.:EQUUS:.

So a few things have been happening of late that have made me reassess what I wanted to achieve over 2011 and what I’d like to achieve next year, and I’ve concluded with regards to next year, I may as well hit the ground running!

What do you want to do for next year that you could actually actively start working towards this year?

My frustrated revelation this week has been that there’s always a replacement available.  If you don’t want to do a particular task or something doesn’t quite fit in with what you had in mind, there’s always someone willing to step into your position.  Change at times is inevitable, whether it’s wanted or not, but it can push you to question what you really want.

So what do you want in the near future?  And what are you willing to do to get it?  Start being accountable, perhaps by writing it up in a comment here - writing something down makes it that much more tangible.

I want to:

• build up a residual income via the opportunity that SendOutCards affords and help others do the same and gain some financial freedom
• invest in a rental property
• build up a financial portfolio that will help in the purchase of my dream property
• reach 300+ articles on Suite101

I was excited last Friday to come home and find a big package containing two new horse books in the mail!  One was G. Neri’s Ghetto Cowboy.

Now I must say, this is one unique story!  I read it in one day and was surprised by the idea for the story and found myself considering such events happening in real life.

Young Cole is a troubled soul.  He is bored with school and life and doesn’t know how to change things.  This results in him acting out at school and continually ending up in trouble.

His mother’s frustration turns into desperation when she takes him on a road trip to live with the father he’s never met.  Moving from Detroit to Philadelphia, Cole is amazed to find that his father’s tiny house is also home to a horse, and the stables nearby are full of horses, in the middle of the ghetto.

In these unusual surrounds, the stables are in danger of being closed down due to authorities who want access to the land.  Although at first fearful of these intimidating animals, Cole soon finds himself caught up in a fight to help rescue something he’d initially wanted no part of.

Ghetto Cowboys came to life when G. Neri found out about some real cowboys in Philly.  A more in depth review can be found along with my other articles at Suite101.

Author: G. Neri
Fiction
In my library? You bet!  A really unique story that I found a delight to read.

Tags: horse story, equine book review, equine author, horse library, horse writing, G. Neri, Ghetto Cowboy

So!

In the mail this week I’ve received two books that I’ll get read and reviewed as soon as possible.  They are:

• Ghetto Cowboy, G. Neri
• Belladonna, Mary Finn

I’m very much looking forward to reading these and wish I didn’t have to juggle doing so around work / study / house stuff!  But, there’s always time for a good horse book, right?

I’ve also received an email from Camille Matthews and should be receiving in the mail in the near future a couple of childrens horse books that are part of the Quincy series.  Stay tuned!

So I was flicking through the September issue of House and Garden yesterday and right at the back of the magazine was an item that caught my eye.  Yes, it was horse shaped!

Although I didn’t grow up with a rocking horse as a kid, I know of many that did.  Eco Rocker is the latest rocking horse on sale and this one has a bit of an interesting twist to it!  Titled ‘Reggie’, he is made of flat packed cardboard, and is designed by Shell Thomas.

Being made of cardboard, he’s able to be ‘designed’ as parents or children deem fit and once outgrown, can be recycled!

“He is blank and ready to be brought to life at home using pencils, crayons, glitter and glue and a little imagination from your young designer.”

“How to ride a horse: Step One - Mount the horse; Step Two - Stay mounted …”

A few days ago I received an email asking what was happening with my novel in progress.  A reply and second email enlightened me to the fact that the person asking was Danielle Silvestri, author of Dancing Hooves.

The idea for this book formed when I was studying in 2003/2004.  I’ve been writing it since then and despite having planned to finish the novel in 2009, find I’m still quite a way from that!

Danielle’s emails commented on how being stagnant in writing for a time isn’t a bad thing: it allows you time to mature and come back and improve on something.

Perhaps you have a dream that’s been sitting stagnant for awhile… so much so that you’re not sure it’ll ever come to pass.  Dreams are placed on our heart for a reason - it’s dangerous not to hope.  Anything that is so big that it seems impossible, great!  That means it’s a dream from God that can only be achieved with His help.

Pausing for awhile when ‘life get’s in the way’, doesn’t mean the end of a dream.  Keep on dreaming.

“If I had a horse, I’d ride off in the sunset, where dreams, and shadows lie. To a life, where pain and sorrow don’t exist, and to where hopes, and dreams become reality.” - Lindsay Turcotte