One woman’s journey through love, loss and healing.

When her husband is diagnosed with an aggressive brain tumour and she is plunged into widowhood at the tender age of 37, Kathryn White’s world is shattered. Life Matters is a searing account of the days that follow.

Throughout, her unwavering love of horses weaves a golden thread of faith, providing strength through the darkest of times and warmth in a time of overwhelming grief. A tribute to the power of love and a testament to the strength and fortitude of the human spirit.

This memoir of grief and loss is written from the heart and soul.

You can preview the first chapter here.

Do you still watch those old horse movies that you've seen a dozen times, just for the scenes of the horse galloping in slow motion? Do you hold your breath just a bit? Do you get something in your eye?

We've been besotted with horses since they had three toes. From the popular Relaxed and Forward blog comes training advice combining the everyday fundamentals of dressage with mutual listening skills. Blake writes with a profound respect for horses and an articulate voice for humans, blending equal parts inspiration and un-common sense. It's serious training communicated with humor and lightness, because horses like us when we laugh.

Most riders want to build a better relationship with their horse. These short essays are geared as much toward attitude as technique, and include topics ranging from reading calming signals from your horse to using breath as your best communication tool. Blake's writing uses clear descriptions, storytelling, and humor to inspire meaningful, positive communication. Less correction and more direction. Horses are honest; they answer us in kind. If we want a better response, a more fluid conversation and relationship with a horse, we have to be the ones to change first. The other word for that is leadership.

By Anna Blake, the author of Stable Relation, A Memoir of One Woman's Spirited Journey Home, by Way of the Barn.

Black Beauty is a handsome, sweet-tempered colt with a strong spirit. As a young colt he is free to gallop in the fresh green meadows with his beloved mother, Duchess, and their kind master. But when his owners are forced to sell him, Black Beauty goes from a life of comfort and kindness to one of hard labour and cruelty. Bravely he works as hard as he can, suffering at the hands of men who treat animals badly. But Black Beauty has an unbreakable spirit and will, and is determined to survive . . .

The outside of my ski jacket is saturated. As the pit-a-pat of raindrops increase, I’m sure the water will come through to the inside any second. Thankfully, thoughts of this impending soaking are magically blown away because right now I have the sensation of gliding above the ground. Bringing up the rear of a lengthened procession of horses, Gjáska is bowling down the hill in tölt. The tölt is a smooth easy to sit gait, and I relish every stride. Because the rain obscures everything apart from the road and track, I use this period to delight in my Icelandic horse and the gait she is giving me to experience on this ultimate ride.

So, ends the final ride on a riding holiday in Iceland. Where Northern Lights dance across the night sky, and geysers erupt. It may be the end of the trip, but it’s the start of a journey. A journey that takes Rachel Lofthouse to the pyramid fields outside Cairo; an industrial past in the UK, and to a Mediterranean retreat on the island of Mallorca. Against these backdrops, Rachel faces her fear of jumping, experiences the exhilaration of galloping in the Sahara and the sensation of swimming with her horse. There is an unintentional canter on the road, a reluctant equine partner on a beach ride and another who performs a circus trick. With each experience, a more confident and skilled rider emerges, who knows her limitations.

By sharing these exceptional experiences, Rachel hopes to inspire the reader to have a horse-riding adventure of their own. Rachel’s remarkable equestrian travel journey has begun, maybe it’s time to start yours.