Horse Book Giveaway: Horses Never Lie About Love

I am happy to announce a new giveaway here on CowgirlDiary.com!  This is a brand new horse book, just released yesterday, November 1, 2011.  I got the chance to read it beforehand, and was pleasantly surprised by it.  An avid reader of horse-related literature, I expected a rather indulgent account of far-fetched fluff.  What I found instead, is that the author lets you into her world and honestly portrays the true realities of horse ownership.  I found my own horse experiences mirrored in the thoughts and feelings of the writer, and by the time the last page was turned, I felt that I knew her so well I had found a kindred spirit.

The book, Horses Never Lie About Love, is written by Jana Harris, an educator and poet who shares her real life experience of moving to a rural farm in the mountains of Washington to make her dreams of raising horses a reality.  The story isn’t your typical fairytale episode where the funds are limitless and the horses are perfect.  I loved reading of how she and her husband took this piece of rundown property and worked so hard to make it what they wanted.  And when Jana falls in love with a horse named True Colors, she opens herself up to the vulnerability of loving someone who might never love her in return.  When she took that risk and stuck with it, it made me truly identify with her, because I have done that myself, in so many horse situations of my own. 

It is a book about relationships….the blacksmith with wife troubles, the veterinarian with too much perfume, the husband with a heart of gold, the neighbor girls with the ponies they bring into Jana’s kitchen….and each of the horses with their individual characteristics as clear and bright as the ones in your own stalls….this book is real, and you will enjoy the empathy you feel when you read it.

My daughter, who is in kindergarten and soaking in all of the new information she can get, took one look at the book and said, “Mom, this is a nonfiction book.” It is indeed nonfiction, but it reads like a good story—the author is that adept at pulling you in with the imagery and vivid accounts of each event. So thorough were the descriptions and dialogue, I felt that I knew each of the horses so well I would be able to recognize them at first sight, if I met them in real life. And the color, life, and nostalgia of Jana’s mountain home made me want to go see it for myself.

I read the book entirely in one sitting, curled in my favorite chair with a cup of coffee. I don’t normally have time for such indulgences, but a nasty head cold had dwindled all of my ambitions away, and it was the perfect day for reading.  I would recommend this book to anyone—if you’re a horse lover, it will be among the best horse books you’ve ever read.  If you just enjoy a good story but don’t know that much about horses, you will easily navigate the unfamiliar terms because the author defines them as she uses them.  Even if you never read nonfiction, you will love this book because it has the ease of fiction without the fairytale fluff. 

Another truth I discovered in this book reaffirmed a theory of mine concerning horses.  The book is written from the perspective of a very responsible, very careful, very intuitive person.  Jana took her horse ownership seriously and did everything she could possibly do to prevent any injuries…and she still met with vet bills for sick horses, spills from the saddle, many sleepless nights, and even a trip to the hospital for her husband.  I loved this book because it didn’t paint a picture that was all rosy; it painted a portrait so beautifully realistic of the horse lover’s life, you get the true meaning of what makes everything worth it in the end.

If you’re wondering about the title, it comes from an old horseman’s saying, “A horse never lies about its pain.”  The mare in this story has endured a lot of pain in her life, and she comes through it with some scars, but the heart to make up for it, and the author discovers that a horse also never lies about love.

I will be sending a copy of this book to one of my readers, as a way of saying thank you for being a part of CowgirlDiary!  If you would like a chance to  win the Free Horse Book Giveaway, here’s how:

1.  Click the “comments” link at either the top or bottom of this post.

2.  Login to your WordPress account, or click the “register” link below the login box to create an account—it’s free and easy.

3.  Type your name (or username is fine) in the comments, and you will be entered in the drawing.  You can vote for yourself once….BUT you can also get your friends and family to vote for you to win as well.  Send them an email or Facebook link to bring them to this page to vote for you by writing your name in as a comment on this post. 

4.  Voting will be open until November 15, and then the person whose name has the most votes will win a free copy of the book Horses Never Lie About  Love.  I will notify the winner and request their mailing address in order to send them their prize.

So let all of your friends know, and you could be our winner!  This book would also make a wonderful gift, and Christmas is just around the corner, so even if you don’t win, you can order a copy from Amazon.com.  Don’t tell my little sister, but that’s what Santa is bringing her this year!

If you’d like to learn more about the book, here is a pdf flyer with some reviews and a summary of the story for Horses Never Lie About Love. And here is the publisher’s page with more information.

This is a video with the author and True Colors, the horse who changed her life:

Tagged as: blog giveaway, horse books, horse memories, Horse Stories