Friday's Finds

It's amazing the kind of research you can pull up through the internet and books and magazines about any one related subject. As I'm writing Caroline's Man Friday, my newly contracted Desire I needed to find out pertinent things about horses and ranches. Well, since this is my area of expertise since most of my books involve those very subjects, I thought I knew quite a great deal. But in this modern day story of refurbishing Belle Star Stables to what it had once been, I found out some interesting facts about horses and horse rescues that I didn't know. For instance, and this will be in my book, horses get bored and frustrated real easily when they're not out in the pasture where they can roam. Some horses chew wood on the fences and stables. And some horses are prone to cribbing. Again a way of letting go their frustration. They suck in oxygen, making weird air sounds and then gnaw on any wood structures they can get their teeth into. Thus, destroying the surrounding wood surfaces if allowed to continue. It seems to be a big problem among stables who board horses and it's imperative that they get proper exercise and pasture time to help prevent this. Cribbing was something I'd never heard of before I started this book.

And I've also learned a great deal about horse rescues and adoptions. Apparently there's quite an extensive application process where the rescuer must supply lots of information about their capability to sustain and nurture the horse. They must give references in some instances, must agree not to sell, loan, lease or euthanize the animal at any point. And if the adoption doesn't work out, then they are obligated to return the horse. It's a good way of protecting horses, who might otherwise become neglected or abused. What I didn't know is that with some rescue sites, an adoption might occur, but the new owners, never really "own" the horse. The rescue site retains full rights on the horse. Again, I imagine another way of protecting the horses.

I love learning these little tidbits of information and though they say 80% of our research never gets into our books, for fear of sounding like a travelogue or advocate, it's always great to learn something new. Much of what doesn't go into the book stays with me. I wonder how many out there have fun doing research and find what doesn't get into the book just as fascinating as what does?