Horses…an undying love

From the time I was born, I was in love with horses.  Every Christmas, I’d rush to the window to see if there was a pony tied to a tree.  Sadly, there never was until my parents moved to a small farm near where we’d formerly lived. Then they bought me a black paint gelding I named First Fling. I was thirteen at the time. From that beginning, after I married, I went on to breed Egyptian Arabians and later the magnificent Andalusian horse.  My stallion Bonito was three times National Champion.

I was never a cowgirl, per se, but I liked this picture, and dedicate The Cowboys of Clark’s Folly, an anthology of four Western romances, by MM Mayfield (our MM), MJ Flournoy, Carol Shaughnessey, and c’est moi, to Cowgirls Everywhere!!

So, it was predestined that at some time I would write a book about horses and the people who love them.  I can testify that this love can be one to distraction!  I had never participated in 3-Day Eventing, a very demanding and dangerous sport, but my friend in Florida was an eventer.  If I ran into a problem with the technical information, I called Helen.  She’d walk me through the event. I didn’t ramble off into too much detail because I didn’t want to bore the non-horsey reader. The techniques of the half-pass, the shoulder-in, and the canter pirouette are probably not familiar to most people outside the horse aficionado.

Gambler’s Choice is the name of a jumping class in a horse show. I think that name and the excitement of that race against the clock inspired the book.  In this class, each team (horse and rider) that makes a clean round goes on to the next.  The fences are raised, and again they must beat the best time of other entries.  A sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat kind of experience.

I named the equine star after the class.  Though the book is a romantic suspense, the story is really about two people who love one horse.  Becca is willing to pay any amount for Gambler’s Choice. Austen is not going to sell his best friend for any price. Perhaps, a horse person is the only one who’d understand how dramatic this conflict is.

Gambler’s Choice is Available from The Wild Rose Press or on Amazon —  for horse lovers!

I love this GIF so I’m going to add it yet again in my ramblings about horses.  This, Ladies & Gents, is the majestic Andalusian horse in what appears to be only schooling tack.


Have a peaceful Sunday.

Linda