lily constantly meets with struggles in her life. These falls would break most people, including her sister Helen, who ultimately commits suicide. Lily, however, learns to literally fall off horses and still get back up again. Interestingly, most of the events that change her life occur when she falls. As a result of a car accident in Chicago, she learns that her first husband, Ted, is a bigamist. Her fall from Red Devil at the races leads to her meeting her future husband, Jim. When her sister “falls” and commits suicide, Lily realizes that she needs to move on with her life. Lily worries when Rosemary “falls” in love with Rex, but eventually recognizes that everything will be alright and allowing her daughter to find her own path in life. 

The title of the novel is also a major theme. Since her father raises carriage horses, Lily grows up learning to break horses. She continues to break horses throughout her adult life, too. Even though she knows how to break horses, Lily remains “half-broken” and so does her daughter. The two women have powerful spirits that cannot be contained by standards, rules, and small spaces. Rosemary is such a half-broke horse that she marries a man who is just like her; he is so untamed that he knows how to fly because even the earth cannot contain him.