Q1: You are a keen rider and you adore horses. Have you always had a hankering to one day write a horse book?
When I was in my final year of university, the woman who taught me to ride, Heather Cato, published a book called Dark Horses (Scholastic, 1997). This book was a YA adventure, and gripping. What was more, it had so many things that were reminiscent of my teenage years and of Heather and her family — and of the ponies I’d loved. She had written a young adult novel with twists and turns, but best of all I could recognise myself and her daughter, Kristin, as well as other friends from Riverside Riding School throughout the book. What a marvellous thing to be able to do, I thought — to bring a whole vanished world alive again. I’d always been addicted to writing, but this was the first time an everyday person in my world had done such an audacious thing as to publish a book and to have it be successful.
Fast forward many decades, and I had published poetry about animals and a book about birds, but when I got my little dream pony, Billy, as an adult returning to riding, I knew I had to write about the special bond between horses and humans. When it’s there, it is one of the best feelings in the world. I wanted to find real stories to share, starting with those of the young women who had loved Billy before me.
As I reached the end of Horses & Us, little did I know that Billy and I had a very scary plot-twist ahead.
Q2: It could have been so many things, so how did you hit on this notion of a book of conversations with people all around Aotearoa New Zealand?
I didn’t want this book to be Auckland-centric. I wanted readers all over the motu to be able to recognise a place close enough to them to make the people and horses they were reading about seem real and reachable. Without a grant from Creative New Zealand, I would not have been able to travel and experience some of the incredible locations that these stories come from.
The variety of experiences included following Tyson Miller through his whole backing process with two Kaimanawa geldings, exploring Mount Nicholas Station, one of our most remote high country stations, where the fall muster is still carried out on horseback, and watching the fast, furious mounted games finals at Horse of the Year. I was able to visit International Dressage Judge, Mura Love, in Christchurch and then write for him while he judged a competition near my home; I chatted with Paralympian Louise Duncan as she plaited up for a high-stakes competition in Hastings; near Tūrangi, I walked close to wild horses on the roadside a few hundred metres from the Ellis whānau’s trekking business, Korohe Horse Treks.
I drew inspiration from iconic TV shows like Country Calendar, Hoiho: Riding On, and Young Riders which give prominence to seemingly ordinary people doing extraordinary things with horses. The latter two programmes are also great examples of television that includes relevant words and phrases of Te Reo Māori which is what I have tried to do in Horses & Us, with the help of Dr Hana Merenea O’Regan ONZM, Manuhaea Mamaru O’Regan and Mata Mataio.
Q3: There’s such a huge range—from really successful equestrians and horse trekkers to Clydesdale breeders, pony-book authors, stunt riders and ‘horse whisperers’. It must have taken ages to find them all. How did you go about that?
I have a background in academic research, and I love the detective work of finding amazing stories to tell. I have followed the career of Wiremu Priest from TV’s Young Riders since he started in the show, so I knew that I wanted to tell his story from his first pony days to now. I have also enjoyed Event Stars’ social media accounts for years, with so much of the content starring Lucy Schick and her gorgeously funny Punky Pony, Comet. So, I started with Mu and Lucy. Next, I looked for role model riders and horse people from all over the country whose stories made me feel uplifted or curious.
I made sure that I covered aspects of horse life and sports that diverse readers would be interested in, so that if one was a budding young jockey like Kelsey Hannan and one was a thrill-seeker, keen to learn some stunts on horseback in the style of Dayna Pomare Pai and another was an aspiring writer with horse stories galore like our incredible Stacy Gregg, there would be a role model in the pages of Horses & Us. It was basically a lot of googling, social media-scrolling, friend-asking and online newspaper-trawling. I still have a big enough list for a 200-page Horses & Us sequel.
Q4: And then you added the layer of commissioning illustrations from a range of illustrators. How did you go about selecting them?
Again, I did my detective work. I went to book stores and picked out styles that I liked. Of course, I knew that my friend Sarah Laing from Sylvia and the Birds (2022) would have to do the special chapter about my pony, Billy. From there, it was a top-picks list of illustrators whose books I thought looked amazing. Because each chapter has its own theme, the kaupapa suited having a different illustrator for each one.
I was also very lucky to source some art photographs and paintings for young readers to look at in addition to some poetry. I like a book to have some activities, and art is always something fun and layered to interact with.
Q5: A really strong theme in this book is the way horses have so often healed humans and helped them cope with difficulties in their lives. Can you talk about one of those?
One of the stories I love, empathetically illustrated by Isobel Te Aho-White (Ngāti Kahungunu, Kāi Tahu) belongs to Ellie O’Brien (Ngāti Rangitihi, Te Āti Haunui-a-Pāpārangi). Ellie’s personal journey of reconnection to Māoritanga and her tīpuna has involved using traditional Māori music and medicine in her work with horses, using taonga pūoro to calm their nervous systems. After I first interviewed her, and during the time I was writing Horses & Us, in 2023, Ellie went on a long trek with her daughter and pāpā, recreating the journey of her great great grandfather Tiki Te Rauparaha Paaka. He survived the Tarawera eruption of 1886 only because his mother had sent him on a trip two days before. This whakapapa ride, undertaken on her horse Chrome, was a profound healing journey of reconnection for Ellie.
Q6: It’s all about a special horse and human connection, isn’t it? In your experience, what is it that makes this bond possible?
The horses’ trust makes it all possible. If you think about the fact that they are prey animals and we are predators, and they allow us to get on their backs and ride them — How on Earth? They take a huge leap of faith when they allow us into that place of vulnerability. I suppose that, equally, when I pick out my pony’s back hooves or when I’m putting his scoot boots on his back feet, I will sometimes think how precarious a position I am in, and how much I have to trust him. This 450kg animal has so much power. He controls it, keeps his awareness focused on where he places his weight and how he moves to avoid hurting me. It really defies explication, doesn’t it?
Q7: There are so many amazing true stories here. What’s one that really moved you?
I have always liked stories about people overcoming challenges to pursue their dreams. Michelle Clarke’s story is inspiring because she has made a successful career out of show photography and equine art on her own terms. At first, it seemed as though she might not succeed in making her dreams of being an artist come true because she didn’t do well at university — she didn’t feel able to write the essays that had to accompany the artworks she produced. So, she dropped out. She went back to the show photography she had started at 15 and only did painting again as a hobby. When she began sharing some of her watercolours on Facebook, it was clear that people loved them. She didn’t have to get a degree in art to be an artist. She already was one. She now combines her photography and art, also creating books, nursery decorations and calendars.
Q8: And can you tell us about a story where real courage was called for?
The story that comes to mind is Louise Duncan, our Paralympian #233 in France 2024. When I approached Louise to be in the book, she hadn’t yet been selected for the Paralympics. She was a young woman from Levin, working as a hair stylist, para-riding after a long childhood and teen career in equestrian sports.
When Louise was 17, she suffered devastating strokes as a result of meningitis. She was told that she may never walk again, let alone ride. However, with a year of hospital rehabilitation and great family support, she was able to go back to the sport she loved.
Louise is a very determined person. She has been a wonderful advocate for the disability community, and when my pony, Billy, suddenly ended up in hospital in late 2024, Louise and her parents were very kind and supportive, using their huge expertise and experience to try and help us to choose the best course of action to save his life.
Q9: And of course your own horse, Billy, gets a chapter all of this own and he is also the focus of the afterword. It must have been fantastic to have tracked down his earlier riders.
Often cheeky, frequently without reliable brakes, but always trustworthy and brave, Billy is a wonderful friend to have found in life. He brings back the schoolgirl magic of absolutely loving your pony and enjoying every moment in his company. To have found and become friends with Claudia and Erica is incredibly touching. Both of them have been to see Billy twice, now, and Erica has even brought her baby boy to meet him. Our bond is our love of this one special pony; it is something we will always have in common.
One of the most moving things was watching Billy interact with them as if no time had passed. For example, while Billy watched her, Claudia slowly and deliberately put a carrot in her back pocket and then ran. He chased her, sliding to a halt every time she stopped, which earned him a piece. Erica sat on him and swung one foot at a time towards his muzzle; he turned to look at each foot as it approached. It was if he’d said, ‘Time is nothing. Here you are again and this is how we play together.’
Q10: What do you hope readers, young and old, will take away from this book?
I’m glad you said ‘young and old’. Like Sylvia and the Birds, this isn’t just a book for young people. It’s an everyone book. There should be a story here for everyone. I would like readers to be inspired, moved or made curious by the stories, artworks, poems and photographs in this beautiful book. In particular, it would be great to think if a reader found a photographer or artist they really liked in the book’s pages, they might go on to look at more of that person’s work. I would also like readers to appreciate the generosity of the people who have shared their stories in Horses & Us. Always, one of my wishes for a work of literature is that it opens the door for understanding. If any of the stories allows a reader to gain a positive appreciation for a way of doing things different to their own, that is a huge win.
