Horsing Around

​Behind the Scenes: My horseback riding ties into writing

Once up a time, I was a teenager who fell in love with the world from the back of a horse. My after-school hours were spent with DeeDee, our sweet Arabian mare who tolerated my inexperience with saintly patience and delighted in learning new tricks.
Nothing felt more liberating than gripping the reins, leaning forward, and flying across a field with the wind in my face. That feeling—freedom, partnership, trust—became part of who I am, and inevitably, it found its way into my books.

Here’s how horses and horseback riding shaped my writing, my characters, and more than a few dramatic chase scenes.

🐎 My Riding Beginnings: DeeDee the Patient & Playful Arabian
DeeDee was my first real introduction to horse partnership. She was gentle, curious, and endlessly forgiving as I learned:

• balance
  leg cues
• the rhythm of a canter
• and the sheer joy of letting go and running like the wind

She also taught me humility—because even the sweetest horses have opinions. Once, in a rare stubborn moment, she backed into an electric fence. Startled, she bucked so hard that I landed on the ground with an ACL tear. A painful memory… but a formative one.
That mix of beauty and unpredictability is something I still weave into every horse scene I write.

🐎 Riding Through College, Medical School, and Beyond
My love of riding didn’t stop when life got busy. In college, a friend’s family owned horses and graciously let me ride. Later, the owner of the paramedic company I worked for kept several horses and also opened their pastures to me. Even in medical school, I somehow lucked into friends who welcomed me into their barns.

These experiences gave me exposure to different horses, personalities, and challenges:

#Henry – The Clumsiest Horse I’ve Ever Met
Henry tripped constantly. Once, he stumbled so spectacularly that we both ended up in the mud in an undignified heap. We were fine—just muddy and laughing—but it’s a reminder that even sure-footed animals have their off days.

#Baby – The Spooky Speedster
Baby had a reputation for meanness, and it took four months of steady groundwork before I finally rode her outside the corral. The victory was short-lived: a flock of birds burst from the trees, Baby bolted for the barn, and when I tried to rein her in, she bucked up a 45-degree incline.

I flew over her head and landed flat on my back. Shaking, sore, and adrenaline-filled, I climbed back on to ride her around the corral once--because you always get back on.
And then I never rode Baby again.

Those experiences—sweet, funny, terrifying, empowering—shaped the way I write riders and horses alike: with respect for the animal, awareness of danger, and appreciation for the exhilaration.

🐎 Where You’ll Find Horseback Riding in My Books
If you love horseback scenes as much as I do, you’ll spot them galloping through several of my stories—sometimes dramatic, sometimes romantic, sometimes downright cinematic.

Black Gold
Lillian makes a brave, desperate dash on horseback to escape oil thieves in Kenya. It’s one of the most adrenaline-fueled moments in the book, blending fear, freedom, and raw survival as she rides for her life.

Sharp File
Santino delivers a spectacular riding sequence inspired by The Man From Snowy River—one of my all-time favorite movies. It’s bold, daring, and a little swoon-worthy, showcasing both his horsemanship and heroic streak.

Sky Fall (Shadow Guardians, Book 3)
Sky rides into the final showdown with Hel atop her loyal horse Thunder across Iceland’s wild landscape. Their bond—built from trust to battle—makes this moment powerful, emotional, and mythic.

Gray Horizon
Jonathan (Lillian’s brother) pulls off a high-speed horseback escape through Paris, very much in the spirit of True Lies(yes, that scene). It’s cinematic, chaotic, and one of my favorite action moments.

Rosalyn’s Run (a Shadow Guardians novella)
In one of my favorite twists, Rosalyn is literally a shape-shifting horse, rescuing Apollo from the clutches of Hel herself. It’s magical, fierce, and probably the most literal example of “horse girl energy” I’ve ever written.

Winds of Destiny, Olympian Awakenings
And then there’s Tyler, our resident shapeshifter… who becomes a horse for Layla to ride. But that’s not all he becomes. Let’s just say his talents go well beyond the stable… 😉 You’ll have to read the series to find out.

From Kenyan plains to Icelandic battlefields to Parisian chaos and mythic transformations, horses keep showing up in my stories because they represent everything I love in fiction: freedom, danger, loyalty, beauty, and the thrill of running headlong into the unknown.
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And honestly? I don’t think I’ll ever stop writing them in.