Horse Lovers Central discussion

Post anything about your writing life, in this thread, without promoting. We can learn a great deal from one another as writers. And readers will find it interesting to see how the books they enjoy get produced.

Here's content from an author who has described this moment which seems highly scary...
Thanks to
Natalie Keller Reinert


"Sleep? What's sleep?

Haha, I'm already a very poor sleeper. So when news of a potential hurricane for Florida next week really started ramping up last night, I knew there was no hope for me. Sure enough, I was up past one o'clock, the cats woke me up at three, and I never fell back asleep. This is only slightly worse than usual. It's a mercy I don't have a job to drive to, because I'd be driving drunk all the time (did you know sleep deprivation is comparable to intoxication? True story).

Anyway I got up at seven and the National Hurricane Center just issued their official CONE OF UNCERTAINTY with Florida at the top, bottom, and center, so I guess we're in prep mode.

For me as a horse owner, that means grabbing an extra bag of feed, checking my hay supplies, and making certain I have leather halters for turnout, antibiotic cream for any cuts, and a serious sense of humor about getting wet. Oh and of course checking my own pantry for peanut butter, granola bars, and cereal.

As luck would have it I just finished the last revision of a book and that included writing a hurricane scene...something I should seriously stop doing IN hurricane season!!

My corner of Florida doesn't see direct hits from hurricanes very often, and even when they do, I'm generally far enough inland to avoid hurricane-force winds, so I'm not actually worried. But I am ready to lose power...hopefully for not more than a day, because I have a lot of work to do! This book won't design itself!"

Here is a handy article of advice for writers who don't know as much about horses as the reader might. Even if you do own a horse, you can't know everything about every sport or area of horse ownership, and someone will point up a detail they believe would be harmful or just incorrect. Thanks to Book Cave for the article.

https://mybookcave.com/considerations...

Roz Marshall tells me:


I spend most Friday afternoons on our local artificial ski slope, teaching local schoolchildren how to ski. Before that I've spent the morning doing horse chores, putting him out to the field and getting his stable ready for the night.
And then most Friday evenings I spend writing newsletters to you!

The photo above is of the ski slope just outside Edinburgh, and you can see the south side of the city in the background. On a clearer day you'd see across the Firth of Forth to Fife!
The white diamond shapes are like upturned plastic bristles, and it gives a similar sensation to skiing on snow. It lets the local schoolkids learn to ski all year round, so that if they get the chance to go on real snow, they're not beginners any longer. It's actually where I learned myself, and where I passed my first instructor exam!
There are two slopes (this is from about half way down) which lets the groups spread out, and there are also a couple of nursery slopes for those first lessons. It's a great facility!
You may have thought that the life of a writer was glamorous, but I'm afraid that's not the case - not here at least!

As the author of three historical fiction books about horses, "PINTO!," "The Sand Pounder," and the soon-to-be-released title: "The Stallion and His Peculiar Boy," Clare asked me to share some information about researching topics for a book. All three of my books deal with real events that are little known to the world. I will address my work on PINTO! to give you an example of how much work the research part of writing a novel is.

I stumbled across Pinto when I was looking to write a blog post about famous horses. Pinto still holds the record for the longest horseback ride in history. He traveled over 20,300 miles during a three-year time period (from 1912 to 1915!) I started digging! For two and a half years I read everything I could find. My research first took me to the National Western and Cowboy Museum in Oklahoma City, Ok. I discovered their name in the credits for a photo I found on the internet. I went to the research library at the museum and asked to see their collection of photos of the "Overland Westerners" (the name the four men on the journey called themselves.) They had no idea what I was talking about! I told you, hardly anyone knew about the men or their journey with Pinto. But, after much searching in the deep, dark basement, we found a dusty box filled with pictures of the men and their horses in front of the state capitals as well as some old newspaper articles!

Next, I traveled to Bainbridge Island, WA, the home of two of the Overland Westerners and Pinto, himself. This cute, little museum has a permanent display of their hometown heroes. They also own all the journals that are still in existence that two of the men kept during the long, difficult journey. It was amazing! They gave me copies of all the journals and newspaper articles that they owned as well as rights to use their photos.

Returning home with a wealth of information, I carefully read and organized everything I learned. After reading each journal and taking notes of the highlights, I decided that Pinto, as the only horse to make it the whole way, deserved to tell the story. So "PINTO!" is told from the horse's point of view.

The research is the most fun part of writing Historical Fiction. I get to learn so many new things and pass what I've learned on to my readers.

Of course, the best Historical Fiction books are the ones about horses!

Have fun reading all sorts of genres and especially Historical Fiction!
M.J. Evans, Author

Thank you for digging in and preserving this history.

M.J., this is amazing work, and I'm so glad you did the research. Thanks for telling us your story, because other horse lovers can now get an idea how to go about doing something similar.

Romance author Gayle M. Irwin tells me how she researched for the rescue horses in her ranch settings.

"My parents taught me to appreciate nature and wildlife. I also support pet rescue and adoption because of their enjoyment of dogs and cats. My father has also been a horse-lover, and during the past few years, my appreciation and respect for the outdoors grew to include wild horses.
On my drive to Montana last week, I stopped at the Pryor Mountain Wild Mustang Center to hear a talk from filmmaker and author Chad Hanson, who had documented wild horses and the round-ups conducted by the Bureau of Land Management in Wyoming.
People also had the opportunity to meet some of the wild horses adopted by people who support the Center, including Wyoming Whisper, a young foal rescued from starvation and death on the Pryor Range in January. Whisper’s mother had died, and without her mother, the foal was also dying. The BLM rescued her and the Center staff adopted her. She is now a thriving young horse, and she was a delight to behold.
I’m grateful I had opportunity to learn more about these magnificent animals! I’ve woven horse adoption into a few of my books, including My Montana Love and Finding Love at Compassion Ranch. I plan to continue that theme in books I’m planning for 2024. I also hope to take my parents to the Wild Mustang Center and to areas at which we can still view wild horses."

Helen Haraldsen tells me:


"As an equestrian author, I’ve made some great connections with others who write about horses and we’ve paired up to offer giveaways of each other’s books: Michelle Holland, Lynne Man and Grace Olson. In June, I made a new connection. Not an author this time, but a business who make educational equestrian soft toys. They are called Crafty Ponies.
Back in June, they were preparing a brand new product line. In addition to their existing ponies, they were in the process of having a new range of smaller toys - foals - made, and these foals will represent nine British native breeds: Fell, Dales, Connemara, Shetland, Exmoor, Dartmoor, New Forest, Welsh and Highland. They thought it would be good to have a short story for each breed to provide some information about them through an adventure they have.

That’s where I come in.

Since June, I’ve been working away on the Crafty Pony ‘My New Baby Foal’ stories. This has involved researching the breeds, writing, liaising with breed societies, redrafting based on feedback from people from the various societies who have kindly read the stories for me and discussing illustration ideas with Karen from CP.

Six of the nine stories are now complete and I’m very excited to reveal that they are being launched at HOYS in two weeks time. At least five of the six (if not all) will be available to buy from the show and direct from Crafty Ponies. The completed stories are: Shetland, Fell, Dales, Connemara, Highland and Exmoor.

I’m currently working on the Dartmoor story, with just New Forest and Welsh still to do. They’ll all be ready in time for Christmas! Perfect gifts for any young native pony enthusiasts!
It’s been a VERY different experience, writing for a business and to a brief, rather than for myself and I’m really enjoying the collaboration."

Link to the Crafty Ponies website.
https://helenharaldsen.us7.list-manag...

Cynthia Terelst tells me,


"How do I come up with my titles?
All of my titles are animal related which gives me a good starting point. I think about the type of story I want to write and then find a saying that fits in with that.

When I wanted to write a royal romance I thought about how I would write one situated in Australia. We don't have royalty here. Centering a story around the game of polo sounded like it would work. Naturally the animal in question would be a horse. I searched for horse sayings on Google. The title that fit best with a royal romance was Get Off Your High Horse."

Heather Wallace has kindly sent me the story of how she wrote the bio-autobio of a Paralympic dressage champion, Sydney Collier.
You can read it on her website's blog page.

Heather tells me:
"There has been a lot going on this summer. The kids are home, so I’m basically an Uber. But, after two years of hard work, I’m excited to announce the release of Beyond Expectations: An Extraordinary Equestrian Journey from Deadly Diagnosis to the Paralympic Games by Sydney Collier and Heather Wallace.

I paired up with my buddy Syd, a two-time Paralympic Dressage Team member and all around amazing person to write her memoir. Want to know how that came about? I wrote an entire blog post around it."

https://timidrider.com/beyond-expecta...

Sydney Collier

Beyond Expectations: An Extraordinary Equestrian Journey from Deadly Diagnosis to the Paralympic Games

Natalie Keller Reinert tells me in her newsletter that she was interviewed for People magazine.


You can read this interview on their website. There are the usual posed photos of the author, not many horses. But her books are about horses and she describes the horse work throughout her life which I have recognised from the Eventing series.

https://people.com/natalie-reinart-lo...

Cressida Burton describes in her latest newsletter how she did some practical research.


"The other news is that a fortnight ago I visited the Disney ranch in Florida. Not only that but I achieved a lifelong ambition and rode western style!

The Tri-Circle-D Ranch at their Fort Wilderness Resort is known to be one of Disney's hidden gems, and, as we were in the area, we just had to check it out. It's a fully working ranch split over two sites; one where all the Disney horses are stabled and the other where you can go on trail rides. Well, when in Orlando... I just had to!
Now, I've never ridden western style and, yikes, was it different from English. Both reins in the left hand - not held between the ring and pinkie finger either - and with that same hand resting on the horse's neck. The right hand is on the horn at the front of the saddle. Steering and brakes were quite simple. Both reins far over to the left to go left, t'other way to go right, and pulled back to slow down or stop. Stirrups are worn extreeemely long. Having been taught to ride in a very classical English style, I found it very strange to ride almost leaning forward and with no contact at all.

I'm hoping this experience will be invaluable in helping me write realistic western riding scenes for my characters Teal, Fallon and Beck."

The best research is lived research!

Roxanne Rustand tells me in her newsletter about her background which makes her books solid. Anyone wanting to keep up with Roxanne would, I am sure, be welcome to sign up to her newsletter.


"I often set my books in the contemporary West, and I think I started my general research when I was six years old. My dad bought me an elderly mare and bridle for $75.00. From then on, I was on horseback constantly unless I had to be in school or my parents had other plans.

I grew up riding bareback throughout our part of the county with my horse-owning friends. We played Civil War or Cowboys. We were little girls in pigtails, racing across meadows, following every gravel road we could find, and swimming our horses in the nearby lake. It was a magical childhood, before the time when parents became afraid to let their kids out of sight.

When I was a little older, I loved riding during heavy Minnesota snowfalls and loping across snow-drifted fields. What a magical world that was—though now I look back and can only be thankful that my guardian angel was working overtime.

Eventually, I grew up to raise, train, and show my own horses. Later, after Joe and I married, we began raising quarter horses and later on, thoroughbreds…and I also have relatives who raised cattle. That—and all of our travels out West—proved to be helpful research for writing the contemporary romantic suspense series (Montana Secrets) that I set on ranches in the West.

Some of my childhood horses--and even the many pets our kids had while growing up—have even appeared in my books.

Cherokee, for instance. He was a huge, seventeen-hand Thoroughbred-Clydesdale cross, with the height and color pattern of a Budweiser horse—with a broad white blaze and white socks—and personality to burn.

Tall as he was, he would lie down and shimmy under the pasture fence to escape, and he did that on a regular basis despite my dad’s efforts to improve the fence. Cherry liked to go sightseeing at night, and he was particularly fascinated by houses and the people inside.

One night, he wandered a mile away. A couple looked out their window and saw an eerie white form with glowing eyes “floating” outside their window.

Terrified that they were seeing an alien, they called the sheriff, and several patrol cars soon arrived with lights and sirens…only to find Cherokee standing on their rose bushes and watching them through their window. Some of Cherry's adventures appeared in one of my novels.

People are almost always delighted to talk about their lives and careers, and there’s nothing like those interviews for adding personality to a fictional character. The local sheriff and firefighters. Doctors. Private investigators. Fingerprint analysts. Attorneys. And of course, there’s incredible research to be found on the internet.

I also love setting books in other places, like small towns in the North Woods of Wisconsin and Minnesota. But each time I start a book involving ranches and a hero wearing a Stetson, I feel like I’ve come home again."