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Most of my
stories have at least one animal, be it a dog, cat or horse. I probably do it
without conscious thought. Horses of course are essential in any story set in
the past, without them or oxen to assist the pioneers how would most continents
have been opened up for the settlers. On going through my backlog of books it
even surprised me that almost every one of them contains at least one animal
that played a vital part in the plot.
In Mystic
Mountains, book one of my Settlers Series, horses and bullocks were essential
for assisting the pioneers across large expanses of the Australian bush, and in
this case across the Blue Mountains, which was a treacherous journey in the
early 1800s. Then there were young Tim’s dogs who were his constant companions.
Tim and his dogs appeared again in Distant Mountains, book two in the series
and of course there were the much-required horses. In book three, Challenging
Mountains, the month-long journey from Bathurst to Melbourne required sturdy
horses and then there was Tim again with his trusty dog Bracken. Not so many
animals featured in book four, Annie’s Choices, but the dogs and dingoes loved
by the natives got a mention.
In The Laird,
book one of my Wild Heather series, the Laird’s dogs play an extremely large
part in finding the lost Andrew. And in the sequel, Travis, the laird’s
ever-present hounds were still around.
Lonely Pride,
book one in my Beneath Southern Skies series features Pixie the horse that brings
the young lovers together. Sam fell in love with Mac when he let her ride his
horse early on in the tale. This story is set in Tasmania so other small
creatures such as a platypus crop up now and then. In A Dream for Lani, book
two, Lani’s horse Matilda causes conflict with Ryan. Lani also has a poodle named
Tootsy. Then there is Ruff, a large shaggy dog owned by the family she
becomes friendly with. Leah in Love, book three features a dog Josh that accompanies
Leah in her work as a landscape designer.
When Fate
Decides, book one in my Challenge the Heart series has Tess who owns Velvet a
spaniel, who is her constant companion. In book two, A Heart in Conflict, Georgie
adopts a stray dog she names Spot. Book three, Kate’s Dilemma has dogs but not of
huge significance to the story line.
My
Time-Travel, A Call Through Time, is set in 450 AD, so of course there were
horses galore. There were no saddles about, and the bridles were
fashioned from plaited leather thongs. Brys had a horse called Arthur, which he
had to leave behind in his old life. The men back there in the past respected Brys’s
knowledge of horses after he saved one from a bout of colic.
Ah, Amethyst.
This one tickled my fancy as it was the sort of menagerie I seem to end up
with. Amy has two adopted animals, a dog Jess—a cross between a wombat and a
corgi, and her cat Goldie that travels about in the basket at the front of Amy’s
bicycle.
Sweet
Bitterness contains another dog called Peggy, a kelpie Jake and a cross breed dog
Spike. For the Love of Faith has a dog called Bob and a horse, Matilda, both
appearing throughout the tale. A Troubled Heart features Danny Boy, Esther’s
horse. And believe it or not the as yet unnamed book I am working on definitely
has horses, but expect a dog or two to pop up somewhere along the line, I can’t
seem to leave them out.
Just as a footnote, my current companion is a cat of many colours called Mitch, but I have had many dogs, horses and a cat or two over the years and cannot imagine life without at least one of them there to depend on for a smile or companionship.
