When you write horses into nearly every story, like I do, that’s a lot of different equine personalities to put on the page. Having been around horses since I was hustling girl scout cookies to pay for horse camp, I’ve known a lot of horses over the years. From the laid back Chief who did okay unless he got way behind in a trail ride, then he became a Kentucky Derby contender…. to Ginger, the most amazing red roan Quarter Horse/Percheron cross I had the privilege to ride one week at camp, and then there was Lucky, the fat palomino who you were “lucky” to get moving. (Which is kind of my speed of horseback riding. I’m not in a hurry. Are you?) And those are just the Girl Scout camp horses.
I’ve worked in barns and use the personalities of a lot of those horses for some of my equestrian fiction and works I write under another pen name. But mostly, I use my experience in working with horses and knowing that each of them can have their own personality and using that to create the horses you read about on the page.
One of the joys I have is creating different horses, such as Lizzie, the buckskin who was boarded at a barn with international caliber horses so knows how a world-class horse is treated (coming soon in a short story). Or Buttercup, the palomino fancy welsh pony that’s the entire world for its young rider.
But mostly there’s a synergy between my human characters and my equine ones. Their equine companions complete them, challenge them, and complement them, sometimes all in the same scene!
I love writing horses into my stories and bringing those horses to my readers. I hope you enjoy them too. Do you have a favorite?
