Writing for Horses: Heading to Japan

When did I start to write about horses? From the moment I was able to write complete sentences as a second grader. My history with horse stories went back to when I was four years old. When I fell in love with horses I could not get enough stories about them. Looking back now, it is as if my younger self had innocently planned out the rest of my life.

I was a voracious reader. I would read anything as long as it had horses in it. My favorite time in school was when we went to the library. I went to the horse section in the library in a sort of delirium. I still do this  as an adult.

In sixth grade my English teacher, Mr. Meehan, gave my class a writing assignment. We had to write an adventure story. Already a loner and outsider due to shyness I looked forward to this assignment. My novella consisted of three teenagers looking for one of the girl's stolen horse. They discover the horse had been stolen by a psychotic adult who had planned on killing and dismembering the horse. I thought to myself that the story could have been better. My teacher was excited though for I had produced the longest and most intricate piece out of the class. He gave me a 110% and wrote on the cover page "You have the talent to become an author". That's when I started to believe I could become a writer. 

As a teenager I wrote and read about horses and Tudor England. My fantasy novels were inspired by the culture of Japan and its native Shinto religion. In high school I signed up for every writing elective I could take. Much to one of my teacher's dismay, I enrolled at the community college with a major in Early Childhood Education. 

One day the thought finally came. What was I doing?  I loved kids and enjoyed working with them but that was not my true passion. Horses and writing were. This thought led me to Southern New Hampshire University where I completed my BA in Creative Writing. Through my years with the school I was told by three professors that when I wrote about horses my writing took on a higher quality. These remarks led me to pursue an MFA at SNHU and begin my first true novel.

Nearly all of my life has been spent with horses. Even when I was not physically with them my mind and heart were consumed by them. I wanted a horse. I dreamed of horses. My horse Skye is my dream in the flesh.

Still, my heart wouldn't settle. There was something more I needed to know about horses. I realized I wanted to know about horses in Japan. What is the story of the horse there? I want to know. So that's where I am going. It is hard to express the emotions I feel when I think about learning and writing about horses in this country. 

I do not question this attraction though. I just pursue it. 

Reflections after reading "The Hojoki"

The Hojoki was written by a Buddhist monk, Kamo-no-Chomei, in the 13^th century. This man left the city to live a solitary life. In his work he recounts the horrors that befell Kyoto during his life in the Kamakura period.  The writing is poetic, profound, and eye-revealing. Chomei’s struggle to find meaning in the world beyond the bindings of society is a human condition that is painted all over modern society. Do we not find stories both within ourselves and in others that sound familiar?

Chomei shares his view that life is hard and it is simply the case of the human condition. There is no satisfaction for each person will always want for more or less living in society. Troubles are produced by a society’s standards for those involved which results in the endless quest to find happiness. If an individual binds themselves to society they are forever conformed by the rules set before them. However, if you refuse to conform then you may be wholly rejected by others. How is a human supposed to find peace in any society in that case?

So I asked myself, what good are the materialistic goods of our modern day and age? I have met many unhappy people in my lifetime. I myself was unhappy growing up in a family with little money. My consolation was books and from that a thirst for knowledge grew. I was no longer completely unhappy as long as I had a book to learn and read from. I still desired materialistic goods as any child and my possessions grew when I was a teenager. I still wasn’t happy with all these things though.

I was not happy because I was not living my truth. Are our realities not created by ourselves through our choices and reactions? I found my truth through horses. Perhaps only fellow equestrians will understand the extent of my own “truth”. Horses are my passion and it is from them I have had my greatest happiness and inspiration. My choice in life is to follow horses wherever they lead me and write about them.

I enjoy modern comforts such as the computer and being able to travel by airplane. However, these are mere tools to achieving my greatest desire. My greatest desire is to record the relationship between human and horse in stories. I want my stories published because I want people to read about the healing power of horses. That is one reason I want to go to Japan. What is the relationship between man and horse there both in history and the present? There are many reasons why I am going to Japan. All I will say is that horses had a lot to do with my choice to go there. 

Book Review: War Horse

Title: War Horse
Author: Michael Morpurgo
Published: Scholastic, 1982
Genre: Children's Fiction, 165 pages
Rating: 5/5

This is novel that is on equal ground with Anna Sewell's Black Beauty. Told from the view of a farm horse named Joey this is much more than a mere "horse story". Morpurgo took hold of the history of World War I and incorporated the horrors of mankind into the world of horses. Joey has an unbreakable bond with his master, a teenager named Albert. Joey sees both man and horse die in the blood stained lands of France as he is shuffled from the British army to the German army. He learns that many humans do not understand what they are spilling blood over. Through it all Joey valiantly carries out his tasks while always thinking of the promise Albert made to him.

Filled with concrete details Morpurgo brings the past world of horses to life. Even in the new age of machinery man still depended upon the horse for transportation, strength, and friendship. Countries prided themselves on the quality of horses and riders in their Calvary. In World War I hundreds of thousands of horses died serving whatever man they called master. In this modern age there are many who have forgotten how nobly the horse has served human causes. Morpurgo's novel is a testament to the horse's nobility and the enduring bond he has with man.

Equine Affaire Book Adventures!

Over this past weekend I went to the fabulous horse convention Equine Affaire in Massachusetts. I absolutely love this event and look forward to going every year. It's my one chance in the year to see well-known trainers and riders giving seminars and be surrounded by a bunch of horse-crazy individuals. Of course, my favorite vendors are the book vendors. Every year that I go I always discover those horse-specif books that I have been looking for. This year I found three books which absolutely made me gasp and perhaps even squeal with delight.

The first is Zen Mind, Zen Horse  by Allan Hamilton. This book explores how horses affect a person's thought process, spirituality and emotions. There is a small section about horses in Japan as well. That had me sold on the spot.

The second was The Horse  in Magic and Myth by M. Oldfield Howey. The pages are filled with legends, folklore  literature, and mythological references to horses. As an individual who is curious how the horse has affected cultures and religions there was no question about me buying this book.

The third and most expensive was Horse and Man In Early Modern England by Peter Edwards. This is a book originally published in England and not readily available in the US. Let's face it: I am a nerd. I love British History and the novel I am currently working on was inspired by Elizabethan England. This book contains information about horses specific to the Tudor era. Sold for the price of $60 US dollars to the Tudor/Japan/horse obsessed college student.

Book Review: Forbidden

Title: Forbidden
Author: Tabitha Suzuma
Published: 2010
Rating: 5/5

Lochan and Maya are siblings forced to act as surrogate parents to their three younger siblings. As they become more dependent on each other their relationship starts to change. Lochan is unable to handle the social pressures of school and Maya is the only one who understands him. She is unable to stand the thought of sharing her brother with anyone. For them, their love for each other runs deeper than sibling affection.

Suzuma pulls her readers in with raw and beautiful prose. The prose is so electrically charged readers will find themselves a prisoner to the characters' emotions as their relationship develops from siblings to lovers. The author pulls off this deeply psychological relationship with such brilliance that those who shirk from incest will find themselves supporting the characters. Suzuma has created a novel that will allow readers into a "taboo" subject that exists in society. But will it seem so "taboo" as her readers' hearts are left bleeding for the characters on the final pages?

Personally, I was ecstatic to find a novel that explored incest. I have heard stories where publishing companies will reject a novel if it contains a deeply controversial topic. The fact that this novel was written for young adults seems like a milestone of sorts. Writers are meant to convey human truths without sugarcoating the realities their novels are inspired by. Suzuma has done just that.