My journey for those who don’t know …  words Carmel Rowley

Carmel and Simeon Sarah Easter 2012. Greg Egan photograph

When I look back over the thirty-eight years my husband Don and I have been involved with Arabian horses, I realise we’ve mainly taken the road less travelled.
We began our stud, Pearsons View Arabians, with the simple goal of enjoying and being a part of a fascinating breed of horse. From the beginning, we made the decision to keep our stud small and breed to our interpretation of an ideal. In those days, the motivation was about understanding our chosen breed, showing, riding and having fun. In saying this, we were also well aware you must have commitment to go forward, but that’s easy when you’re doing something you enjoy.

In 1988, the stud made the big move from Don’s family farm in Gippsland, Victoria, to the outskirts of Toowoomba in Queensland. In our first ten years, we were told by well-meaning friends not to breed purebred Arabians and not to ride them in the open show ring, followed by don’t ever consider Egyptian bloodlines. In spite of the ‘shouldn’t do’ advice, we did it anyway. Eventually, we decided there was no right or wrong way, just our way and this road led us to Egyptian bloodlines. In the ensuing years, we bred Russian, English, Polish, Egyptian cross and now we have a small group of straight Egyptian individuals.

As I state on the home page of my website www.carmelrowley.com.au if someone told me a decade ago that my life would be more about writing than horses I would have laughed at them. But it’s true.

Firstly, I’m a reader. I can’t even imagine my life without books. Reading helped me through a serious illness as a child and even now it calms me and takes me into another world. I’ve always been a bit of a daydreamer, thinking up stories and writing a diary when I travelled. Writing seemed to be a part of me, even though it took many years, several courses and lots of practice to hone some skill. Like breeding horses, there’s a constant stream of new things to learn.

I started to write Tails Carried High twelve years ago and now I can hardly remember why I even began the story. However, considering the big argument on the first page of the Prologue maybe it was a time when the people around me were being bothersome! About the same time I was asked to do breed articles for the Arabian Horse Express, Arabian Studs and Stallions and Australian Arabian Horse News. From 1999 onwards, I also began writing stories and articles for the online magazine www.straightegyptians.com. All of this gave me invaluable experience.

The inspiration for my writing is all around me. People associated with horses have to deal with a variety of emotions. The very human feelings of joy, combined with jealousy, have everyone running the gamut of tested relationships, as they breed the horses they love. It’s easy to relate to fellow breeders as they revel in the high moments and suffer the low. None of us escapes either. How can I not be inspired?

Book two in the Daughters of the Wind series Voices in the Wind, was released in 2010. I’m working with my editor on book three in the series for release this year. The first book in my children’s series Danika and Yatimah from Egypt to the Outback was illustrated by Willa Frayser USA and launched by The Arabian Horse Society of Australia Lim in 2011. I based Yatimah, my horse character, on our thirty-three-year-old foundation Egyptian Marbach-bred mare Simeon Sarah. Notes for another two novels are sitting on my office shelf, gathering dust. I can’t seem to help myself where horses are concerned; they just have to be in my books.

I have so much to look forward to. Over the past five years, Don and I have made a conscious decision to scale down the breeding program. We’ll continue to do this. Naturally, the older horses will have a home with us for life.

I’m addicted to writing. It makes me feel the way breeding horses did twenty years ago. Also Don and I would love to be able to visit friends and family together, something which has not happened in over twenty years.

To the purchasers of my books I’m incredibly grateful. These wonderful people are scattered around the world. The books have sold to Germany, Poland, England, Egypt, USA, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa (I know I’ve missed some countries)and every state in Australia. Sometimes, I have to pinch myself. It’s exciting to think about continuing to write about and share my love of horses with fellow readers.