I don’t know about you, but I really enjoy reading well-written memoirs—and of course, my favorite type has horses at its heart. If you enjoy reading real-life stories about the connection between humans and horses, I thought I’d share some of my favorite memoirs with you.
Lady Long Rider by Bernice Ende
At age 50, Bernice Ende ventured into the unknown with the daunting goal of traveling from Trego, Montana to New Mexico in a single ride. Accompanied by her horses and dog, Ende logged more than 29,000 miles in the saddle, crisscrossing North America and beyond.
Through her rides, Bernice shares the heartfelt and inspiring story of inner struggles and triumphs. She tests the limits of physical and mental stamina, learns to cope with inescapable solitude, and ultimately finds the reward of a life well-lived.
Stable Relation: A Memoir of One Woman’s Spirited Journey Home, by Way of the Barn by Anna Blake
When most women go through a mid-life crisis, they start a diet, get plastic surgery, or have an affair. Anna’s life went to the dogs … and horses … and llamas … Her urban world came apart, so she took a leap of faith and crash-landed on a dilapidated would-be horse farm on the flat, windy, treeless prairie of Colorado.
Any decent midlife crisis has a quality of time travel, in this case swinging back to Anna’s childhood farm and disconnected, secretive family, then forward to the animals who became her family on the prairie.
Stable Relation will appeal to animal lovers, midlife survivors, and anyone whose parents had problems of their own. Blake shares about life and death on a small farm and the healing power of animals.
Chosen By a Horse by Susan Richards
The horse Susan Richards chose to rescue wouldn’t be corralled into her waiting trailer. Instead, the former racehorse walked right up that ramp and into Susan’s life. This gentle creature—malnourished, plagued by pneumonia and an eye infection—had endured a rough road, but somehow her heart was still open and generous. It seemed fated that she would come into Susan’s paddock and teach her how to embrace the joys of life despite the dangers of living.
An elegant and often heartbreaking tale filled with animal characters as complicated and lively as their human counterparts, this is an inspiring story of courage and hope and the ways in which all love—even an animal’s—has the power to heal.
The Year of the Horses by Courtney Maum
At the age of thirty-seven, Courtney Maum finds herself in an indoor arena in Connecticut, moments away from stepping back into the saddle. For her, this is not just a riding lesson, but a last-ditch attempt to pull herself back from the brink even though riding is a relic from the past she walked away from. She hasn’t been on or near a horse in over thirty years.
Although Maum knows what depression looks like, she finds herself refusing to admit that it could look like her: a woman with a privileged past, a mortgage, a husband, a healthy child, and a published novel. That she feels sadness is undeniable, but she feels no right to claim it. And when both therapy and medication fail, Courtney returns to her childhood passion of horseback riding as a way to recover the joy and fearlessness she once had access to as a young girl. As she finds her way, once again, through the world of contemporary horseback riding—Courtney becomes reacquainted with herself not only as a rider but as a mother, wife, daughter, writer, and woman.
The Year of the Horses is an inspiring love letter to the power of animals—and humans—to heal the mind and the heart.
Do you have any favorite memoirs that feature horses? Please share in the comments!
Love this blog post? We think you will like The Lady Who Is – The Long Rider by Debbie Disbrow.
