Cover Reveal

by Linda Benson

Very excited to show you the awesome new cover for the re-release of my most popular novel - now available!

This post-apocalyptic horse novel was inspired by an actual college research project I did, as well as the state of the horse industry today. Can you imagine a time in the future when the bond between horses and humans has been largely forgotten? Except for one girl, named Sahara, who still dreams of horses.

Here's the link on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Who-Remembered-Horses-ebook/dp/B00PHVIR0C and it's available as an ebook for only $2.99.

Hope you like it! And feel free to share. Thanks!

Reasons We Ride

by Linda Benson

We ride horses for many reasons. Some of us like to compete in shows. Some like the kinship and relationship that we develop with our equine partners. For some, training a horse is a thrill.

I haven't been riding much recently, but on a recent camping trip, I hiked with my husband on a gorgeous trail through the northernmost grove of Redwood Trees, in Southwest Oregon. And I realized that the most joy that I have experienced on horseback, and the main reason that I like to ride, is to experience wild places.

Because everyone needs a little wilderness.

Even as a girl with a horse (although I did my share of barrel racing and showing in other classes) my main place to ride was away. Gone for the day, into the mountains, up trails that only my horse and I knew about.

These experiences come out in my writing, too. In my short read called The Summer Cat, fourteen-year-old Hannah rides her mare on the hundreds of acres of forest land behind her house. She has names for trails that she uses, like the Wild Rose Trail. (Have you named the trails that you ride the most? I always did.)

"I pushed her up the Wild Rose trail. We trotted straight up the steep slope which opened onto an amazing view of the valley and the forest and mountains behind our property. Those show horse people never get to see this stuff . . ."

The most fun I ever had horseback was a three-day camping trip with a girlfriend, riding the 100 mile Tevis trail (several weeks prior to competing in the actual race) but doing it in thirds, camping along the way.

Anyway, those are my thoughts for the day. I hope in all of your riding, training, and bonding with your horse, you are able to use that wonderful creature to take you places you might never otherwise see.

Wishing you all a little wilderness.

Himalayan Blackberries - AKA #1 Pest

by Linda Benson

Hey, everyone. It's me! Just peeking up from the trenches of our back forty (okay, our back 1/4 acre) where I am single-womanly determined to eradicate all blackberries forever and ever, using just a pair of gloves and some pruning shears.

Making some progress - still a long way to go

When I was young, I used to love picking blackberries growing alongside the road. I still do. They are yummy. But in my adult life, I have learned to detest this invasive plant. First - as a gardener, because they come up everywhere! And second - well, have you ever had a green horse you were riding bolt sideways, directly into a sharp, inch-thick blackberry cane growing across the trail at head height? If not, I can assure you that blackberries cut through ears rather easily, which bleed profusely, causing said horseback rider to believe they might be dying. But I digress.

According to the Oregon Dept. of Agriculture, this blackberry (actually native to Armenia and Northern Iran) "is the most widespread and economically disruptive of all the noxious weeds in western Oregon. It aggressively displaces native plant species, dominates most riparian habitats, and has a significant economic impact on right-of-way maintenance, agriculture, park maintenance and forest production." See, I knew there was a good reason to hate this stuff.

And according to Wikipedia: it was introduced into Europe in 1835, into the United States in 1885 (only 129 years ago) and is now an invasive species in most of the temperate world.

But I am making some headway against this awful plant.

Finding treasures, such as this lovely double alder tree, fallen horizontally, but still alive, with a magnificent native mock orange growing up the right-hand side.

 

 

I work in the cool of the morning, or in the evenings, and it may take me years, but I'm determined to get rid of most of the darned blackberries from this piece of ground. (I might leave a small patch to eat. Or maybe not!)

 

A double pair of intertwined alders that I've uncovered with my pruning shears. Lovely, aren't they?

 

Are Himalayan Blackberries a pest where you live? Does it get into your gardens or horse pastures? Ever had a horse drag you through the stuff? Let me know - I'll be right there with my gloves and pruning shears!



The Summer Cat

Hi Everyone - Is it summer yet? I hope so, because I just released my newest work of short fiction, called The Summer Cat.

But wait, this one actually has horses in it! And a horseshoer. A very good horseshoer, who is also a very bad horseshoer. (But that is all I'll say about that.) Here's the official blurb:

When Spuds goes missing, Hannah's whole world comes crashing down, and an interloper who shows up only makes things worse. Can a faraway friend help find this special cat, or it is already too late?

Available world-wide as an eBook from Amazon, the price in the US is only $0.99 (and comparable elsewhere.) It's the third in my series of short fiction about people and their cats, including (so far) The Winter Kitten and The Springtime Cat. Each of these is stand-alone fiction, and they can be read in any order.

So for those of you who have read The Summer Cat (or will read it - it's a short read) I have a question. At the end of the story, should Hannah and her mom still use Joe Johns as their horseshoer?? What would you do?

Where Do Old Horsewomen Go?

Why, out to check the chickens, that's where.

No, I don't have horses anymore. *sigh* Yes, I do have chickens.

Do they take up as much time as horses? Almost.

This morning, quite early, I let the big hens out of the hen house, turned the heat lamp on for the mama and babies and opened the divided hen house so they could have access to the whole thing until it warmed up above 45 degrees outside. At which point, I went back outside, let them out into their outside pen (with access to their heat lamp if they want it) fed and watered them and pulled them some green grass to eat. Then I fed our laying hens, which mostly free range, but who I try to keep inside for a few hours until they lay in their nesting boxes.

Dory, a Silver-Gray Dorking, who loves to hide her eggs

But of course our renegade chicken (Dory) snuck out between my legs, because she likes to lay her eggs in the blackberry bushes.

And true to form, before I could even turn around and follow her, Dory had skedaddled down the driveway and into the bushes, where we've searched for the last half hour without finding her or her eggs. Silly hen.

A friend was over the other night, for dinner and wine, and he remarked, "Linda, your thing is really Animal Husbandry, isn't it?" Bingo. Although I'd prefer to call it Animal Wifery. I really do enjoy taking care of animals, learning all there is to know about them, and providing them the best care possible, within my budget. Over the years, I've done this with not only horses, but donkeys, goats, ducks and chickens (and of course dogs and cats.) With the internet at our disposal these days, there is no reason for anyone to not be informed about the proper care of animals, because it's all right there at your fingertips, if you just take the time to search.

This is Fluffy, a Salmon Faverolle, who takes sunbaths on the concrete patio next to our dog.

In my case, I also love to gather first-hand knowledge. How long will a mama chicken stay with her babies before she gets tired of them? Do chickens prefer to roost on round roosts or square? So besides gathering fresh, healthy eggs, my chickens, each with their own distinct personalities, provide me endless hours of fun and enjoyment.

So although I miss riding (quite a little bit) I still get the satisfaction of taking care of critters, albeit smaller ones these days.

This is Elizabeth, a Black Australorp, with her four adopted chickies.

Elizabeth, pictured above, was setting on infertile eggs (we don't have a rooster, but hens still have the urge to set.) I took pity on her, and bought some just-hatched chicks at the feed store. Then I snuck them underneath her during the night. By morning, she was clucking away, thinking she had hatched her own babies.

Do you raise chickens? Do you let them free-range all over your barnyard? Do your horses like them?

Tell us!

Good Horse Books for Xmas!

                                    by Laura Crum

            This blog was begun by a group of authors who wrote horse-themed fiction. Pretty much all sorts of horse-themed fiction—the original writers had published romance and mysteries, primarily. Over the years we were joined by authors who wrote children’s books and YA fiction, as well. And not too surprisingly, all of these authors were/are horsewomen themselves.

            The common bond linking all the EI authors is not just love of horse-themed fiction, but love of actual horses, and much of the time we blog about subjects to do with our real lives and our real horses. It is the fact that we all own (or have owned) horses and spent many years in the saddle that make our horse-themed novels believable and worth reading by others who also are horse people.

            So often, as Aarene pointed out in a facebook post not too long ago, horse themed novels are very disappointing to horse people, because the authors quickly reveal their ignorance about horses. As in the “highly praised” novel I read not so long ago (or rather, started to read and then skimmed and then tossed in the trash) that featured an abused, dangerous rescue horse that is re-trained successfully in three rides by a teenager who has never ridden and is afraid of horses. Yeah, right.

            One of the best things about all the books written by authors here on the EI blog is the fact that the horse background is accurate and effortless, coming from horsewomen who really know whereof they speak. Perhaps some books will be more to a given reader’s liking than others, depending on the sort of genre and style that is preferred, but the horse background arises from the author’s lifelong history owning and riding horses, and is accurate when it comes to detail.

            My 13 year old son has really enjoyed reading some of the YA fiction written by our EI authors, and today I am posting his review of Linda Benson’s “The Girl Who Remembered Horses.” My kid read Linda’s “The Horse Jar” quite a few years ago and liked it very much and was eager to read this new book, which is geared to slightly older readers.

            I read “The Girl Who Remembered Horses” first, to get a sense for how it would work for my son, and thought it was just about spot on perfect for a 13 year old. I really, really wish someone had given me this book for Xmas when I was thirteen. Sahara, the young heroine, is a wonderful portrait of a young girl learning to believe in herself when faced with rejection and lack of support by the people around her. And part of what gives Sahara strength is her bond with horses.

            This is a message that would have been so helpful for me to hear in my awkward early teens, when I was both horse-obsessed and a social misfit in the intolerant world of junior high. “The Girl Who Remembered Horses” would have been a real comfort to me, and would certainly have been a book that I treasured and read over and over again.

            And now, let us hear what a 13 year old boy thought of the book:

Star rating: 4 stars

            A week or so ago I finished Linda Benson’s book, “The Girl Who Remembered Horses,” in which civilization has been wiped out and the surviving humans are back to living primitively. The people (most of them) do not remember the use of horses, they think of them as something they can kill. But one girl in the “Traders Clan” has vague memories of “animals with long necks, manes, and thundering hooves!” Her memories become more complex and are proved true when she visits Gardeners Camp and reads a book on horses. Now she must convince her clan of the true meaning of horses (but can she?).

            This book was a good one and really fed my imagination on what the land might be like in the future. And the book had some twists and turns, which I liked as well (though I did predict the ending).

            I think any horse lover over 10-12 would like this book.

            To find “The Girl Who Remembered Horses” on Amazon, click on the title.

            

Announcing: THE WINTER KITTEN

by Linda Benson

Ahh - it's cold out. 23 here this morning, and my ducks uttered a few choice words when they jumped in their pond this morning and hit ice. Yikes! But it is the season for snuggling up by the fire with a good story to read. Which is why I hope you'll allow me the liberty of announcing my new short read called
THE WINTER KITTEN.

No, this one is not a horse book (although, there are horses briefly mentioned.) But I do know that most horse lovers also are animal lovers in general, so I hope this book will appeal to you. Here's the blurb:

Brianna doesn't know how she'll make it through her first winter in Portland. It rains too much, she misses her mother and the country life they once shared, and with Christmas coming up she's having a hard time adjusting to life with only her dad. When she finds a kitten trapped in their garage, Brianna is sure things will get better. But nothing goes as planned, and Brianna wonders what she's gotten herself into.

This short story from Linda Benson, award-winning author of books about the human-animal bond, will surely warm your heart in any season.

THE WINTER KITTEN is available on Amazon for only $0.99 as a Kindle eBook, so if it sounds appealing, I hope you'll give it a try. Don't have a Kindle? You can download the Kindle app for free right from the product page of this book, and read it on your computer, tablet, phone, or other device. Cool, huh? Here's the link: http://www.amazon.com/The-Winter-Kitten-ebook/dp/B00GD4TDCI

After five novels from two different publishers, this book is a first for me - my first try at publishing on my own (with help from professionals on both editing and cover design) and my first try at publishing short fiction. And I believe there may be demand for shorter reads. With our busy lifestyles and (sadly) shorter attention spans, a complete, satisfying story that can be read in just one or two sittings might be appealing to many.

I hope some of you will pick this one up and let us know.
Is there a future for short fiction? What do you think?
Give us your opinion!

Your Favorite Color (of horse, of course.)

Okay - we love our readers - so let's play a little reader participation game.

What's your favorite color of horse?
Bay, sorrel, palomino, paint, buckskin, chestnut, black, appaloosa, grey, or ?????

Of course, I'll be the first to admit that A Good Horse is Never a Bad Color. But deep down, we all have our favorites.

I adore paint horses, and always pick them out in a field driving past. In fact, the picture I still use as my author photo:

Linda Benson and Pete

is of me and a paint horse that I have since sold. But he was a pretty guy, wasn't he? With one blue and one brown eye, I adored his coloring (although he does look a little chubby here.)

I tend to like horses with color. I love palominos, like Laura Crum's Sunny. I adore a good buckskin horse, and I like chrome on a horse: flashy white stocking, bald faces, something special to make them pop. And I love bays - anything from a plain bay horse to a bay with a wide blaze and high white stockings is very cool, in my book.

Years ago, my dad used to do a little "horsetrading" on the side, and I often went with him on his buying trips. Besides riding and helping him find gentle family horses to resell, we always looked for pretty ones, too, because the truth of a the matter is that "pretty sells."

But color is definitely a preference. Some people adore sorrels, some chestnuts, some brown-bay or black. Some like plain horses, and some people like flashy ones.

So you tell us! In the comment section below - let us know your favorite color (or colors) of horse!

Everyone who leaves a comment will be entered to win a copy of my book, The Girl Who Remembered Horses.

 

 I'll draw the winner's name from a hat on July 1, 2013. U.S. entrants can choose a paper or ebook copy, and international entrants can win an ebook. Fair enough?

Okay, Go! What's YOUR favorite color of horse???

The Downside of Loving Horses

                                    by Laura Crum

            First of all, Happy Mother’s Day to everyone--to those with horse, dog, cat, other critter kids, as well as those with human kids. I used to resent Mother’s Day before I had a child—I felt as if I were somehow being excluded from this role as “mother,” even though I loved and cared for all my animal kids. So I want to acknowledge that everybody with a dependent creature is a mom. Happy Mother’s Day to you all.

            I have been thinking about what it means to be a good “mom” to a horse. I love my horses. I think a lot of us who read this blog love our horses. And when you love your horses, you don’t get rid of them when their useful life as a riding horse is over. No, you retire them and take care of them as long as they can be reasonably comfortable as pasture pets. And when their life is no longer any pleasure to them, you have them humanely put down. Sounds simple, doesn’t it?

            In theory it IS simple. In practice, not quite that simple. Let us take my particular situation. I have owned horses all my life. Twenty years ago I was able to buy a small horse property (actually I bought raw land and slowly built a horse property—but that story has been told before). The maximum number of horses that I can keep here is five. And not only do I have my horses, but my longtime friend, Wally, boards his horse (s) with me.

            Over the years there have been times that between Wally and me, we owned a dozen horses. Our using horses, our retired horses, rescued horses, and young horses we were training. It was a real juggling act to find places to put all of them. For many years our retired/rescued horses were turned out in a pasture, where either a friend or the pasture owner looked at them every day. When we weren’t training them, we turned the young horses out, too. And this worked pretty well for awhile.

            But our retired/rescued group got older. They all needed more care. Some of them were no longer thriving in the pasture, though they had been happy there for many years. And Wally and I got older, too. Neither one of us wanted to ride young horses any more. And neither one of us wanted to be constantly running out to the pasture to try and give adequate care to the old horse herd—on top of taking good care of the horses here at my property. So we made some tough choices a couple of years ago.

            We found good, happy homes for a couple of the younger horses that were ridable (where they are still happy today). We euthanised two of the older horses that were steadily failing. We brought my oldest horse (Gunner) home to live with my recently retired horse, Plumber. This gave me five horses at home—my two retired horses, my riding horse (Sunny), my son’s horse (Henry), and Wally’s horse (Twister). Sounds simple, right?

            In some ways it IS simple. I can take good care of the horses here at my home. They get fed three times a day—a mix of alfalfa and grass hay. The ones that need more alfalfa get that, and the ones that need more grass hay get that, too. Each horse is kept in a large (averaging 50 feet by 250 feet) paddock where they can be fed exactly what they need. They hang together under the oak trees and interact as a herd, but the old horses are safe from being bullied, and each horse is carefully fed what that horse specifically requires. Gunner gets lots of equine senior and free choice hay and is thriving at 33 years old. In green grass season the horses get turned out to graze, in the rainy season they are blanketed if needed and have run in sheds, in fly season they get fly spray and fly masks..etc as needed. I look at them many times a day and can catch problems very quickly. I can do all this because they are living here with me. So yes, in some ways, it is simple.

            Sunny grazing in the riding ring.

            Henry climbing the steps to the back porch.

            The problem? Well, the problem is that the youngest horse on the place is Twister, who is 17. Sunny is somewhere between 15 and 20 (no papers/weird teeth) and I just ballpark him as the same age as Twister. So I have two 17 year old horses, two that are about 25 (Henry and Plumber) and one that is 33. They are all doing great. But it doesn’t take a horse expert or a mathematician to tell me (or you) what is going to happen next.

            If I am committed to giving these five horses the best care I can for the rest of their lives (which I am), sometime in the next five years or so, I am apt to have five retired horses to care for and nowhere to put a useful riding horse. What’s a good horse mom to do?

            The option of a good retirement home isn’t viable for me. Every truly good retirement home I have ever heard of (and there are none that I know of near me) costs a LOT more per month than I can afford. I consider myself comfortably middle class, but it would be next to impossible for me to afford board for more than one horse in this part of the world. The option of keeping the horses in someone else’s pasture—or my own pasture (3 hours away)? Well, I’ve done that. And I have to say that even though the people who looked at my horses did their best, the horses got glanced at once every 24 hours, if that. The pastures were big and if the horses weren’t in sight of the driveway, no one was going to hike out to find them. Without being paid big bucks, no one was going to put blankets or fly spray on these horses or give them their daily ration of senior food (separating them from the herd to do so), or painkillers that they might need. I always worried that a colic or injury might not be caught for a couple of days. I went out to do the chores as often as I could (in the pasture near my home), but it was impossible for me to be there more than once a day. I just felt that the level of care wasn’t really adequate, especially as the horses got older.

            So I’m left with the fact that when my current five horses are all (possibly) too old to ride, I’ll just be taking care of them—like a good horse mom. And the truth is, I won’t really mind. I have done SO many things with these horses over the years—competed at cutting and roping, ridden in the mountains and on the beaches, taught my son to ride…etc. Every time I interact with my horses, even to feed them, all these happy moments come back to me. Time past is present along with time present. So, for me, taking care of my retired horses is OK.

            But…it wouldn’t have been OK in my 20’s and 30’s. I wanted to compete and train—most of all, I wanted to ride. Faced with this herd of old horses, I would be looking anxiously to find good homes for some of them so that I could get a new riding horse.

            I’m glad I don’t feel that way now. But I did feel that way once, and I understand the feeling. I’m wondering how many other horse moms out there are looking at an increasingly older horse herd and wondering what their options will be when none of the herd is ridable. Any thoughts or solutions?

PS—Don’t forget that Linda Benson’s book Six Degrees of Lost is on special for 99 cents until May 15^th.

And the first two books in my mystery series, Cutter and Hoofprints, are also on sale for 99 cents each. Click on the titles to find the books.

Happy Mother’s Day! (Look what my husband gave me—a hanging basket begonia he raised from crosses he made—ain’t it great?)

Six Degrees of Lost - on Sale - 99 cents!

Hi Everyone - I'm having a promotion on one of my books, with the cooperation of my publisher, Musa.

From May 1-15, Six Degrees of Lost will be only .99 as an ebook.

It's a sweet story, told in two different voices, and it's about a lost dog, a first love, and a journey.

 

Olive’s mother is headed to jail and her brother to join the Army, so thirteen-year-old Olive is uprooted from sunny California and dumped in Washington State like a stray. That's exactly what she feels like surrounded by her aunt’s collection of homeless dogs, cats, and horses.

Fourteen-year-old David’s future is already carved in stone. From a military family with two brothers serving overseas, he’s been pointed towards the Air Force Academy his entire life - but a rafting trip gone awry might ruin his chances.

When a runaway dog is almost hit by a car, the search for its owner leads Olive and David, two teens from entirely different backgrounds, to an unlikely bond. Will their growing attraction to each other be enough to keep Olive from a foolhardy journey to find her mother? Will David risk his family’s plans to save her?

Six Degrees of Lost will be available at this special price on Amazon, Barnes&Noble, and some other sites, I believe.

And although horses are not the main theme of this book, it does of course, have horses in it! Here's a short excerpt:

“So what’s with all those dogs barking in the back yard?”

“They’re foster dogs. My aunt takes them in when they get too crowded at the animal shelter. Some of them aren’t adoptable, and would be put to sleep otherwise.”

“Really?” I gulp.

“We’ve also got six cats in the house, plus the horses out back. Come on, I’ll show you.” The yellow dog jumps up and down, begging for the stick. Olive flings it down the driveway. I see a small shelter out back, with sagging fences. Olive is already headed that way, taking short barefoot steps on the gravel, so I follow.

A sway-backed pinto horse with a mouth full of hay sticks his head out from the shelter and then turns and goes back to his breakfast. It looks kind of bony.

“Wow,” I say. “Skinny.”

“Yeah, that’s Paintball.” She grins. “Well, that’s what I call him. He was found wandering loose up in the National Forest. Aunt Trudy says somebody just dumped him there.”

“Why would anybody do that?”

Olive shrugs. “I know. Hard to believe, huh? I guess they couldn’t afford to feed him, but still, that’s just mean.”

A huge brown horse wanders over to the fence. “Who’s this one?” I reach between the strands of wire and pat his head. He’s just as skinny as the first one.

“My aunt says he’s ancient, and we’ll probably never get his weight back on. They found him tied to a tree in front of the animal shelter, but they don’t really have any facilities for horses there, so he came here instead. He’s sweet, huh?”

“Yeah, he seems nice.” The old horse pushes his head underneath my hand, clearly enjoying the attention.

“I call him Shakespeare. ‘Cause he looks so noble and elegant.”

Elegant? I think. That’s a stretch. “Can you ride them?”

“I don’t know. Aunt Trudy says we don’t really know that much about them. Anyway, it’s been too hot, and she’s always busy. She’s a clerk at the animal shelter thrift shop, and she takes turns working down at the shelter, besides feeding all these animals here at home.”

Olive talks so fast she makes my head swim. She barely takes a breath, and rattles on. “So besides the ones she takes in from the shelter, my aunt is always finding animals, too. She says there must be an invisible sign at the bottom of the driveway that says: Lost Animals Stop Here.”

“Is that how you found this dog?” I stroke the big lab’s ears, and he presses against me.

“He was standing in the middle of the road,” she says, “and almost got hit by a car.” She smiles. “Maybe he was reading the sign.”

---

Hope some of you will hop on over and pick this one up while it's on sale at this great price. It's perfect for middle-grade readers through adult, and animal lovers of all ages!

Thanks! We appreciate our readers very much!

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

The Horses of Proud Spirit

Many of you who read this blog are quite aware of the dire fate of some horses in this country. Unfortunately, as much as we love and adore our horses, there are still many standing in people's dark stalls and backyards - ill fed, un-cared for, starving or worse. Many of these will eventually end up on a slaughter truck bound for Canada or Mexico - a sad end for an animal who may have served humans well during its life.

We've talked about this a little on this blog before, and some of you, including our own Laura Crum, are kind enough to keep and care for their horses throughout their lives. Recently, I've been introduced to Melanie and Jim Bowles, who run Proud Spirit Horse Sanctuary in Lincolnton, GA. For over twenty years, they've been devoted to taking in these equine cast-offs, and providing them not only shelter and food and a great life, but room to run and be a horse in a herd - to live out their lives as naturally as possible.

I'm running a promotion during the month of February 2013 to help feed these horses. (Melanie and Jim are currently caring for 52 horses, as well as an assortment of dogs and other critters that need help.) Purchase a copy of THE GIRL WHO REMEMBERED HORSES anytime during February and my publisher will hold back my royalties to be donated to Proud Spirit Horse Sanctuary.

In a world that has forgotten the ancient bond between horses and humans, can one girl's dreams make people remember?

Part of the inspiration for this book was the fate of not only modern horses, but wondering what would happen to all equines in the event of a huge, apocalyptic event, caused by either nature or man. The Girl Who Remembered Horses is a fictional account of what might happen in the future.

But Melanie and Jim Bowles are two very real people who have devoted their lives, day in and day out, to helping horses in dire predicaments.

So if you've had a hankering to read The Girl Who Remembered Horses, now is a great time! Any February sales worldwide from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Musa Publishing, iTunes, Smashwords, Kobo, or any other legitimate outlet will count, and my royalties will go to feeding the horses of Proud Spirit.

End of an Era

by Linda Benson

Our barnyard seems so quiet. In fact, it is. Other than a couple of barn cats and a few remaining mice, nothing stirs there anymore. After 45 years of owning horses, and several more owning donkeys (I had to have something equine) I made preparations to find a great home for my last remaining animals, anticipating a move in our future.

I started this process early, because I didn't want to be in a hurry about it. As it is, I found them a wonderful home, with very knowledgeable donkey owners who will keep these two boys together as a pair. They are, after all, best friends.

We decided to deliver them, because we wanted to see where they were going to live. So we hitched up the trailer,

and got the boys ready to go. They obviously knew something was up.

Where are we going, Mom?

To your new home. You'll be fine.

Looks like a pretty nice place!

And in no time at all, they were all settled in. It made my heart glad to find such a good home for them.

But I have to admit, long after my donkeys were gone, years of long habit kept me glancing out to our own pastures and barn, over and over during the day, making sure they were okay. It's a horse person's instinct, to check on their animals' well being constantly. My husband parked his tractor inside the big stall they had shared, and every single time I glanced out the window, I thought I saw them in the barn. No, I had to remind myself, it's the tractor.

I wrote a post some time ago about being a horsewoman for life: http://equestrianink.blogspot.com/2011/08/on-being-horsewoman.html and many of you reassured me that I was. (Thank you.) But my husband and I are down-sizing: smaller acreage, smaller house, and less animals, so this feels like the end of an era for me. A very long era of owning equines.

But you want to know the very best part? Right next door to our new place, there's a nice barn with several horses, who stick their noses over the fence to be petted. Guess where I'll be every day??

A Blast From the Past

By Linda Benson

The Tevis Cup, the 100 mile/one day ride through the rugged Sierra Nevada Mountains in California, was recently completed. Held in July or August on a weekend nearest the full moon, I did this ride many years ago, and I always get nostalgic this time of year just thinking about it.

I rode it on my good horse Daniel. Although the vast majority of endurance riders prefer Arabs, Daniel was a half-mustang, half-quarter horse gelding that I had bought as a green broke 8-year-old. He was dark palomino with a lot of dun factor, including a salt-and-pepper mane, a line-back, and even some faint zebra-striping on his legs. I'm sure his coloring, as well as his toughness and surefootedness was inherited from his mustang mother.

The year was 1985 (well of course it was, check out the permed hair.) This was long before everyone had a digital camera, so this a photo of a photo (excuse the poor quality) of Daniel and I going over the iconic Cougar Rock. The trail narrows to a steep climb up a solid granite rock right here, with an insane drop in any direction, and professional photographers are positioned here to take a picture of you and your horse scrambling up the rock. Well of course everyone wants to RIDE up the infamous Cougar Rock (because it makes for such a cool pic) so I wanted to tell you the story of why I'm walking up it (which about half the riders, and anyone with any sense, would do.)

Actually, my girlfriend and I had completed this trail a couple of weeks earlier in three days, riding about 30-35 miles a day, carrying all of our needs on horseback and camping out. We not only had a blast, but Daniel had carried me right up this rock like the trooper that he was. He was sure-footed, I totally trusted him, and he had never refused to go anywhere that I pointed him. Which explains the look on my face in this picture. Do I look determined? No, actually, I was totally pissed at my horse right here, and calling him many names that I cannot print.

After a mad dash out of camp at 5:15 in the morning, and long-trotting up the slopes of Squaw Valley, followed by a narrow trail that winds around and over creeks and timber, there was a bottle-neck of horses at about the 27 mile marker, waiting to climb Cougar Rock. Unlike earlier, when our forward motion carried us right on up, Daniel had time to think about it while we waited our turn. Perhaps he remembered how steep it was, or maybe he knew how many more miles (73) there were on the other side of it. At any rate, when we approached the rock, my darn horse spun around about ten times and refused to go up it.

Now of course anyone with half a brain would have bailed off and just led their horse up, got to the top safely, remounted and proceeded. But no. Puffed up with cowgirl pride, I walloped old Daniel a few good ones, not wanting him to get away with anything. I could hear the titters and sighs of the other riders around me, waiting for their turn, while I took this moment to school my horse. In just a few minutes, Daniel decided to charge up the rock, just like he had brilliantly a couple of weeks ago. With a smug look on my face, I leaned forward and grabbed his mane to help him balance. But when he got about 2/3 of the way up, at the steepest, scariest, most treacherous spot, my horse spun around again, and started back down the rock. Eeecckkk.

With youthful agility that I don't possess today, I jumped off him, amazingly didn't fall, grabbed the reins, and led him on up, narrowly averting a huge disaster captured for all time by the professional photographer sitting above us to our right. At the top of the rock, I jumped back on my horse, and it took about ten minutes (and a lot of bad words) to get my emotions under control. I decided that since we still had so far to go, I could not mentally be mad at my horse for all that time. So I collected myself, with difficulty, and continued. Whatever happened on that rock was in the past, and we had a lot of trail in front of us. And Daniel did perfectly during the entire rest of the ride.

Did we finish the entire 100 miles? Well, yes we did. Did we receive the coveted silver buckle for finishers? To find out, you can read the post I wrote about it right here.

Training for, and riding the Tevis Cup was one of the most exciting times in my life. Endurance riding is a lot of fun, not only because of all the beautiful country you get to see, but because it's really rewarding to get your horse very fit and tough. I totally had a blast doing it, but wanted to share with you the real story behind this picture.

For more about the Tevis, visit their official site right here.

Are any of you endurance riders? Tell us about the rides that you've been on.

Finding the Right Audience

Since most of you that follow this blog are not only horse people, but also readers - I'd like to talk a little more about my most recent book, The Girl Who Remembered Horses, which released November 2011.

This is a novel set in an imagined future, in which the world has forgotten the ancient bond between horses and humans. One girl, however, dreams of horses, although she has never actually seen one. Here is a short blurb:


Several generations into the future, Sahara travels with her clan in a barren environment where recyclables are bartered for sustenance, and few remember horses or their connection to humans. But Sahara has recurring visions of riding astride on magnificent animals that run like the wind.

With the help of Evan, a young herder from the Gardener's Camp, Sahara discovers a crumbling book containing pictures of humans riding horses and learns her visions are real. Confronting a group of hunters led by hot-headed Dojo, Sahara rescues a wounded horse, but the animal escapes before it can be tamed.

Sahara is labeled a foolish dreamer and almost gives up her quest. Following horse tracks into a remote ravine, she finds wild dogs attacking a dying mare, and must drive them off in order to save the foal. Now she must attempt to raise the young animal, finally convince her clan of the ancient bond between horses and humans, and learn the secret of her true identity.


I talked about the inspiration for this novel in a post I wrote last November - how the story intertwined my research about women's passion for horses and the dire fate of some horses today. If you missed it, you can read that post right here.

I published The Girl Who Remembered Horses with a brand new publisher called Musa Publishing, which at the moment only produces eBooks. (Hopefully they will come out with books in print at some point.) At any rate, although the eBook market is taking off big time, it still limits the audience to those that have an eReader. (Although there is a PDF version available, too, which can be read on a computer.)

The Girl Who Remembered Horses is labeled Young Adult, but at the moment I believe only a handful of young adults have actually read this book. So far, based on the numerous 5-star reviews the books has been gathering on Amazon, it's mostly read by adult women - some of them horse gals and some of them not, although I do have one great review by an 11-year-old girl.

I would love for this book to be more widely read by an even younger group of readers: those ages 9-13, a middle grade or tween audience. But how many kids of this age have access to an eReader? I believe we are in the early stages of reaching that audience with eBooks. As more and more adults buy Kindles and Nooks and tablets, the older versions will eventually get passed down to the younger members of the family, who hopefully will be able to choose their own reading material. Some teachers are beginning to use eReaders in the classroom, and libraries are ordering more and more books their digital collection for readers to borrow. Musa's books, in fact, will soon be available on Overdrive, and available to many libraries across the country.

So in order to increase the readership of this book, I'm giving away three copies in a random drawing. I hope that if you win, you might do one of two things - either write a review somewhere (on Amazon, B&N, Goodreads, or a blog, if you have one) or allow a younger reader to read this book, and let us know what they think.

All you have to do to enter is leave a comment below and tell us how you read eBooks. (On a Nook, a Kindle, a tablet, an iPhone, or even on your computer.)

Help me get this book out to a wider audience. Is it best enjoyed by adult women, young adults, or younger readers? I would love your thoughts - and I appreciate the help!

• Leave a comment below to enter.
• 3 Copies Available
• Contest open through midnight, PST, April 15th, 2012.

Thanks, everyone! Good Luck!

Good Horse Books for Kids!

by Laura Crum

Since my eleven year old son is a voracious reader, and he has a horse and loves him, horse books are very high on our priority list. We’ve read quite a few of them over the years, some of them written by authors from our very own blog. So today I want to talk about some of our favorites. And I’m going to start out with our “home” authors.

The first book we read that was written by one of our authors was Linda Benson’s “The Horse Jar”. My kid had seen this book on the sidebar of our blog, and thought it looked interesting. Linda very kindly sent him a signed copy (a big thrill). We read it together, and we both really enjoyed it. The characters were very believable and the story was one that a 9-10 year old could totally relate to. I loved the basic storyline, which shows a child making a very mature, loving, but difficult choice. My son is still very fond of this book.

Then, more recently, Alison came out with “Risky Chance” in the Horse Diaries series (this series is written by different authors, the common elements being the theme—books from a horse’s point of view set in different periods of history—and the excellent illustrations by Ruth Sanderson). My kid had wanted to try these books for a while (they were featured in the Chinaberry catalog—one of our favorite catalogs), so we ordered “Risky Chance.” This one my son read on his own, and reviewed here on the blog. I also read it, and really enjoyed it, particularly the setting (Southern California TB racing during the Depression). At this point my son became a Horse Diaries fan, and Alison very kindly sent us a signed copy of her other Horse Diaries title, “Bell’s Star.” The book is set in New England in the 1800’s and deals with a runaway slave and a Morgan horse-- we both liked that one a lot, too. Again, this was a book my kid read on his own and it kept his interest right until the end. Alison’s knowledge and love of horses really shines in both of these books. Now we’re busy acquiring the rest of the series.

Most recently, I ordered Alison’s book, “Gabriel’s Horses”, because after reading about it on her website, it seemed like it would make a perfect start to doing a “unit” on the Civil War. As a homeschooling mom, I am always looking for books that will provide a good prop for learning about something. And “Gabriel’s Horses” did not disappoint.

Set in Kentucky during the Civil War, the book is about a slave boy who wants to become a jockey. Gabriel is about my own son’s age, and the story painted a vivid portrait of what his life was like. We read the book chapter by chapter, with exercises (provided by me) of mapping the Confederate and Union States…etc. The book was GREAT—really kept both of us interested, gave you the feeling and many facts about the Civil War and slavery, without being too horrifying (which many books—even kid’s books—about this war are, because it was a truly horrifying event in terms of suffering). I recommended it to the teacher who leads our homeschool group, and she is going to read it to the whole group of kids next year. Again, the horse element was very well portrayed.

That covers the children’s books we’ve read so far by authors from the EI blog, though I’m sure we will be reading more. Certainly the second and third books in the Gabriel trilogy, and possibly Linda’s new book, if we ever start reading ebooks or it comes out in paper. So far we read only paper books, but who knows what the future will hold.

We have, of course, read many of the old classics—just finished “Black Beauty”, which is still a great read. Read “The Black Stallion,” which was well liked, and “The Island Stallion”, which I loved as a child, but my kid was not as enthralled by it as I was. We read my personal favorite, “Smoky the Cowhorse,” again, not as big a hit with my kid as it was with me. Maybe he needs to be older. Misty of Chincoteague was well received, also another childhood favorite of mine, Elizabeth Goudge’s “The Little White Horse.” I thought about reading “My Friend Flicka”, but when I reread it myself to preview it, I decided no, it’s just too dark. Maybe in awhile. Same verdict on Steinbeck’s “The Red Pony.”

So, there are a few good kid’s books about horses. Anyone want to chime in with your own favorites?

The Grey Horse

by Linda Benson

I’m reading Jane Smiley’s TRUE BLUE right now, which is about a grey horse that is quite lovely, except for his habit of occasionally spooking at something, as if he’d seen a ghost. I’m enjoying the book, because it reminds me of a grey horse I owned for a short while that behaved in the same fashion.

This happened many years ago, and I remember going to look at a grey horse for sale, and I was quite taken with him. He was a dark steel grey with dapples and a black mane and tail. Not a large horse, maybe fifteen hands, but he had a lovely head, was compact and put together so nicely that he’d turn heads. The kind of horse that was just balanced all over, so you wanted to keep looking and looking at him.

He was a little green, and was being ridden out in a field by a pretty good cowboy - a young man who might also want to buy him. I went because I knew the people involved, and I was also in the market for a new horse to ride. The grey gelding just glided across the field in a nice slow lope as several of us stood around and watched, and he had his feet underneath him at all times. I was quite taken with him, thinking to myself, boy, I’d sure like to own him, but surely this guy riding him will buy him.

Then, out in the middle of this plowed field with everyone watching, and in less than the blink of eye, the grey horse spooked at some unseen thing, jumped sideways and unseated the young man riding him. The cowboy didn’t lose his hat, immediately stood right back up again, reached for the reins and remounted, but was a little embarrassed because the horse had caught him (and all of us watching) totally off-guard.

Well, long story short, that cowboy passed on the horse, and because I was a bit prideful in those days and thought I could ride him, I bought the horse. He loaded right into my trailer, came home and settled in fine. He was easy to be around, easy to saddle and climb on, and never gave me a lick of trouble. At first.

After riding him a few weeks and finding him to be just fine, I hauled him a long ways to a big trail ride over by the ocean, and tied him up and blanketed him overnight while everyone had dinner and got ready for a the ride the next day. Sometime after dinner, for no apparent reason, the grey horse threw a little wing-ding fit, pulled back, didn’t break loose, but proceeded to kick violently at everything around him. He even connected with (and broke) the headlight of a friend’s truck, which we would have swore was out of reach of his back feet. The horse came unglued, causing such a ruckus that everyone in camp came over to see what was the matter. I didn't know.

I suspect now he was just upset at being tied up. Knucklehead. So it was with some trepidation that I got on him the next morning and started the ride, during which he was absolutely good as gold. We rode for most of the day - down on the beach, and on some great trails at Point Reyes. We even got a bit lost, and had to bushwhack through some narrow passages to regain the main trail – all the while this horse behaved excellently, and I got many comments on what a nice horse he was.

Well of course, I was pretty proud of myself that I had taken a chance on this horse and he was turning out so good. But the thought still niggled in the back of mind, that every time he shied or misbehaved, it came out of nowhere. And it was hard to relax on such a horse.

He continued to shy occasionally, from unknown spooks, and when he did, he didn’t jump in place, or a foot or two sideways. He was so nimble, so quick-footed, that he could almost spin out from underneath you, or jump about ten feet to the side with no provocation (that I could ever see.) Western people have a name for this kind of horse, and the nice version is “you coyote son-of-a-gun.” Basically, untrustworthy.

At that time in my life, I was a single mother of a daughter younger than ten, and my pride at being able to ride this horse (and to my credit, I did have a good seat and never came off of him) was balanced with imagining what might happen if I did fall off and get hurt. In other words, I was finally getting some sense into me.

The last straw came after a very long ride, when I’d had the grey horse long-trotting on some good trails down along the river, that I could ride to from our corrals. I’d given him a really good workout, and he was plain wore out, and so was I. We only had a short ride home on the side of a curvy busy road, maybe ¼ mile at most. Almost home, plain tired out, and again for no reason that I could see, this grey horse shied violently across two lanes of traffic in just a heartbeat. I was so mad I could have spit. He was not fresh, there was no provocation, and the horse seemed almost as if he’d seen a ghost. There were no cars coming at the time (thank God) but the entire scenario spun before me of what ‘could have happened’ if there had been any traffic at all.

I decided I could not take the chance of this unpredictable horse dumping me, even though he never had. What’s the old saying? Discretion is the better part of valor? Because I could never fully trust him, I decided he wasn’t worth the risk, because it felt like it wasn’t “if” I might get hurt on him, but “when.”

 The dark grey horse was such a looker, I knew I’d have no trouble selling him. But he certainly wasn’t a beginner’s horse, and I’d be careful who I sold him to. I put an ad in the paper, and was honest about the kind of horse he was. A man came to look at him, took a shine to him, and the horse loaded right up in his trailer. I was quite glad to see him go, and the buyer was a pretty good cowboy.

Have you ever owned a horse that you just never trusted?

Or one that you decided to part ways with before you got hurt?

The Horse Ornament

If you are like me, your horse-crazy gene has carried over into the decorations of your house. I have equine pictures, equine sculpture, equine pillows, equine statues everywhere. I've read so many equine books, my Goodreads Page even has its own section for horse books.

This time of year, when our house looks like the Christmas hurricane has hit, filled with wrapping paper, sacks of bows, and decorations to put up, I lovingly bring out my boxes of ornaments to decorate the tree. (Ours is fresh cut, soaking up water in a stand in the garage, and we'll probably bring it inside the house later today.)

My ornaments consist of a motley collection passed down through generations, including some that my daughter made in school, some I remember hanging on our family tree when I was a child, and of course, an entire box marked "Horse Ornaments."

Here are some of my favorites:

The Rocking Horse Collection.

The White Horse Collection.

The Stained Glass Horse.

The Engraved Horse Ornaments.

One of our contributors, Natalie Reinert, even makes personalized ornaments - some with horses on them. Here's a link to her Etsy page: http://www.etsy.com/shop/nataliegallops?ref=si_shop

Do you decorate your tree, your house, and your life with horses?

Tell us about it. And Merry Christmas everyone!