Hero by S.L. Rottman

Sean is a 15 year old boy who has no parent support at home and is always getting in trouble at school. He lives with his mother who is always drunk. His father has been gone for two years. When he gets in trouble at school again, he is sent for community service to Mr. Hassler's farm. Mr. Hassler has a reputation for helping teenage boys who are in trouble. He takes Sean and with responsibility and caring gets him on the right track. The first night he is there, Manda, one of the mares, gives birth to a colt. Sean has to help with the delivery and becomes Knickers friend. Manda doesn't want her baby and even tries to harm him. Sean identifies with the colt and is angry with Manda, just as he is angry with his own mother for the abuse he has suffered at her hand. When his mother ends up in critical condition at the hospital because her liver is failing, Mr. Hassler agrees to keep Sean even though his father shows up and tries to take him. One of Sean's assignments at school is to write an essay, "My Hero Is.."
He and Mr. Hassler have several discussions about heroes. Mr. Hassler has received several medals from his WWII service. In the climax to the story, Sean's enemy, King shows up at the ranch and threatens to shoot Sean, Mr. Hassler, and Knickers, the colt. Sean is shot, but recovers. His essay expresses his frustration at the world he has to live in and the fact that in his life, he has no heroes, no one he can look up to, but he hopes one day to find one. Mrs. Walker, his English teacher, is another support that he realizes he has at school. James is a farm worker who is older than Sean. Mr. Hassler is an older man - grandfather age. Most of the setting is Mr. Hassler's farm, although the beginning of the book takes place at Sean's school.