What I Wish I'd Known When I was Eleven

When I was young, all I could think about was horses. From the time I stole a tiny, plastic horse from the farm set at my nursery school (I was two), horses were my thing. After years of raking yards and many summers of lemonade stands I finally saved up enough to buy a pony when I was eleven. From there I moved up to an Appaloosa mare and began to compete. Since then I have trained, instructed, and shown successfully on a national level, although I sometimes feel my journey with horses is just beginning.

I have learned a few things over the years, however, so I thought this might be a good time to share what I wish I’d known when I was eleven. And, in reviewing this list, I found that it applies to books and writing, just as much as it does to a journey with horses.

1. It’s okay to ask questions. In fact, never miss an opportunity to ask. It is the very best way to learn something that is important to you. Ask more than one person, then compare answers to develop your own opinion.

2. Set a goal, one that is doable. Your goal should not be winning a class or writing a best seller, but more along the lines of improving your performance. You might not reach your goal, but you will have learned something along the way. When you do reach a goal, celebrate!

3. Prepare, then prepare some more. Think of every possible scenario regarding your goal and walk yourself through all of them, as best you can. Then do it again, and again.

4. As much as you can, read. Then read again, and discuss the ooks with others. There is always something to learn.

5. Watch your horse and the people around you as he or she interacts with others. That is probably how the horse or human will try to interact with you. Then adjust your demeanor accordingly. Some horses and people respond best to a soft voice, others need firm, business-like directives. Make sure your horse and your friends are a good match for you.

6. Always wear a helmet when you ride. Always. I have seen far too many accidents, many at the walk and trot, to feel it is safe for anyone to ride without one. (Okay, not much in common with books here, but it is important.)

7. Follow  basic safety guidelines in all that you do. Most injuries happen out of carelessness. Keep your lead rope from dragging on the ground, check your girth or cinch often, make sure your equipment is in good condition. Constantly think the equine mantra: is this safe?

8. Have fun, and try new things, such as a Dressage or barrel racing lesson, or reading a SciFi  novel or a biography. It is important to expand your horizons in all that you do.

9. Make friends and encourage others. Then, your new friends will encourage you, too. Remember that you do not compete against others, but against your own best self.

10. It’s okay have a bad day. If you’re smart you will learn something important, so smile and take time to digest what went wrong so you can come back better and stronger the next day.

Just like you, I have learned so much more during my journey with horses and books than just this. But I really, really wish I’d known all of these things when I was eleven. 

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Lisa Wysocky is a bestselling and award-winning author of fiction and nonfiction, including the Cat Enright equestrian mystery series, now optioned for film and television. She is also a therapeutic riding instructor who consults with PATH and other centers about their horse herds. Find her at lisawysocky.com

Moving

Moving. Does anyone actually look forward to it? I have spent the last month moving a therapeutic riding center forty miles. It seemed, at times, like 400 miles. Volunteers and I packed up girths, saddles, hay, horses, poles, barrels, storage sheds, water troughs, desks, filing cabinets, tires, grain, supplements, bits, polo wraps, longe lines, and much more. Then we had to unpack, inventory, put up fencing, and organize it all. Whew.

We are still a long way from being finished, but we are functional. Well, almost. We need a mounting block and a wheelbarrow, an electrician and a few more volunteers. I have no doubt that they will all eventually arrive. The best part is that we are now in a large, 54-acre facility with three creeks, a waterfall, riding and hiking trails––even a stage and dance floor.

While the move was exhausting, I also found the new location caused my creative juices to stir. As a mystery author, I always look for fun ways to involve horses, interesting people, and unique settings into my stories. This location has all that and more. I began to have so many story ideas, that I started to jot them down into the notes section of my phone. Now I am intrigued to find out which of these ideas will turn into a book or a short story. Pieces of other ideas, I am sure, will wend their way into a chapter or two, as well. 

Oddly enough, the farm is just a stone's throw away from where Cat Enright, the protagonist in my equestrian mysteries lives. When I started the series a number of years ago, I never dreamed I'd be involved with a therapeutic riding center that was so close to her fictional home.

As a writer, sometimes all it takes is a change of scenery to kick start a project, or get a book to the finish line. As you can see, I now have scenery galore! Feel free to follow the progress of the new farm on Facebook. I think we have a lifetime of projects, and ideas, waiting.

If you are ever in Ashland City, Tennessee, stop by Colby's Army for a visit.  I will probably be in a shady spot near the creek, writing.

 

Lisa Wysocky is an award-winning author, clinician, trainer, and riding instructor.

Find her online at LisaWysocky.com.

Writing it Right, by Lisa Wysocky

As equine authors, we all want to get not only the story right, but also the horse part of it right, too. Everyone here is an experienced horse person, and has a broad base of knowledge that we incorporate into our books to share with our readers. However, it is amazing the number of little facts that creep into the story line that need to be researched, not once, but several times. We need to be thorough on our research because, if we get it wrong, at least one reader will step up to call us on it.

I think we’ve all read a book where the author gets a basic fact wrong and it takes us out of the story. That should never happen. Even in fiction, there are facts: a horse is measured in hands, a hand is four inches, there is no palomino color in the Thoroughbred breed. If we as authors get it wrong, we have done our readers a huge disservice.

I showed Appaloosa horses for many years, and the question of their point system came up in my newest Cat Enright cozy mystery, The Fame Equation. I knew how it worked. Or did I? After reviewing the current rulebook and a number of websites, I finally went to the source and called the person at the Appaloosa Horse Club who was in charge of their points system. Yes, I was right. But if I had not been, I would have alienated a lot of readers, and worse, my readers would have lost trust in me.

Quincy is a solid colored registered Appaloosa, but he looks so much like a

Thoroughbred that even his vet and farrier worked with him for

three years without realizing his actual breed.

Authors can never assume.

That is the real concern. If a reader cannot trust an author to get a basic fact correct, what about everything else the author writes? How many other mistakes, factual errors, or misconceptions are there in a given book? I write both equestrian fiction and nonfiction and am sure to find at least two credible sources for every fact I am not 1000 percent sure of. That is maybe a little over the top, but I have written a number of horse books and no reader has yet called me on a fact. I’m sure that day will someday come, and when it does, I will welcome it, for readers are truly the final authority.

• • •

Lisa Wysocky is an author, clinician, and registered PATH instructor who helps people learn about themselves through horses. Find her at LisaWysocky.com.

Equine Characters

Fictional horses, just like fictional people, are fun to write. In any form of fiction, the character must have purpose in the story. One might provide comic relief, another moves the story along, a third provides important background information. Of course, every author hopes the reader will not detect any of that kind of story structure, and will simply enjoy the read.

In stereotypical tradition, the protagonist must be good, but flawed. Cat Enright, the lead human character in my horse mysteries, is loyal and loves her four-legged friends, but she has no biological family to speak of and has a teeny problem with anger management. Her sidekicks, Jon, Darcy, and Agnes, provide a voice of reason, youthful sentiment, and wacky fun, not necessarily in that order. Each balances Cat in a different way.

The horses I, or any other author, writes are no different. Gigi, the young filly in my mysteries is the usual scatter-brained young mare who is full of energy, interested in everything, and finds life so much fun! Most of us have had an experience with a young horse like that. Bob is the older, steady-Eddie gelding who might be a little dull, but who never, ever makes a mistake. If he were human, he’d be an accountant. (No offense meant to accountants in general.) Then there is Petey, who likes to grab his lead rope and lead himself back to the barn. He is an adult, but one who likes to grab his fun wherever he can find it. Anyone who has been around horses for a while has known a “babysitter” like Bob and a quirky horse like Petey.

Sally Blue is the lead equine character, and is a young(er) lead mare who is so intuitive that many of the characters in my mysteries think she is psychic. So do a number of readers. Me? I’m not taking a stand either way, because I don’t know for sure. But, many lead mares have that something extra that allows them to keep their herd safe, even when that herd includes just the lead mare and her human partner. But, Sally seems to know about things before they happen. Or, maybe she is just having a good time crossing her legs and blowing all those bubbles in her water bucket.

I love the familiarity of writing cozy mysteries. I love watching my characters grow and develop from one book to the next and have especially enjoyed watching Cat develop her own little family unit of close friends. In my third mystery, The Fame Equation (November 3, 2015), Sally teaches a new horse his place and seems to become frustrated when her human friends do not understand her many odd behaviors. Petey is being taught to pull a cart, Bob finds a new friend, and Gigi is trying very hard not to grow up.

Sally Blue is on the cover of each Cat Enright mystery.

My equine characters have not yet told me what will happen in book four, but they have given me a few hints. And that is the big difference, for me, between writing fiction and nonfiction. These characters get into my brain and direct the story far more (and far better) than I do. Other authors have told me the same thing happens to them when they write fiction. But authors everywhere, myself included, hope their characters also get into the readers’ heads. We all hope readers will think about the characters, horse or human, long after the last word has been read. When that happens, author and character alike have done their jobs.

Happy reading!

Lisa Wysocky

Safe? Or Boring?

I recently witnessed a young woman taking a morning ride in a field. She was riding western and ponying two horses, one on each side. Also in the field were four to five other horses who were grazing. The young woman was not wearing a helmet, and was busy texting on her phone.

“Yikes!” I thought. “That is an accident waiting to happen.”

Not every scenario has to be so filled with safety hazards, but when it comes to horses, most of the people I know who have been on the injured list (myself included), were there because he or she failed to follow a basic safety principle. Stretch your arm away from your torso when longeing a horse, you might get a dislocated shoulder. Wear tennis shoes or (gasp) flip-flops in the barn, you might end up with mashed toes.

As a PATH (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship) instructor, I am all about safety. Overly so, it must seem, to my non-therapeutic riding friends. But I am proud of being safety conscious, even if some people call me boring, and claim I am no fun to ride with.

However, when it comes to writing, and specifically writing about horses, it is a different story. As writers, we often need to throw safety to the wind and get on with the amazing stories we are compelled to tell. Every reader deserves that. Readers choose to spend their precious time reading what we write, so we had better deliver.

Last week I read a highly anticipated short story. Technically, it was brilliantly written. The dialogue flowed and the plot moved forward at a good pace. But when I was done reading, I felt empty. The writer had played it too safe and the result was that the story was predictable and boring.

Not every book, article, or story has to have a grandmother riding down Main Street on a hippopotamus to grab a reader’s attention. But, the dialogue does have to shine. The plot has to be intriguing, and in nonfiction, the facts have to be presented in a narrative that sparkles.

So when it comes to safe versus boring, I choose to stay very safe around my horses. I drive my truck within the speed limit, and with alertness and caution. But, I really, really hope my writing is never boring. That determination, though, is up to the reader.