The reason for building this site was that horses need protection from all kinds of abuse. Sometimes they're neglected and left to die in some obscure pasture or dank stall. Sometimes they're trained brutally and senselessly. And sometimes, they're murdered. All kinds of bad things happen to them, and they need protection.

In this web site, I'll publish good news about organizations devoted to helping horses survive, talk about current problems besetting horses, write about horse news of interest, and include an excerpt from the literature of horses. It's a small way to help animals I've always loved and admired, who deserve better at the hands of human beings.

On the more personal side, I started riding late in life, something that was cut short by an Arabian who threw me because he was spooked by something invisible but connected with a fence. I suffered a broken shoulder. A few weeks ago, I started riding again. There is nothing, nothing like riding  horses and getting acquainted with them--their peculiarities, their dispositions, their thinking.

Yes, I said "thinking." I had a teacher once who insisted that horses are dumb. I insist that we haven't yet learned to understand the way they think. We haven't deciphered the code. So here I am, back on a horse, trying to figure out what's in his mind and gently working with him so he'll do what I ask him to do. Right at home again.

I live in Tennessee, in Walking Horse country. I lived and worked in Virginia for about a dozen years, and before that, in Buffalo, New York, where I was born. My backyard is bordered by a breeding farm. That fellow you see on every page lived there. He was beautiful, as you can see, always curious and ready to be petted and pass the time of day. The horses behind my fence provide constant inspiration for my writing. My mystery novel about the death of horses has been published--more about that on the novel page--and I also write prose, not always about horses. I like horse shows, travel, art museums, old, old houses, real country stores and all kinds of community celebrations, like the Garlic Festival outside Lynchburg, Virginia, clogging performances anywhere and Fourth of July observances. I'm a hopelessly obsessive reader, having been a literature major in graduate school. I particularly like novels, both mainstream and genre types like sci-fi and mysteries. I'm very interested in mythology, have taught it, and like to read it. I've given presentations about Celtic myth and would like to write more about it. Histories and biographies crowd my bookshelves. I just finished an old book about Teddy Roosevelt, Mornings on Horseback, by David McCullough.

A last note: Write to  me, tell me what you think of my website, and give me some suggestions for making it better. I'd love to hear from you!