2019 Goals

I am writing down my goals for this year and hitting you with them now so that they have to be set in stone!

Where horses are concerned, I had a bit of a heart breaking year in 2018. Of course I could do nothing but struggle through to the other side and hope for the best. That is horses for you; they definitely keep you grounded!

It did however encourage me to take a break from writing “horses” as I literally live and breathe them, and it was all getting a bit too much. I have therefore taken the plunge and written a non-horse related, contemporary romance novel which is in the final stages of editing.

So as to not confuse things and keep horses separate, I plan to release this under the pen name Silvia Twizel. This is simply because I really aim to tailor my horse stories to those who know one end of a horse from the other, which I appreciate may be boring to – and the terms and phrases that are part of my (and probably yours!) everyday life go straight over the head of – people not familiar with horses. I therefore don’t want my fans that are waiting for the next horse story, being disappointed if I release one with absolutely nothing to do with horses. I feel like publishing them under a slightly different name will solve this, but as ever I would like to know what my readers think about this, so please do let me know.

Please rest assured that Hearts & Horse Trials #3 will be released as soon as I can find time to have a final read through!

I couldn’t tell you which is my biggest passion between eventing and racing – I love them both equally and would hate to choose 💓 So, while I currently don’t have any more racing stories penned, it is definitely something I want to delve into deeper this year, while obviously continuing with Fred and Elsa on the eventing scene...

Also this year, I am going to try and start treating my writing as more of a business. I don’t mean that in terms of making money, as I spend so many hours on it that I don’t see myself realistically making a living from it any time soon. I am starting by setting myself these targets. If no one knows about them, then my lack of progress doesn’t affect anyone else. However, if I have announced to people my plans, then I know I will be letting them down if I don’t accomplish them, and some days I really need this to spur me on!

But when I first published my first book, I literally didn’t think anyone would buy it. I was actually scared that someone WOULD buy it, absolutely hate it and message me demanding a refund 😱

Words cannot describe how much I love getting book reviews. Even the bad ones. OK, so the bad ones hurt a little, you can’t help but take it personally, but you have to take it on the chin and try and figure out what you can do to improve. At the end of the day you can’t please everyone, but you can try 😉

I get a lot of people asking me how I write. Well obviously I just put pen to paper, but of course there is so much to think about before that simple step even happens!

I wouldn’t consider myself a fast writer, and as I hold down a full time job and have various “yard” jobs scattered around this, it might (or might not) interest you to know that last year I averaged 732 words a day (I’m an accountant OK...I have a spreadsheet for EVERYTHING!). This may seem meagre compared to some, but hey that’s life and it’s not a competition! But when you bear in mind that Just A Groom is approx. 65k words, and Taking the Reins is approx. 93k words, you can probably see why it takes me so long to get the next instalment finished!

Some people need to have their whole story planned out to every minute detail, others have no plan whatsoever and see where their characters and circumstances take them. Both are fine.

I am somewhere in the middle. An idea will often come to me while I’m driving or – more commonly – poo picking. I’ll have nowhere to write it down and frantically taking my gloves off and trying to locate my phone, during which time one of the foals has probably run off with my poop-scoop, another has pushed over my wheelbarrow, and the rest have realised I didn’t shut the gate properly behind me and are half way down the lane by now...

So you can see what I’m up against, right?!

Sometimes an idea might just be a sentence, that I scribble down and forget about, returning to a few months later to try and figure it out. Sometimes it’s a paragraph or two, and sometimes it’s a whole story that I delve straight into as I just can’t wait to write it! When I start, I generally know the ending, but the events that are going to get us there are as much a mystery to you as they are to me! I just have to put pen to paper and see where my characters take me... Some days they are not in the mood, so on those days I just saddle up and go for a ride instead!

So, this is me, and this is how I’m progressing into 2019. I hate all that “New year, New me!” bullshit, so I won’t be boring you all with jumping on that bandwagon! Plus, I am already late to that party! (as per usual!!)

As always, feedback is always appreciated! If you love my books, please let your friends know! If you wish I could explore something different, or have any suggestions for improvement, I am definitely up for hearing them! 😏

I am just a girl, sitting at her desk, thinking of something to write..... 😉 Help me make 2019 a good year 💖

When the going gets tough...

Just because yesterday was a miserable, MISERABLE day (in terms of the weather, of course) and I spent a large part of the afternoon sitting at my laptop trying to dry off and warm up... All in the name of horses.

But we love them, right?!

Elsa Aldridge let out a deep sigh as she stood in the doorway to the tack room, watching as the heavy rain lashed almost horizontally across the yard.

The paddocks were almost under water, and she was glad she had got the horses in to their warm, dry, cosy stables before the heavens had well and truly opened. But she still had a herd of youngsters grazing down the valley - wintering out - and she would need to take them hay. She imagined the river was running high and the tracks running alongside it that she needed to take to get to them, would probably resemble mud soup. She just hoped the trusty old quad bike still had it in it to make it to them.

The sky was dark grey and showed no signs of clearing any time soon. Wisps and swirls of lighter clouds dotted here and there only served to tease her that they would break into clear, blue skies.

Timber Bear gazed out over her stable door, hay trailing from her mouth which was carried away across the yard in the wind. Elsa frowned as she watched it settle in the pools of water clogging up the already struggling drains of the old farmyard.

The chestnut mare nickered as she observed Elsa, wondering when her food was coming. Elsa took a final sip of her lukewarm tea before placing the mug that had been warming her hands, back on the side. Minty the yard cat snuggled beside the kettle, giving her a look to say he would not be venturing outside any time soon while the rain was so fierce.

But Elsa had no choice, and she pulled her damp coat tightly around her, zipping it all the way up to her chin. It was getting tired and tatty, and had been drenched so many times that it was beginning to leak. Her old faithful yard boots were going the same way, too, but they were so comfortable that she didn't want to trade them in just yet. She contemplated wrapping her feet in plastic bags before sliding them into her boots so that she could prolong their life a little longer.

Her gloves were soaked, having had no chance to dry out on the tack room’s portable heater, but she pulled them on anyway.

"I love my job...I love my job..." she muttered to remind herself, as she waded through the floods towards the feed shed. She grabbed a broom on her way, and swept the debris away from the drains to let some of the water flow. But she knew it was helpless unless she planned on doing that all day, which she most certainly didn't, and soon the water was building up again. As she felt her toes squelching against her sodden socks inside her boots, a desk job had suddenly never looked so tempting.

She had a local recruitment agent’s number stored in her phone, especially for days like this. Secretary or receptionist, personal assistant or bookkeeper had all sounded so dull back in the summer, but they had a certain ring to them now as she scraped her wet hair from her face. But she wondered, as she looked around at her cosy little yard and the long, loyal faces gazing longingly at her over stable doors, could she ever bear to leave all this behind?

She remembered back to the summer, which suddenly now seemed so far away, even though the eventing season had only finished a month ago. She remembered easily the jubilation she felt every time Sophia – her employer and best friend – crossed the finish line with another clear cross country round under her belt. And there was nothing on earth like the joy she felt when their horses had tried their hearts out, and especially so when Sophia picked up a rosette and some prize money. She couldn’t imagine anyone working in a boring office ever got those kinds of thrills. And those highs surely made up for the lows such as miserable days like these, didn’t they?

She suspected the only time those office workers were at risk at getting even slightly rain damaged was when they popped out to pick up their morning coffee, so hard was the life they led. But making the switch to the warm and dry had been on her mind a lot recently, even though she tried to shove it to the back of her thoughts.

I am needed here, anyway, she reminded herself as the occupants of the stables started banging at their doors at the first sign of the feed shed door opening, and she could not restrain the smile that lit up her face, even through the raindrops.

"So, this is it," Elsa spoke to them all as she made her way along the row of stables with the wheelbarrow, chucking in their feed as she went. “Summer is officially over, and winter is well and truly on its way.”

She was soaked through to the bone, and would kill for a shower. She ached all over, and hadn’t even finished her jobs yet. By the time she had got inside and warmed up with a nice glass of red wine, it would probably be bed time. But she would be back out again tomorrow, ready to do it all again. Her horses would be waiting for her, gazing optimistically over their stable doors in between grabbing mouthfuls of hay, at any sign of her little cottage door opening. Then they would nicker at her arrival; a soft sound that made her heart swell. It could be tough – and when it was tough it was exceedingly tough – but more often than not it was brilliant, and as she looked around her, the rain lashing her face and stinging her eyes, she knew deep down she wouldn’t change any of it. Not for anything.

While #3 in the #HeartsandHorseTrials series is in production, you can buy the first two here:

#JustAGroom 

#TakingTheReins

Why am I always so busy??

I have not been very good at writing this blog, and it is one of the things I vow to do better going forward. As the nights are now drawing in, the horse world is winding down and life for all of those in charge of animals becomes considerably harder with the change in weather!

I cannot believe how quickly the year is passing and everything that has been achieved, but at the same time everything that I wanted to achieve through writing and as yet haven’t... I wanted to have the third in the Hearts & Horse Trials series out a lot sooner, and as soon as Taking the Reins (#2) was finished and published I began cracking on with #3, but it now sits in my “waiting to be edited” pile as other things have taken over!

I have had lots of enquiries from eager readers wondering where #3 is, so I apologise for the wait and thank you all for your patience J

I am currently working on a couple of other projects but I cannot say much about them at the moment!

I often work on several projects at a time, putting one down when I feel it getting stale and picking a new one to refresh myself. It makes the journey from start to finish feel like less of a slog, too, if I can work on it in sections. It takes a massive inner-strength (or at least it did for me!) to take the plunge and publish a book to be read and scrutinised by the world. It is not something that I have yet found gets easier, after I released Good Intentions and then quickly afterwards, Taking the Reins, so I want to say thank you to everyone that takes the time to leave a review, and especially those that tell all their friends how much they enjoyed it! I do love hearing from readers, as writing can be incredibly lonely otherwise!

Reviews mean an awful lot to me – even the not so good ones – and I take everything on board. A few readers of the Hearts & Horse Trials series have mentioned that they would like to hear more from Frederick, so this is something I have strived to incorporate better in book #3.

Talking of Book #3...I need to go and get on with it! Speak soon xoxo

p.s. for those not familiar with Hearts & Horse Trials, Just a Groom is book #1 - and the place to start ;-) you're welcome!

Just a Groom

So I have taken the plunge, and I am SO excited to announce that I have published my first book... Just a Groom.

Elsa Aldridge pours her blood, sweat and tears into being the best possible groom that she can be for up-and-coming event rider Sophia Hamilton. But when fellow competitor Frederick Twemlow snatches away their top horse, everything they have ever worked for is on the brink of falling apart before their eyes.
Frederick Twemlow is gorgeous, rich, popular and at the top of the eventing ranks. When he sets his sights on something, he doesn't stop until he gets it. So when he begins to make eyes at Elsa, they both know it's only a matter of time before Frederick gets what he wants. Desperate to despise him for tipping their yard into turmoil, and to prove her loyalty to Sophia; for how long can Elsa resist his charms?

I have been working on this for a while now, and it is the first in my exciting new series Hearts & Horse Trials. Having had various different grooming jobs before settling down to a desk-job, I found the writing of this came very easy to me. Grooms are a vital component to the success of horse and rider at all levels across all disciplines, and are often underrated, so it was only natural for me to want to share this story through the eyes of a groom, when so many focus just on the rider. I hope it will be refreshing and inspiring to experience that grooms really are anything but Just a Groom. I am delighted to share Elsa's journey with you.

It is available to buy as an ebook on Amazon. You can find a free preview here.

Please, please do leave a review. If you enjoyed it, then please tell your friends! If you didn't enjoy it, then why not? Constructive criticism is always welcome here, otherwise how will I ever make things better for you? :-) 

If you are thinking of choosing a groom as a career, then I cannot think of anything more rewarding! But be prepared to work very hard. Check out the British Grooms Association for a point in the right direction.

Why do we have rare breeds?

According to the Rare Breeds Survival Trust (RBST), there are currently 5 breeds of horse and pony on the official 2016 Watchlist, classed as Critical – Critical defined as there being fewer than 300 registered adult breeding females in the UK.

Britain is a country with an admirable huge variety of versatile, hardy native breeds, yet many of them have made it onto this Watchlist. Why?

There are a number of reasons why breeds become rare, such as their characteristics do not suit modern-day demands, their once admired traits fall out of fashion, or even that people are yet to realise what the breed can offer.

Our native ponies were generally bred in harsh, isolated areas, with unforgiving weather and terrain, and they adapted to survive on very little. They were also expected to lug heavy weights and work hard, whether that was down mines, pulling carriages, or carrying fully-grown men laden with their kit across fells and up mountains. Throughout history, our native breeds have been simply invaluable and embedded into our way of life.

But as our modern day lives change, those of our mounts are expected to adapt. Being kept on fertilised pasture, and barely worked during the week while we are busy doing other things or working in offices to pay the bills, is not natural to many of our native breeds, and they will struggle – whether that is seen in their health or temperament.

For example, topping the list is the Cleveland Bay, without a doubt Britain’s oldest breed of horse. It is incredibly versatile, throughout history having been used to pull the heaviest coaches, plough the land, and take the people of Yorkshire hunting. These days it can be found adapting to all modern disciplines including show jumping and showing, and is definitely a breed on the rise.

Eriskay ponies are small, immensely strong and can survive in the harshest of conditions, hailing from the Western Isles of Scotland. The difficulty in accessing the Isle to provide new blood to the breed meant that the pure-bred herd had declined to around 20 animals by the early 1970s, but they have been very slowly building themselves back up ever since.

On the opposite end of the size chart to the Eriskay, the Suffolk Punch is principally an agricultural horse, their large flat feet ensuring they do not sink into the heavy clay lands of their native East Anglia. They are true gentle giants and always chesnut in colour, and can still be seen in ploughing matches and driving trials, giving the modern machinery a run for its money.

The Hackney Horse and Pony has made the critical category; their decline likely occurring as motor vehicles replaced horse-drawn carriages on the road. With their impressive high knee action, they still make a fine carriage horse.

All of our native breeds have played their part in the war effort, which caused their numbers to dwindle in the early-to-mid twentieth century, and the Hackney was no different, doing their bit as cavalry mounts and artillery horses.

These days they are primarily bred for the show ring, where they continue to impress and excel.

The Royal Family have played a massive part in the boost of our native rare breeds, such as through their own breeding agendas or simply being ambassadors for the respected breed societies.

For example, Her Majesty the Queen gave the Cleveland Bay a huge boost in the 1960s after the breed was severely depleted in numbers by Britain’s war effort on the front line, by purchasing a colt due to be exported, and making it available for public stud in the UK.

HRH Queen Elizabeth is also an avid supporter of Fells and Highland’s especially, which has undoubtedly boosted their popularity. Although both of those breeds are still on the Watchlist, they are classed as “Vulnerable”, with 500 to 900 registered adult breeding females in the UK. This is a stark contrast to the Fells’ close cousin, the slightly bigger and more robust Dales Pony, who is really struggling.

The Dales Pony itself is also classed as critical, yet described by its breed society as having “the combination of good conformation with energy and ability make the Dales pony excellent for riding” teamed with “a bold temperament, great presence and an eye-catching fast trot, together with stamina, agility and a calm, sensible nature” – what is there not to like? They really do have it all, so why on earth are more of us not riding and enjoying them?

There are many more equine breeds unfortunately gracing the RBST Watchlist, and although not critical, they still need the help and support – but most importantly the recognition – of the general public, to stop them falling further towards the critically endangered category. And of course, it’s not just equines. There are records kept of breeds of sheep, cattle, pigs, poultry and goats that are all at risk of dying out.

We are so fortunate to be blessed with so many beautiful and unique native breeds, and they all have so much to offer, which simply begs the question: why are they rare breeds?!

Breeders trying desperately and passionately to preserve these invaluable breeds, simply cannot afford to go on without the support of good horsemen and women buying their stock.

So please give it a thought when you are scouring the adverts for your next ridden companion, your driven next-best-friend, or versatile, invaluable turn-your-hoof-to-anything soul-mate, that there are scores of well-bred native breeds out there struggling to get noticed and off of the rare breeds Watchlist, when they really do have so much more to offer, and help secure these fantastic breeds and bloodlines for the future generations.

They have all had a massive part to play in Britain’s history, but for many, their biggest challenge is helping to shape Great Britain’s future.


Rare Breeds Survival Trust
Dales Pony Society
Cleveland Bay Society
Eriskay Pony Society
Suffolk Horse Society
Hackney Horse Society

The first milestone

So I have just finished my first novel.... although I have lots more in the draft stage, and of course the pipeline...

I would love to share it with you all, and your opinions are always welcome. Please feel free to comment, and if you enjoy it let me know, and I may consider sharing some more of it...

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For those who would like some prompting before they delve right in, read on ;)


     Ellen Taylor is shy and studious, and as she fast approaches her eighteenth birthday, she is desperate to catch up with Georgie’s prowess with the opposite sex, and have a summer of fun before they both head off to University.

Convinced that nothing ever happens in their sleepy village, Georgie is always trying to entice Ellen out to their friends’ parties in town, but Ellen has thrown herself into her summer job for the local racehorse trainer, Barb, which entails a high level of fitness, and very early starts. And while delivering ironing for her mother, Ellen develops an unlikely relationship with Barb’s austere and exceedingly unsociable elder brother, Tim, whom at first Ellen despises, but quickly realises that they have more in common than she thinks.

While her parents are encouraging her into a finance career in her father’s firm in the city, Ellen is secretly following her own agenda, and won’t let anything stand in her way.

Ellen embraces country life and everything about it, except from the advances of the Barker’s farmhand, Dale, a young lad who despises his boss and who is fed-up of just being Ellen’s friend.

Ellen throws herself into the horse racing, and Barb even gives her the opportunity to ride in a race, and Barb’s younger brother, James, takes Ellen under his wing. In her spare time Ellen accompanies the local vet on his rounds, desperate to learn all that she can to follow this career path, and continues to enjoy Tim’s company. Embarrassed of this odd relationship, Ellen hides it from everyone, including her best friend. But can her own agenda really bring her the happiness and fulfilment she deserves, without hurting those close to her?

Welcome...

Hey! I guess you've just stumbled across my blog...

I am just a normal(ish) 26 year old currently living in London, exploring the arts and attempting to write.

When I am not writing, I can usually be found with my head in an equine-related book.

As winter looms and the nights start drawing in, I hope to be reading even more, and will be providing regular reviews of the books I'm reading, for those with similar interests as I.

I am currently reading Eventing Groom by Joanna Capjon - who was Head Groom to eventer Lucinda Green - a little gem of a book first published in 1983.
Check back soon for my finished review!

I am also using this blog as a platform for a taste of my own work. Please have a read and let me know what you think... I really appreciate people taking the time out to constructively criticise my work, or provide compliments where they're due! It inspires me to keep writing, and strive to improve.

For those looking for something a little more risqué check out my contributions to Literotica.... find me @ TantalizingTwizel
Follow me on Twitter @LaurieTwizel