Today, Tyler R. Tichelaar of Reader Views is pleased to interview Ellen Feld about her new book “Rimfire: The Barrel Racing Morgan Horse.”

Award-winning author Ellen Feld’s first passion has always been horses. She has competed at Morgan Horse shows since childhood, and her skills have matured until her repertoire now includes saddleseat, reining, hunter pleasure, driving, barrel racing, and western pleasure. With her gelding Rusty, Ms. Feld won the New England Morgan Horse Association High-Point Trail Award for five consecutive years. She has owned numerous equines of other breeds including Morabs, Appaloosas, Quarter Horses, and Miniature Horses. Ms. Feld began writing about horses more than twenty years ago from small, regional publications to such national publications as “The Morgan Horse,” “Stable Management,” “Equestrian,” “Young Rider,” “Just About Horses,” “Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar,” “Tri-State Horse,” and “The Appaloosa Journal.” Ms. Feld's stories are noted for their realistic portrayal of horses, their behaviors, and the experiences of young riders. It is this authenticity that attracts so many readers to the stories. The newly published “Rimfire: The Barrel Racing Morgan Horse” is the seventh book in her “Morgan Horse” series. Ms. Feld lives in Massachusetts with her husband, two children, ten horses, and assorted pets.

Tyler:  Welcome, Ellen. I’m glad you could join me today. To start, I think the first question readers will have is ‘What is a barrel racing Morgan horse’?

Ellen:  First, thanks so much for inviting me to join you today. I’m delighted to be here. Barrel racing is a sport quite popular within the equine world. It involves three large barrels, similar to 55-gallon drums, arranged in a “cloverleaf” (looks like the points to a triangle). The horse must race around the barrels in a specific pattern. The event is timed and the horse with the fastest run wins. These races are performed in a large arena and horses complete the pattern in mere seconds, so as you can imagine there is a lot of speed involved. It is also a money sport where winners in the upper divisions can win substantial amounts of money. The teenage competitor who gave me the idea for the book had won over $100,000(!) with her gelding.

A Morgan Horse is a specific breed of horse, the same as a Basset Hound is a type of dog. Morgans are known for their stamina, sweet personalities, and stylish good looks.

Tyler:  For people who haven’t read the earlier books in the “Morgan Horse” series, will you tell us about Heather who is the main character. What about her do you think young readers will enjoy?

Ellen:  Heather is a typical teenage, horse-crazy girl. At the start of the series, she didn’t have a horse of her own, like so many of my readers, but was determined to get one. She succeeded with a lot of hard work and devotion to a particular horse. She also has her faults and sometimes makes bad choices, which can get her into a load of trouble. I think many young readers will see themselves in Heather, struggling with her as she tries to make the right decisions. They also see the ramifications of Heather’s actions, right and wrong.

Tyler:  What about Rimfire does Heather find so exciting when they first meet?

Ellen:  Having just returned from Oklahoma where barrel racing is a huge sport, Heather never expects to find a barrel racing horse in New England. The sport is not nearly as popular in New England where the series takes place. To top it off, Rimfire is a Morgan, Heather’s favorite breed of horse. He has a ton of personality and quickly wiggles his way into Heather’s heart.

Tyler:  Ellen, I understand that Heather convinces her friend, Nicholas, to buy Rimfire. Will you tell us more about Heather and Nicholas’ friendship?

Ellen:  This aspect of the story was used partially to show teens the ramifications of using others to get what you want and how that action can hurt people. Heather and Nicholas go back a long way, all the way to book three of my series when they first met. They have supported each other in numerous adventures and misadventures since that first meeting. Nicholas comes from a very wealthy family, has many horses, and is treated poorly by some other kids who are jealous of him. Heather is one of Nicholas’s best friends and they have a lot of fun together. However, in her desperation to get Rimfire, she takes advantage of her friend’s wealth and generosity and convinces Nicholas to buy the horse. Heather’s action will come back to bite her and strain her friendship with Nicholas.

Tyler:  Although Rimfire belongs to Nicholas, Heather has her own plans for him—will you tell us about those plans?

Ellen:  Heather doesn’t intentionally plan to go against Nicholas’s wishes, but events seem to fall into place for her to do just that. Heather winds up taking Rimfire to a barrel race against Nicholas’s (and his father’s) wishes. The unintentional consequences of that action (without giving the story away, bad things happen to both Heather and Rimfire) strain the two teenagers’ friendship and it is unclear whether it can be repaired.

Tyler:  Ellen, what made you first decide to write a children’s series about horses?

Ellen:  Honestly, it wasn’t really planned. I’d been writing for horse magazines for about twenty-five years. I was between assignments and felt the urge to write so I just started writing. What I wrote was a short story about a young girl who had to save her horse from a cruel trainer. The horse was housed in the trainer’s barn and the girl, Heather, snuck into the barn at night to rescue the animal. The spin was that at the end, the girl mistakenly set off the barn alarm but as she jumped, Heather’s mother is heard saying, “Heather! Wake up! Your alarm is going off. You’re going to be late for school.” It was all a dream. It was fun to write and when a couple of friends read it, they encouraged me to write more. Not one to back down from a challenge, I happily set about to write the rest of the book. That dream sequence became the first chapter of “Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse.”

After several months, when “Blackjack” was selling quite well, I started getting asked when the sequel was coming out. I realized I had an audience eager for more and since I love to write, I started writing the next book, “Frosty.” It’s just snowballed from there. The series has a regular fan base and if I take too long between books, I start to hear about it from them!

Tyler:  Did you always want to be a writer, or was it your love of horses that led you to writing about them?

Ellen:  As with writing my children’s series, being a writer wasn’t planned. I actually studied Russian in college and then continued along the same path in graduate school. I took a job working for Senator Kennedy in his foreign policy office at the Senate in DC. But I’m not a city girl and I missed my horses. Although I loved my job at the US Senate, I made the decision to return to Massachusetts. I took a rather boring job and soon volunteered to do some writing for a small horse newsletter. Before I knew it, I had become a regular writer for them and was helping put together the monthly newsletter. From there, I decided to give paid (!) writing a try and the first article I submitted to a regional horse magazine was accepted for publication. Writing assignments snowballed from there until I was a regular, featured writer for numerous regional and national horse publications.

Tyler:  When you were a kid were you a fan of other horse books, such as “Black Beauty” and “The Black Stallion”? What do you think makes your books stand apart from those?

Ellen:  Oh yes, I was a huge fan of the Black Stallion series as well as anything written by Marguerite Henry, author of “Misty of Chincoteague.” I read pretty much any horse book I could get my hands on. I wouldn’t say my books stand apart from those classics but rather that I hope my books meet the same high standards. I do think that many contemporary horse books are written either by authors who have no horse experience (and that shows in their stories) or by writers who are guilty of anthropomorphism. The problem is that when kids read these books, they think that horses will react the way they do in the book(s) and it’s just not true. It’s very important to me to portray horses in a realistic manner while still bringing readers a fun, action-filled story.

Tyler:  Your books are very authentic for their portrayal of horses and their riders, largely from your own experiences. Will you give us an example of an incident from your own life that you used in your fiction?

Ellen:  Sure. In “Frosty,” the second book in the series, there’s a subplot where Blackjack started acting very strangely. First, at random times, he began to take several quick steps backward. At first, Heather thought it was a game and he was simply trying to get out of going to work. But when Blackjack’s back suddenly dropped down, as though the muscles had collapsed, and his hind end started quivering, Heather called the vet. This actually happened to the real Blackjack. It was quite a mystery for a while and a couple of veterinarians were needed to solve the case (and I won’t give it away, you must read the book!). For “Frosty,” I condensed the timeframe of the illness and simplified the medical jargon so kids could understand it. To this day, I still have vets contact me about the event, having heard about it from the book.

Another time, Heather is lost in the woods with Frosty. She sees a meadow and starts crossing it, only to find out it is actually a swamp. Before Heather can turn her horse around, Frosty gets sucked down to her knees in muck. Heather decides to jump off her horse but as she does so, Frosty tries to jump out of the swamp. In a flurry of motion, Heather is tossed beneath her mare, trapped between the mud and Frosty’s belly. Terrified, Heather screams but there’s nobody around to hear her. Then, Frosty gives a great big groan, gathers up her strength and manages to take several small jumps (over Heather) to a small clump of grass and safety. Yup, that was my horse Rusty and I years ago. Not until we were out of danger did I realize Rusty had actually stepped on my chest and I had the hoof print to prove it! Didn’t hurt a bit. I believe the soft mud underneath me acted as a cushion. I was dirty but unharmed and to this day, Rusty, who once didn’t mind mud, won’t go near it! The entire event was chronicled pretty much as it happened to us many years ago.

If I want to have something happen but there’s no such event from my past horse experiences, then I reach out to friends. In one book, Frosty is bitten on the nose by a snake. Fortunately, that never happened to one of my horses but I searched for a bit and found a friend who had that experience. I questioned her extensively about the event and again, chronicled it pretty much as it happened in the book.

Finally, I should mention that all of the medical/veterinarian portions of each book are proofed by a doctor/vet. Again, I want it to be accurate. Even when there’s a small injury to one of the characters, say a twisted ankle, I have a doctor review the text for accuracy.

Tyler:  Ellen, why do you think your readers are so enthusiastic about your books? The average child today probably doesn’t have much experience with horses, so why the fascination?

Ellen:  I think a big part of it is that so many youngsters, particularly girls, are horse crazy. They don’t have to have a horse to be horse crazy and in fact, that mystique surrounding horses—mythical, powerful, and at the same time gentle—is a huge draw to young girls. I hear from parents over and over, that their daughter won’t read anything except my horse books because horses are all the child talks about. So I owe horses in general a big thanks for attracting much of my audience. I also think that even if they don’t have horses, kids are quick to spot books that don’t present a realistic view of the horse world. I believe most kids quickly lose interest in these unrealistic horse books.

I recently received an email from a young fan who had a sick horse. She was trying to find a cure via my books because she was sure she had read about a similar illness in one of my stories. I thanked her for her faith in my writing but suggested she really needed to call her vet! That just shows what sort of faith kids put in my books.

Tyler:  I understand, Ellen, that you do numerous book signings every year, but in addition, that Blackjack, the star of the series also makes appearances? Will you tell us more about Blackjack?

Ellen:  Blackjack is a fifteen year-old, jet-black Morgan. I bought Blackjack as a two-month-old colt (baby boy horse). He was priced higher than any horse I’d ever bought in the past, but I was eight months pregnant with my son Nicky at the time and gosh, it’s amazing what you can get from your husband when you’re that pregnant! We’ve been together ever since.

In 2007, Breyer Animal Creations, the world’s most recognized name in model horse collecting, created a model of Blackjack! They packaged it with a copy of the first book in my series, “Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse.” Then Blackjack and I went on tour, up and down the East Coast as well as out to Ohio and Kentucky. Everywhere we go, Blackjack wears a special blue and gold “Breyer” blanket that the company supplied. Young kids everywhere recognize that blanket and get very excited when they meet the “real” Blackjack.

Tyler:  Ellen, would you tell us a little bit about Jeanne Mellin’s illustrations? How did the two of you come to work together and what about her illustrations do you think makes them suitable to complement your stories?

Ellen:  I’ve known about Jeanne since I was a child. Within the horse world, and particularly the Morgan Horse world, she is considered one of the best. She even created the “standards” of a mare, stallion, and gelding, for the American Morgan Horse Association. They use her drawings in all their registry paperwork to show what the perfect Morgan should look like. It’s a huge honor.

Jeanne and I became friendly about fifteen years ago through a mutual friend. When I approached her about illustrating my books, she was incredibly enthusiastic. I’m very lucky to have her. She’s amazingly good-natured about taking on any project I ask.

Jeanne’s illustrations, and particularly her cover art, have sold many books for me. So many people in the horse world recognize her work that they want to purchase “her” books. Once they read the story, they then come back for the second or third book. I have a lot of adult readers of my books, and I think a portion of that is due to Jeanne. For kids, I believe her art captures the richness of horses as well as the fantasy. The full, blowing manes, the big, sweet eyes, the grace and style are all captured by Jeanne’s artwork. Kids pick up on these things and want to have some of that for themselves. It’s so important to have great artwork for your books, and I believe I’ve got one of the best for horse books.

Tyler:  Ellen, I understand this is the fifth book of the series. Will you tell us a little about the previous titles?

Ellen:  Actually, it’s the seventh!  In order, they are:
“Blackjack: Dreaming of a Morgan Horse,” “Frosty: The Adventures of a Morgan Horse,” “Rusty: The High-Flying Morgan Horse,” “Robin: The Lovable Morgan Horse,” “Annie: The Mysterious Morgan Horse,” “Rimfire: The Barrel Racing Morgan Horse.”  These books are written for the pre-teen, 9-13 year-old readers. Because I had so many parents ask for a Morgan book for younger readers, I wrote, “Shadow: The Curious Morgan Horse” which is a 32 page hardcover adventure where the horses, characters from the other books, talk and get into mischief.

Tyler:  Ellen, how many more books do you plan to have in the “Morgan Horse” series?

Ellen:  I don’t have a definite number in mind but I will keep going as long as I can come up with fresh stories. Some of the other horse series have 20 or 30 books within the series. I believe it’s impossible to keep a series fresh through that many stories. Since it takes me a year, start to finish, per book, I’ve still got a few years to go before I run out of ideas. At some point, I suspect I’ll branch out to a new series. But of course, it will be about horses!

The next book I’m publishing is actually one of Jeanne Mellin’s stories, which was originally published in 1955. I’m updating the text a bit but otherwise keeping the story as close to the original as possible. It’s called “Pidgy’s Surprise” and will be released in 2010.

Tyler:  Thank you for the opportunity to interview you today, Ellen. Before we go, will you tell us about your website and what additional information we can find there about “Rimfire: The Barrel Racing Morgan Horse”?

Ellen:  Sure. My website is www.willowbendpublishing.com. For each book, including “Rimfire,” there is an image of the cover, plus a page of reviews, a sample chapter, and a sample of the interior artwork. There’s also ordering information, with numerous links to various Internet and “brick and mortar” stores. Finally, for fun, I’ve added some games for kids as well as a link to my Morgan farm (Willow Bend Morgans) so that people can see what the real horses look like.