La Primera is an attractive pairing of a song by Canadian folk-music legend Ian Tyson and a set of paintings by Saskatchewan-born Adeline Halvorson. Following the history of mustangs from 1493, when the first such horses were brought to the Americas by the Spanish, to the few remaining wild herds of the present day, Tyson’s lyrics evoke the romance of the spirited animals, as well as of the conquistadores, Comanche, and cowboys who mastered them over the centuries.

Tyson’s song first appeared on his 1999 album Lost Herd, and the transition to picture-book format is not entirely smooth. The text works best when set to music; irregularities of metre and line length are part of the singer’s distinctive style, but seem awkward when read on their own as verse. The shifts between the first-person voice of La Primera, a mare who arrived with the first horses from Spain, and her son Coyote Dun, are confusing, and while the evocative qualities of music can carry the leaps of time from 1493 to the Comanches to the migration up the Saskatchewan, in words alone they are harder to follow. Halvorson’s lovely paintings of horses do, however, provide ample atmosphere and mood, and connect the mustangs of past and present. Horse lovers may want this book for the paintings alone.

Following the illustrated song lyrics, a four-page historical note gives helpful details about the mustangs, from their arrival in the New World to present efforts at conservation and control. This section only discusses their presence in the western U.S., leaving Canadian readers wondering if any herds established themselves here.