Just before Christmas, I stopped in one of my favorite tack and feed stores, Tri-County Feeds, Fashions, and Finds in Marshall, Virginia, for a little last minute shopping. On the counter I saw a notice of a book signing by a horsewoman I have known for quite some time. Her resume was enticing and the book looked like a great gift idea. The next day, I returned with my pen and notepad ready to learn about the book and the author. When our interview ended, I purchased a dozen books which author, Joyce D’Auqila, carefully autographed for each of my friends.

Breaches is a relatable, warm story about Kate, a horse-crazy girl willing to do anything for the opportunity to be with and near horses. A woman with a dream and a plan, “She remained relentless in her thirst to know more and do better.”

A well-written, intelligent story about hearts and horses, Joyce capably describes the “unseeable” – how does one rider get performance from a horse that another rider cannot? In one case, it was, “Stronger seat and legs, a more demanding attitude…” Only an experienced rider and horseperson can delve so elegantly into that subject. Her description of a rider managing a difficult ride with a difficult horse, “Quiet persistence of patience – just being cool – … [the horse] not going to draw him into her drama . . . [the horse] changed her mind and began . . . to agree…” It is refreshing that a book about horses and riders is written by an experienced horsewoman. My need to cringe and shake my head never arose.

Those of us who ride or have ridden can so easily relate to the trials and tribulations, the emotions, the joys and the terrors of the heroine, Kate. Anyone who has seriously ridden a horse has had a rough landing at one time or another. Sometimes, those landings determine a rider’s future. This book emphasizes the need to get back on.

Joyce D’Aquila began her horse riding odyssey as a ten-year-old. She told me, “I was the hardest of the hardcore horse girls. I think that my first word was ‘horse.’ I slept with a plastic model horse of Trigger. It had hard stiff legs and often my mother would have to move it away from me if it was sticking into my side while I slept.”

“My parents were not terribly encouraging or supportive of my riding. I played the violin. It was very scary to have to tell them that I would be stopping violin but would continue with the horses,” recalled Joyce. Graduating with a degree in veterinary science, she worked for a veterinarian for a decade. She realized that while she worked very hard to maintain her horses, she was not seeing or riding them, “That is when I made the decision to go into horses professionally. I rode the tough ones, the ones that nobody wanted. You know, horses have a unique way of bonding and it has been determined that horses are very therapeutic. I have a good eye and can bring the best out of them. I can think like a horse and read their body language.”

“Are you Kate,” I asked. “No, not exactly, but my parents kept waiting for me to outgrow my horse passion,”  she replied. ”The events and relationships, are fictional. The characters are composites of experiences and students that I taught. Some were students in private schools and others were in Pony Clubs,” she said.  “Like Kate, I went against all odds and got on with it.  I taught a ” Kate, “ who was a breath of fresh air. She was sharp and cool and so enthusiastic. Her hair would be flying around all the time. She was a little bit lacking in confidence because she was a little bit plump in school. Later, she became a beautiful woman.” Joyce told me.

D’Aquila is an experienced upper level “event” rider. Eventing is a riding discipline with three phases – dressage (obedience), cross country (galloping and jumping large “natural” obstacles in the open), and stadium jumping (jumping in an arena on a prepared surface). At the upper levels, this discipline, perhaps over others, takes enormous bravery on both the riders’ and horses’ parts. “There are so many horse-crazy girls and I wanted to capture the serious side, the commitment, the ethics as well as the personalities,” said Joyce. A key factor for Joyce is that the welfare of the horse always comes first, which is so aptly described in the story.

Breaches addresses trust and betrayal, love and pain, and pride and fear. These are thoughts and emotions that every horseperson experiences on some level most of the time. Yet, Like Kate, we persevere at all cost. Very engaging, this book has me waiting for the next volume. To purchase books, email Joyce at moedaq1@aol.com .