Tales From The West: Four Seasons in the Owyhee Country
From the author of Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond and the award-winning Tevis Cup Magic: Taking on the World’s Toughest 100 Mile Endurance Ride comes a collection of essays that take place in the present-day Wild West: southwest Idaho.
In these keenly perceptive, and often humorous lyrical word portraits of nature, animals, local history, and horse rides and hiking adventures in the Owyhee country, Merri Melde gives readers a look at four seasons of a unique outdoor life.
From experiencing wild thunderstorms, flash flood and wildfire, to horseback riding on cattle drives, among wild horses, along trails of old gold miners, and through a biblical swarm of Mormon crickets, to startling and entertaining encounters with cows, birds, rattlesnakes, and cougars, Melde’s remarkable observations and experiences reveal a life in the West that isn’t that far removed from life as it was 150 years ago.
“In case you’re wondering, it’s the southwest corner of Idaho I’m talking about. It’s nearly 7700 square miles of high desert sagebrush, rabbit brush, the Owyhee mountains, pronghorns, deer, cows, and a few herds of wild horses.
If you’re charmed by the ways of the Old West, it’s easy, when you’re out riding a horse or hiking, to imagine you’re still part of that time period. Squint your eyes into the sunlight, and you’ll see the dust from the old cowboys chasing the cows or rounding up the broomtail horses.
Life in Owyhee means a life steeped in Western lore, Wild West adventures, horses, Ravens, and nature. It means beauty in every corner, under every rock, in every storm, spring, summer, fall, and winter.”
Available on Amazon as paperback and
Available on Amazon as ebook
Tevis Cup Magic: Taking on the world's toughest 100 mile endurance ride
Every horse endurance ride has its challenges and difficulties, but the Tevis Cup has 100 miles of it. It's extreme, challenging, relentless, frantic, exhilarating, heart-breaking, exhausting, exasperating, beautiful, treacherous, insane, exciting.
Merri Melde’s dramatic story of her unplanned and unforeseen attempt at the Tevis Cup, the world’s toughest 100 mile endurance ride, will put you in the saddle, gripping the reins, racing the clock to cross the finish line in the 24 hour time limit, on a beautiful, gallant gray horse.
Available on Amazon as soft cover and
Available on Amazon as ebook
Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond
Clinging to a four-legged rocket ship among the Pyramids in Egypt. Riding a racehorse on the Curragh in Ireland. Winning a first endurance ride in Texas. Flipping a packhorse down a cliff in California. Flying on a Lord of the Rings horse in New Zealand. Cowgirling it in Idaho.
All of these serendipitous equine adventures, and more, are disparate pieces of a puzzle that have merged to create the eclectic, nomadic lifestyle that Merri Melde lives every day with horses. And none of them might have happened if she had not first met the racehorse Fred, who taught her how to fail spectacularly at her dream job.
It's not the destination of new dreams but the journeys toward them that allow Melde, by chance or by divine intervention, to experience such diverse escapades and to come to know and love such magnificent horses as Harry--a fire-breathing dragon who gives her a great gift; Zayante--one of the country's best endurance horses; Jose--an Avatar and Kindred Spirit; and Stormy--The Most Beautiful Horse On The Planet.
In Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond, Merri Melde paints a vivid portrait with her moving words of a unique life irrevocably entangled with horses--the beauty, the humor, the thrills, the fun, the fear, and above all, the love that goes deep down into the soul.
Part memoir, part travel and horse-riding adventure book, this heartfelt narrative packed with excitement and emotion will appeal not just to horse lovers, but to anybody who has ever experienced failure and success in following their dreams, and anyone who has ever lost their courage and rediscovered it once again.
Available on Amazon as paperback and
Available on Amazon as ebook
Sunstorm: The Rugged One (Racehorse Tales)
No two racehorses are created alike. Sunstorm may not run for a million bucks, but the macho chestnut
gelding's attitude and rugged good looks are what I fell for instantly as his groom. The cheap claimer leaves a great indelible mark my heart in his barn at Longacres racetrack.
Available on Amazon.
Safe to Say: The Comet (Racehorse Tales)
Fate briefly throws me together with Safe to Say, a
kindly, intelligent gelding and brilliant runner at Longacres racetrack,
during an extraordinarily memorable season of racing.
Available on Amazon.
Claim The Trick: The Royal Ass (Racehorse Tales)
This little racehorse has a mind of his own and is as strong as a mule.
He entertains people as he drags me on unplanned detours
whenever and wherever he feels like it, as he trains and runs at
Longacres racetrack.
Available on Amazon.
Ol' Holme: The Witch (Racehorse Tales)
Some horses are like people: born on the wrong side of the barnyard. Ol'
Holme is bad news, and she and groom Merri Melde have to figure out a
way to get along during the filly's racing career at Longacres
racetrack.
Available at Amazon.
Racehorse Tales: Volume One
Racehorse Tales: Volume One is a collection of 4 true stories of some of the extraordinary, diverse, entertaining, and unforgettable equine personalities that Merri Melde cared for as a groom on the racetrack.
Claim the Trick: The Royal Ass
This little racehorse has a mind of his own and is as strong as a mule. He entertains people as he drags groom Merri Melde on unplanned detours whenever and wherever he feels like it, as he trains and runs at Longacres racetrack.
Ol’ Mom’s Holme: The Witch
Some horses are like people: born on the wrong side of the barnyard. Ol' Holme is bad news, and she and groom Merri Melde have to figure out a way to get along during the filly's racing career at Longacres racetrack.
Safe to Say: The Comet
Fate briefly throws groom Merri Melde together with Safe to Say, a kindly, intelligent gelding and brilliant runner at Longacres racetrack, during an extraordinarily memorable season of racing.
Sunstorm: The Rugged One
No two racehorses are created equal. Sunstorm may not run for a million bucks, but the macho chestnut gelding's attitude and rugged good looks are what groom Merri Melde falls for instantly. The cheap claimer leaves a great indelible mark on Melde's heart in his barn at Longacres racetrack.
This volume is a compilation of the Kindle Singles of each of these horses, plus a bonus story on Ol' Mom's Holme at the end.
Available on Amazon as ebook
In this short story, author Merri Melde takes on one of the world's most beautiful - and toughest - hikes on the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal's Himalaya, reaching 17,872 feet.
Melde's evocative prose transports the reader directly into her hiking boots on this one-of-a-kind national geographic-like adventure among some of the world's highest peaks.
Melde's evocative prose transports the reader directly into her hiking boots on this one-of-a-kind national geographic-like adventure among some of the world's highest peaks.
A turbulent rafting trip down one of the world's wildest navigable rivers, the mighty Zambezi in Zimbabwe, tests the author's mettle, bring her face to face with her weakness.
Merri Melde's inspired narration of this short story provides a thrilling and terrifying ride for readers on this white-water adventure.
Think it's easy to mail letters or a box? Not so much in India.
Author Merri Melde delves into the often comical confusion and chaos of a few Post Offices - and alternate alleys - in India to mail letters and a box home. In these short stories, readers will learn how to get attention when they're the only customer in a Post Office; how to hold their own at the counter at a crowded Post Office armed with a sense of humor; and how to negotiate all the (arbitrary) steps on what it takes to mail a parcel.
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