Blind Your Ponies is a 2001 novel by Stanley Gordon West. West is a novelist best known for writing novels set in Montana, where he lived until his death in 2015. Blind Your Ponies follows Sam Pickett, a high school basketball coach, who works through his past trauma in the small town of Willow Creek, Montana. Sam coaches Willow Creek’s underdog basketball team to success, using his own life experience to encourage the team to believe in themselves against all odds. This novel explores trauma, grief, and the power of community.

This study guide refers to the 2011 Algonquin Books Libby e-book edition.

Content Warning: This study guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of mass shootings, sexual assault, domestic abuse, alcohol addiction, and ableism.

Plot Summary

Sam Pickett prepares for a new school year teaching English in Willow Creek, Montana. Sam thinks about his guilt over how a mass shooter murdered his wife Amy in a Burger King six years before. The principal comes into Sam’s classroom and tells him that he wants to give Sam a break from coaching the basketball team this year. The Broncs basketball team has lost the last 93 games in a row. Sam wishes he could coach one more year because it keeps his mind off his grief.

Peter Strong moves to Willow Creek from Minnesota to live with his grandmother after his parents’ divorce. He wishes he could go back to Minnesota because he misses his girlfriend, Kathy. A Norwegian exchange student named Olaf arrives in town, and the townspeople think he could help them win a basketball game because of his height. As the school year starts, Sam decides to coach the basketball team another year. He assembles the team with six players: Rob, Peter, Olaf, Curtis, Tom, and Dean. Diana Murphy, the biology teacher, offers to help him coach. When the season starts, the Broncs keep losing games, which discourages the boys. Diana and Sam start a relationship, but Sam feels nervous about getting heartbroken again. He tells Diana about Amy, and Diana tells him about her daughter, Jessica, who died in a car crash. Against all odds, the Broncs win their first game of the season, and Sam starts to have hope that they can win more.

Kathy breaks up with Peter. Grandma Chapman tells Peter about her abusive relationship with his grandfather and tells him that he will find someone else. Peter gets homesick for Minnesota and goes back. Sam feels nervous because he does not think that they can win with only five players. After a few weeks, Peter returns to Montana because Kathy continued to reject him. Diana tells Sam that she was responsible for Jessica’s death because she was driving the car, and this confession brings them closer together. With Peter back, the Broncs continue winning games, and they advance to the state tournament. Diana tells Sam that she got a job in San Diego for the following year, and Sam wonders if he should go with her.

During the state tournament, the Broncs struggle to keep up with the competition. Diana gets angry at Sam because she thinks that he does not believe that they can make it to the championship. Sam thinks that they should not get their hopes up in case they fail. However, Diana says that Sam’s grief keeps him from living his life to the fullest. After their fight, Sam encourages the team, and they start to improve again. During the tournament, Grandma Chapman goes to the hospital with her friend Hazel. Hazel learns that Grandma Chapman has leukemia but that she has not told Peter because she does not want it to affect his playing. The doctor tells Hazel that Grandma Chapman will not live through the summer. Hazel tells Sam about Grandma Chapman’s condition, but she makes him promise that he will not tell anyone else because Grandma Chapman does not want people to feel sad around her.

The Broncs make it to the championship game against Seely-Swan. Toward the end of the game, Dean and Peter foul out. The Broncs continue playing three versus five and despite the disadvantage, Willow Creek wins. Sam celebrates with Diana and the team. Afterward, the team carries the trophy to the bus with them. Two squad cars escort them through Helena as people cheer by the side of the road for them. Sam feels excited about the future as he decides that he wants to go with Diana wherever she ends up. Sam finally understands that he needs to move on from his trauma to see the hope that still exists in the world after Amy’s death. Sam knows that he will never be able to duplicate the experience that he had in Willow Creek with the Broncs. He drives the team home.