Welcome to Equestrian Ink

I'd like to welcome you to Equestrian Ink. Our main goal is to promote horse fiction. We're very excited to have this opportunity to do so.

A little about me:

I was born loving horses. I can't remember a time when I didn't love horses. I think that's true for a lot of people. You get the bug and you either outgrow it, or it's with you for life. My mother was afraid of horses and prayed I'd outgrow it. That didn't happen.

I didn't get my first horse until I was almost 18. I bought her with my own money and kept her at a friend's. She was the most barn sour thing I've ever seen. If I couldn't get someone to ride with me, I wouldn't be able to leave the barn unless I led her miles down the road and road her home. Needless to say, I didn't keep her long. During my college years, I got my horse fix by taking dressage and jumping lessons once a week. While I dabbled over the years in western pleasure and jumping, dressage was and still is my passion.

My other passion is writing. I've been writing since I was old enough to string words together. I still have a book in my attic written and illustrated when I was about 6 years old called "Wildfire," about a horse, of course. Many years later (too many to mention) I decided to try my hand at writing professionally. Just this year, I sold two books to Siren Publishing. The first one, "Who's Been Sleeping in My Bed," will be out this summer. The second, "The Dance." will be out in the fall. In "Who's" horses make a cameo appearance, but "The Dance" features an Andalusian with a sense of humor. The book I'm currently working on is titled, "The Gift Horse."

Which brings me to my next topic. "The Gift Horse" is inspired by my own Hanoverian mare, Gailey. I bought Gailey when she was a barely broke 3-year-old. Looking back, I wonder what I was thinking. A year before, I'd broken my collarbone in two places and two ribs after being dumped from a horse I'd only owned for three days. After that I'd only ride my safe, geriatric Morgan/Quarter Horse, having lost my nerve.

My trainer convinced me to try out this mare. He said he wanted the horse in his barn and if I didn't buy her, he'd have to. Well, after a month of convincing, I agreed to try the horse. She wasn't really advertised for sale yet, but the owner (also the breeder) had mentioned to my trainer that she might sell her. Well, even green-broke and going around with her head in the air, Gailey was heaven. It was like driving a Mercedes after spending your life in Chevy Vega. I knew I'd never be the same.

After months of agonizing, I bought the mare. This started a journey that has been full of ups and downs, countless thousands of dollars spent on natural horsemanship and dressage trainers, and three horse trailers (because she has a major trailering phobia). She grew from 16-2 at three years old to over 17 hands of massive warmblood. Once we got past the rocky part of our relationship, she's become a dependable partner (if not a little quirky and a bit of drama queen at times). She's a charmer and has a fan club. She's such a couch to ride that everyone who's ever ridden her asks if she's for sale as soon as they dismount.

We are currently showing 2nd/3rd-level dressage and hoping to do a little 4th level later this year. I'll keep you up-to-date on us and tell you a little bit more about my journey with my first warmblood.

Anyway, welcome to Equestrian Ink. We hope you'll return often and let us know what you think via the Comments section. We'll have a new post by one of our writers or guest bloggers every 2-3 days, along with contests and freebies