As a horse lover with a horse loving family (daughters and granddaughters), it’s no surprise that horses have played important secondary roles in my books through the years. But in my WIP (work in progress), horses are very much front and center. They play an important role in both the hero’s and heroine’s lives, but in ways I haven’t written about before.
Over the past couple of weeks, I made three research trips to chat with some experts to make certain I’m making the right kind of choices for my characters.
First, my neighbor and I drove to a specialized riding facility not quite an hour’s drive away. I confirmed a great deal of my research and picked up some important new facts and exciting sources to put to use. But it was seeing the inside of the day stables and indoor arena that really sparked some new ideas for me. (Construction on that indoor arena will begin in my WIP shortly.)
The beautiful day stables
The small indoor arena
My neighbor with Smalls, a gelding who stands over 17 hands tall (no, Katie isn’t that tall; the ground was higher on her side of the fence)
Next up came two separate trips to my granddaughter’s (also about an hour’s drive away). She is an approved trainer for TIP (Trainer Incentive Program, created by the Mustang Heritage Foundation, BLM). Currently on her place, she has three mustangs, one rescue horse, her competition mare, two saddle horses, and one three-year-old that isn’t yet green broke. I had all kinds of questions for her: about mustangs, about rescues, about the amount of feed she goes through in a month, etc. Suddenly my hero is making some major changes to his property. 😉
Me with Ella, a mustang bay roan mare that was acquired earlier this year
The roan mare, Wildfire, is fresh off the range of Nevada. Wildfire is being trained for Mustang Mania in July. Lots of work ahead of her.
Research is definitely one of the fun parts of writing a novel. And for a writer like me, researching something new about horses is an extra special bonus. Now to put all of those great ideas and new things I’ve learned into the book.
~robin
Robin Lee Hatcher
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That sounds wonderful, Robin.
I know this research is what gives all your stories the authenticity they have! So fascinating to me to hear all this! Thanks for sharing, Robin!
Loved this post! Miss our horses so loved the tour.