I gallop and jump and ride young horses with intense pleasure.

Fascination with horses predated every other single thing I knew. Before I was a mother, before I was a writer, before I knew the facts of life, before I was a schoolgirl, before I learned to read, I wanted a horse.

Failure was startling, really. So startling that I hardly noticed it at all.

But what truly horsey girls discover in the end is that boyfriends, husbands, children, and careers are the substitute-for horses

With horses, familiarity breeds comfort. If you haven't been around horses for a while (or ever), the best thing to do is to go to the racetrack, a horse show, a rodeo, or some other horsey activity, and watch the horses. Familiarize yourself with the way they move and behave themselves.

And I ride horses, swim, do a lot of reading, writing.