Soul Deep in Horses: "A Thrilling Book"

Monday June 16 2014

I was thrilled and surprised to see my memoir, Soul Deep in Horses, reviewed in the Sunday Idaho Stateman!

Pam Brewer, one of the Idaho Statesman's Book Addicts writes:

"This is a beautifully written, emotionally charged book that takes you to exotic places and lets you meet some amazing animals."

The full review is here.

On her blog Discovering Ranch Life - Photography, international equine photographer, Maria Northcutt writes:
"It’s a thrilling book, about one crazy girl’s horse adventure around the globe. If you love horses, it’s a book that makes you cry and laugh out loud, over and over again. She takes the reader to thrilling heights, and dangerously high speeds."

Read the rest of the review here:
http://discoveringranchlife.com/2014/06/14/inspiring-book-soul-deep-in-horses/

On a Soul Deep in Horses relevant tangent, I'm having a book signing at Naomi Preston's Wild West Bakery and Espresso in Eagle, Idaho on Saturday June 21 from 11 AM to 1 PM. If you're in the area, come on by, and have some fabulous Wild West lunch while telling us your funnest and wildest horse stories!

Soul Deep in Horses is available as soft cover or e-book on Amazon, or autographed copies are available on my website, www.TheEquestrianVagabond.com.

**(From these two reviews and the audience responses they generated, the e-book shot up to #4 in its category on Amazon on Sunday. Though I don't watch the stats, I really don't!)

My First Endurance Ride

Tuesday May 6 2014

Mel from Boots and Saddles, Aarene from Haiku Farm, and Connie from Hoge Homestead blogged about their first endurance rides.

My first endurance ride was a momentous occasion: I won my first endurance ride.

This is how it started:

Our alarms went off early enough, but somehow, time slipped away and we were late saddling our horses for the 7:00 a.m. start; and we found ourselves scrambling, trying to get to the starting line on time. Something so simple for Shelley, who’d been endurance riding long enough for the whole process to be as automatic as brushing her teeth, but I was more than a little flustered. Wait! Where were my gloves? Where was my fanny pack? I forgot to fill my water bottles! Where were Rocky’s brushing boots?

Time mercilessly ticked away, indifferent to a newbie endurance rider who would have preferred a leisurely, calm start. “We have to go!” the veteran Shelley called. We tightened our saddle cinches one last time. My nerves fluttered and my heart felt like popcorn kernels banging around a hot popper—it was my first endurance ride!

The horses were amped up and ready to go. Both of them, owned by some Arab sheikh and trained by Shelley, were competitive and used to finishing in the Top Ten, and they often won their rides. They knew they should have already been at the starting line warming up and swirling around with the other horses. I was worried that I might have a handful of horse at the starting line, and I wasn’t that great or confident a rider. Shelley jumped on a bouncy Pharrah, and I gathered Rocky’s reins and clambered on his dancing back with two minutes to start time.

As I settled in the saddle, I instantly discovered something awry: my stirrups were too long! “Wait!” I yelled to Shelley. I jumped back off Rocky to raise the stirrup leathers as he twirled around me, while Pharrah crow-hopped impatiently around us. But now things were worse than amiss: my stirrups did not shorten! This was disastrous!

One important endurance proverb I hadn’t learned yet was to never, never try a new piece of equipment or clothing the day of an endurance ride. I had ridden Rocky before, but I had never ridden in Rocky’s special saddle before. Shelley had long, long legs. I did not.
“Shelley, wait!” I screeched. “My stirrups—!”

“They’re about to start! Let’s go!” yelled Shelley, and she was off to the starting line!

Rocky jigged anxiously around me, urging me to get on with it one way or the other, and since I didn’t know what else to do, I jumped back on him and chased after Shelley and Pharrah. We arrived at the starting line just in time to hear, “Trail’s open!” and take off down the trail in a clustered herd of excited horses and riders, and I couldn’t reach my stirrups! “Help meeeeeee!” I yowled in harmony with the “Yeehaws!” and “Whoas!” and horse snorts and hoof beats.

You can read the rest of this story in "Chapter 8: Rocky Start" in my book Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond.

The short of it is, it was loop 2 before I could change saddles to one where I could reach the stirrups; it was loop 2 before I discovered we were following ribbons that marked the trail (since I'd had no idea how Shelley knew where we were going!); it was loop 2 when I started to discover this wonderful new world of endurance riding; it was loop 2 when I started getting addicted. Winning the ride (I tied with Shelley for first place) really made no difference to me. (The next day I rode another horse and tied with another gal for last place.) The ride itself made all the difference.

Fifteen years later, I am still addicted to this enthralling discipline of endurance riding, which takes me far out into country I'd never see, on the back of a horse that (usually :) enjoys sharing the ride with me.

My Rocket Ship: She Got It Right!

Friday May 2 2014

So says one of the 5-star Amazon reviews for my book, Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond. "She Got It Right!" This review just happens to come from Paul Thoresen in Egypt, whose 2 fabulous horses, Borcan and Raad, are featured in two of the chapters in my book.

I recently posted a snippet of My King: Borcan. (Paul says Borcan "is now the old man of the club, trying to show a little more dignity in public.")

Here is a snippet from My Rocketship - starring Paul's other stallion, Raad (who, Paul reports, is producing offspring just like him!):

Paul turned Raad loose and let him run through the Egyptian desert, heading toward the distant speck. I let Prince do as he wished, which was a hand gallop. He was no longer interested in trying to catch that gray lightning bolt, probably because it was a lost cause. Prince was quick on his feet, but he wasn’t that fast. Where once I’d been afraid to gallop, I felt quite safe on Prince. What Prince was doing with me seemed so . . . tame compared to Raad. Watching Raad shoot away put a whole new perspective on galloping a horse.
Eventually Prince and I caught up with Jeannie and Katir, who had slowed to a walk, and together we watched Raad and Paul continue running, bearing off to the right, still at a dead run, making a huge arc out in the wide open desert, eventually coming back around full circle to join up with us again.
Raad slowed down as he approached us. I thought Paul’s trajectory had been for fun, but in fact, he hadn’t been arcing on a whim.
“This! (pant!) . . .” “Horse! (pant!) . . .” “Is! (pant!) . . .” “SO STRONG!” Paul gasped. “I couldn’t steer him!”
I thought he was kidding. Paul was a good rider, and he rode his horses on a light rein, whomever he was riding or however fast he was going. He’d given me some pointers on how to ride “light” - but it usually didn’t work for me. I still had a lot to learn about riding, although I was delighting in the fact that, finally, I loved, loved to gallop out here in the Egyptian desert because I wasn’t afraid to do it anymore.
Paul shook his head in utter bliss, his eyes gleaming. “That’s the Akhal-teke in him. They are so strong - and strong minded - they don’t bloody listen!” he said with unmistakable pride in his voice. But then, Paul so loved all his horses, anything they did just tickled him.
I was glad I wasn’t riding Raad; if Paul couldn’t control him, I’d have had no chance in holding him back.
Paul turned to me. “You want to try him?”
My eyes widened. Too strong for Paul? Can’t steer him? Can’t pull him up?
“Yeah!”
We hopped off our horses, adjusted the stirrups, and I climbed on the big gray powerful tank of horseflesh.
We gathered our reins, Paul said, “Hah, Prince!” and Prince leaped to a canter. And I was—
GONE. . .

"My Rocketship" is a wild ride in my book Soul Deep in Horses. I'll be featuring tidbits from my book on this blog from time to time. You can get the book as soft cover or ebook on Amazon.com here, or autographed copies are available on my website: www.TheEquestrianVagabond.com.

My King: Borcan

Saturday April 19 2014

I couldn't wait for our ride among the Pyramids in Egypt… until I learned I'd be riding Borcan:

Borcan, the blustery, formidable, woman-hating, breast-biting ("He's bitten three breasts so far," owner Paul declared adoringly) white stallion, who lunged at anybody, mouth wide open and teeth bared, who walked by his paddock. 

The Breast Biter himself was already tacked up and standing at his paddock fence, with his lips peeled back to expose his enormous nine-year-old teeth, which were grabbing one of his reins and clamping down tightly, grinding the rubber till it squeaked in protest, exhibiting what he'd do to me if he managed to get a hold of my breast.
  

Was it too late to back out of riding? Surely, I reasoned, Paul would not put me on a horse that would hurt me. And I really wanted to ride in the desert... 

Once I had mounted, how silly it was of me to think that Borcan would stand still and wait for the others - that was far beneath his Great White Dignity. Oh, no, it was time for the Great White Peacock Parade down the long drive. Neck bowed, white mane billowing, Borcan consented to a walk, but only so everybody could get a very long look at his magnificence. He strutted, he waltzed, he erupted with absolute equine masculinity. 

And there you have it - against my better judgement, I had already fallen for him. He was such a blustery show off, but he was simply magnificently breathtaking...

"My King" is one of my favorite chapters in my book Soul Deep in Horses. I'll be featuring tidbits from my book on this blog from time to time.

You can get the book as soft cover or ebook on Amazon.com here, or autographed copies will be available starting Monday on my website: www.TheEquestrianVagabond.com.

New Release! Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond

Tuesday April 1 2014

It's here!

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 now on Amazon.com! - click here.

If you're wanting an autographed copy, you will be able to order directly from my website around April 15 (then allow a couple of weeks for delivery). I'll announce this option when it's available.

I hope you enjoy the ride!

And sign up here for The Equestrian Vagabond Dispatch for publishing exclusives.

"Get Ready For the Ride of Your Life!"

Sunday March 23 2014

That's one of the quotes from Bobbie Jo Lieberman's blurb about my upcoming book, Soul Deep in Horses. You'll see her full blurb, (as well as author Milton C. Toby's blurb), on the back cover of the book. Bobbie is editor of Trail Blazer magazine, so I like to think she knows what she's talking about.

Here's the copy on the back cover, to give you a taste of what is to come:

Merri Melde knew early in her existence that horses would be her life. In Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond, she paints a vivid portrait with her moving words of a unique life irrevocably entangled with horses - the adventures, 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 those who have followed their dreams, and to anybody who has ever lost their courage and rediscovered it once again.

“And still I willingly run down that trail alongside them, dancing in their hoof prints, discovering the next unforeseen dream and finding the next treasure, reverently and deferentially clutching the next gift they unselfishly share with me. The desire to ride a trusted horse is almost a physical ache, a fathomless void to fill, something I am helplessly bound to pursuing the rest of my life.”

As you can see up top, The Raven got his claws on the first proof copy, and he's busy with the final proof-reading. Scheduled publishing date is April 1st!

And The Winner Is….

Sunday March 2 2014

Gold Dust.

I had nearly 200 votes from readers when I asked them to vote on a cover photo for my upcoming book, Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond.

The voting percentages:

#1 Gold Dust - 44.4%

#2 Stormy Herd - 20%

#3 Stormy Water V - 11.2%

#4 Doobie - 8.8%

#5 Harry - 4.8%

#6 Stormy Water I - 4.1%

#7 Dusting - 3%

#8 All photos - 2.4%

#9 None of the photos - .8%

Plus two write-ins for my avatar

I randomly numbered all the voters who chose Gold Dust for their first and only choice, and I used a random number generator to pick the winner of an autographed copy of my book.

I'm thrilled to award it to Imke Lamsma from the Netherlands! (And I'm also happy one of the "Anonymous" voters didn't win, because that person might have been a little hard to track down : )

This brings back happy memories . . . I first visited Imke and her family in the Netherlands in 2007 when she was a wee shy horse loving 8-year-old girl, who had just recently completed her first 8 kilometer endurance ride on her Shetland pony Panter.

Imke is on the right

Nearing my publishing date of April 1, I will post the resultant cover that I will design from this photo.

Thank all of you for participating - one voter coined it as "my Tribe" participating in my book journey. I appreciate all of you who took the time to write comments - many of them very well thought out. They often made me see my photography in a different light. I am glad you have all chosen to be a part of this ride, and I hope you'll all enjoy the finished work.

Soul Deep in Horses: Vote on a Cover!

Thursday February 13 2014

Help me choose a cover for my book - win a copy of my book!

It's time to choose a cover for my upcoming memoir, Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond, due to be published April 1. 

Most of you know I'm also a horse photographer, and one of my photos will be the cover shot. 

I have narrowed the choices down somewhat to those pictured above and below. I have my own reasons for preferring certain covers, but it's often hard for a photographer to step back and view their own work objectively or artistically.

Which photo do you readers prefer on the book cover, and why? Which one grabs you? Which one works best with the title? Which one makes you want to yank the book off a shelf (or off Amazon), and plunge headfirst into the stories?

Please leave comments below, or you can email me privately with your comments to souldeepinhorses@gmail.com.

Results of this survey and how the photos ranked will be posted after March 1. From the pool of people who chose the photo that ultimately ends up on the cover, I'll randomly select a winner, to whom I'll send an autographed copy of my book. (I've asked the featured horses not to campaign on their own behalf.)

And sign up for The Equestrian Vagabond Dispatch, the twice-monthly newsletter from The Equestrian Vagabond for exclusive publishing updates and general brouhahas (who doesn't like a good brouhaha?):
http://eepurl.com/NbjPz

Doobie:


Dusting I


Gold Dust


Harry


Stormy Herd


Stormy Water I


Stormy Water V

My Memoir: I Snagged a Foreword Writer!

Saturday January 18 2014

Most exciting (next) step in the progression of publishing my book, Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond ... I snagged a writer for the Foreward for my book: Julie Suhr!

As pretty much all of you endurance riders know, Julie is the 'First Lady of Endurance', a 22-time Tevis Cup finisher (and 3-time Haggin Cup winner!), a 30,000+ mile AERC rider, and not the least, a terrific writer. Her Ten Feet Tall, Still autobiography is one of my Top Twenty books ever. While my memoir is not just about endurance, but about a number of other horse disciplines and adventures around the world, if you've read Julie's book (and if you haven't, I highly recommend it!), you'll understand why I wanted Julie to write my Foreward.

I am thrilled, gobsmacked and honored beyond measure that she most graciously agreed to do this, and that she will be a part of my Soul-Deep adventure into the author-publishing world.

In my next memoir-progress post, I will appreciate you readers' input in a poll on a choice of several of my photographs as covers for my book - stay tuned!

Julie's book:


**Top photo: yes, Stormy is excited too!

P.S. it's FOREWORD! as Fran corrected me in the comments - thanks!

And my Memoir Title is…

January 9 2014

After some discussions and inputs and votes with family and beta readers and my editor, the title of my soon-to-be-published memoir is:

Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond




I have obtained my ISBN, and soon, I will choose one of my photographs for a cover, and I will enlist you readers' votes in which one you like best!

Stay tuned.