As the days get shorter and the nights get longer it’s time to snuggle up with a good book. Right? How about we add a little horse girl adventure in there as well? We had the opportunity to do a little Q&A with the author Claire Eckard who wrote the novel Gallant: The Call of the Trail, which released recently. This award-winning and Amazon bestselling book showcases a riveting story of faith, affection, and adventure that follows the lives of two teenagers as they train to compete in the heart-stopping sport of endurance riding. The book showcases the beautiful bond between horse and rider.
Introduce yourself
I am a writer, a mother, a (new!) grandmother, and an animal advocate! I was born and raised in England and moved to Hawaii at the age of twenty, where I met and married my amazing husband of thirty-five years. I have always been an animal lover, most especially dogs and horses, and I have always had a passion for writing. I have been fortunate to always have the tenacity to try new things and throw myself into whatever I am doing and that had led me down many exciting paths in life. Now, in my mid-fifties I find myself right where I want and need to be, and I am thrilled to finally be able to call myself a published author!
Tell us a little about your background, were you raised with horses?
As a young child in England horses were always a part of my life. My brother had a pony for gymkhanas and my stepmother ran a riding school outside a small village in Devon. I would ‘work’ at the stables in exchange for riding lessons. As I grew older, I was allowed to go on horseback riding holidays. During my late teens and early twenties other aspects of my life led me away from riding but I was able to get back into it in my mid- twenties when my husband and I moved to central California from Hawaii and worked at a hotel resort which had a wonderful equestrian center. We lived on the property and when we weren’t working, we were exploring the 400-acre ranch on horseback. At that time, we were both competing in long distance outrigger canoe racing as a sport and hadn’t really considered anything other than just enjoying trail riding with the horses, however In our early thirties we came across the sport of endurance riding. We were immediately hooked and that began a twenty-year passion for the sport and all that it brings to our lives! We now live in Arizona where we have a 44 acre ranch in the foothills of Prescott and are fortunate to be able to ride in some of the beautiful mountain scenery!
Do you have horses currently? Yes! We currently have eleven horses! Some are young, some retired, one is a miniature mule that earns her keep purely in entertainment value! We have a mustang and a half-Arabian currently in training for endurance, but neither are ready for more than the limited distance twenty-five-mile rides at the moment. My husband is currently the Southwest Heavyweight champion on a friend’s horse that he has been riding in competition. We both have been involved with the sport for almost twenty years. My husband is highly competitive and has done very well. I enjoy doing the competitions, but I also enjoy crewing and volunteering. Because of this I have seen the sport from a variety of ‘angles’ which has helped when it comes to writing about the it.
In your award-winning best selling Amazon book “Gallant: The Call of the Trail” you tell a tale of adventure and the sport of endurance riding. What inspired you to write a book about the subject? Do you yourself participate in endurance events? There are not many fictional books set within the fascinating world of endurance riding, so I think it was time to give the sport some recognition. I’m also hoping that the book inspires some future endurance riders, particularly junior riders! My main inspiration was a wonderful 97-year-old who is a dear friend and who spent the best part of four decades in the sport. Her name is Julie Suhr, and her own book – Ten Feet Tall…Still, is my favorite book on endurance riding of all time. In it, Julie describes her idyllic childhood in the Valley of Heart’s Delight, which is now Silicon Valley, and her life with horses over almost ten decades. Julie gave me the thumbs up to explore the concept of a book inspired by some of her childhood memories that would be written as a fictional trilogy. She also allowed me to use her famous endurance horse, HCC Gazal, as the inspiration for my main character, Gallant.
We love that you are donating part of the proceeds of the “Gallant” series to preserving the legacy of the Western States Trail which is home of the iconic WS 100 Mile One Day Ride (Tevis Cup) and WS 100 Mile Endurance Run.
Julie and I were looking for a way to contribute part of the proceeds of the book to a worthy cause. We began discussing the museum project, which had been in the works for a while but was finally gaining some traction and looking like it was going to happen. I reached out to Hal Hall, another famous endurance rider, who is now spearheading the museum project and helping to finalize all the details. After a discussion with him we decided this would be a perfect match for the Gallant series, as the museum will showcase the history of the iconic Western States Trail, and the people and horses who have travelled the course of it for over two hundred years.
When can we expect more books from the series?
I am currently writing the second book in the trilogy; Gallant, The Call of The Mustangs, which centers around the character of ‘The Almighty Flash’ and his journey. He is one of my favorite characters to write as he had such an awful start to life. This affects his character greatly, but he goes from being the ultimate ‘bad guy’ to a horse with so much heart and courage and who overcomes so much. All four characters evolve throughout the series as they experience many life events, both good and bad, that will eventually lead to them taking on the challenge of the Tevis Cup trail in Book Three.
I am so thrilled that both the professional reviews, such as Kirkus and Publishers Weekly/Booklife, as well as my reader reviews have all been so positive and beyond my wildest expectations. These characters have really taken the reader on a rollercoaster of adventure and emotion, and people are now comparing Gallant to Black Beauty and National Velvet! What more could an author hope for!
Lastly, as an established author, is there any advice you can give to future equine enthusiasts who have a hankering for writing?
Writing a book is like so many other challenges in life. You must have enough passion for what you are trying to do that you are willing to face the ups and downs that come with that challenge. I repeatedly had to use the word BELIEVE to remind myself that I could do this. I had to believe in my ability to write a book, believe that the words would come to me, believe that I could navigate the new world of publishing, and believe that people would read and enjoy what I put out there. There were a million opportunities for self-doubt to kill this project at each and every stage. To any new writers, I would say find that one word or phrase that will help you keep going, even in your lowest moments, and then never give up. Just get it done. It will be SO worth it!
Where to find Claire and Gallant: The Call of the Trail
