Horse Gods: The Dressage Rider’s Betrayal

Teens

synopsis

Synopsis

A half-wild horse, a Celtic legend, and a teen trying to escape… Regina Hamilton has three months to prove to the courts she can earn a living on her own and avoid going home to her abusive mother—a tall order for a teen with only her riding skills to rely on. Desperate to prove herself, Regina lands a job at an exclusive dressage barn. But when workers start to mysteriously disappear, she becomes ensnared in a web of lies and deceit. With time running out and unsure who to trust, Regina turns to an unlikely trio: an unusual boy who trains hawks, a reclusive professor of Celtic history, and a half-wild red mare. Together they form a bond that will be tested when a long-held secret exposes a much greater threat—and Regina’s the target. To save her horses and her life Regina may have to trust her enemies and betray her friends.

bio

Author Biography

Inspired by everyday miracles, L.R. Trovillion weaves magical stories of hurting people who find hope through horses in her Maryland Equestrian Novel series. Although she earned a degree in Russian and spent a career in government service, her real love has been caring for and working with horses. That love shines through in her series, focusing on the healing power of horses in the lives of teens facing complex and sometimes dangerous family situations. Believing there is more to this world than meets the eye, she adds a dash of the supernatural to each story. L. R. Trovillion lives on a small horse farm in Maryland with her husband, daughter, and several animals that really run the place. Her other works have appeared in Baltimore magazine, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and various poetry anthologies.

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Author Insight

Writing, Like Training Hawks

In this scene, Declan is taking his hawk, Rosie, out to hunt off the line for the first time. She may just fly away but it is a chance he has to take. He explains to Regina that he's going to let the bird go free eventually anyway. Regina has a hard time accepting that Declan could put all the hours of training into the bird, only to just let her go someday. It's funny, but this made me think about being a writer. An author spends an awful lot of time, energy, sweat and tears to create a novel, edit it into shape, only to "set it free" into the world at large. Like the falconer, we hope that the novel, like the bird, will thrive and find ways to make new readers out there in the wild.

Book Excerpt

Horse Gods: The Dressage Rider’s Betrayal

Declan is bent over beating the shrubs. He twists to look upward at Rosie, then moves forward. Whack, crunch, the noise would shake the dead out of their hiding holes. When we move down the trail, Rosie flies to the top of a nearby tree. Declan straightens and shelters his eyes under a hand to look for her. “She’s doing exactly what she’s supposed to.” He cups his mouth and calls, “Come on, sweetie, I’ll find you a rabbit!”

Sweetie? How he can call that feathered killer sweetie is beyond me. Just as I’m about to tease him about it, the sound of bells rings out, and a red and white blur streaks past.

“She’s got one!” Declan high-steps through the brush to where Rosie disappeared in the thicket. A piercing squeal. I imagine what’s going on under the bush and keep back. Declan cautiously parts the branches and leans down to look. “Oh. That’s okay,” he consoles and reaches in to retrieve the bird. She’s covered with broken twigs and dead leaves. “It got away.”

Everyone is disappointed but me.

“I know another place,” he murmurs to her, brushing off the leaves. He walks ahead down a slope and crosses a dry creek bed. In one fluid movement, he lifts his arm and Rosie flies off it like an extension of his own body. She flies to a treetop and calls. Declan walks along, taking a whack at any bush close enough to reach without stepping into the brush. Rosie glides from treetop to treetop, following us.

I catch up with Declan and fall into step. “It’s amazing she does that. Follow us, I mean. Why doesn’t she just fly off?”

“We have a deal. Like a contract. I give her food, or help her find food, like today, and in exchange she hunts with me.”

“She must love you.”

When he turns to me, his blue eyes look brighter against the cloudless sky. “She doesn’t love anyone. It’s a business arrangement.” He checks her location and whistles for her to catch up. “I’m not kidding myself into thinking anything else. In a year or so, I’ll release her back to the wild.”

“You’re kidding!” I grab his sleeve to slow him down. “You’re going to let her go? Forever?”

He stops. “That’s the deal. She’s a young bird. Most of them die their first winter. Hunger, traffic, tangled in wires… I teach her to hunt, she survives, so I let her go in a year or two so she can breed more red tails.”

“A regular circle of life.” There’s a sarcastic edge to my voice I didn’t want to come out.

“They’re not horses, Reggie.” He starts walking.