Wonder Horse Books: Arabian Horse Adventures!

Adventure and Suspense with Arabian Horses

Book One in the Wonder Horse Series: Prince Ali

Prince Ali had everything: talent, charisma, and a devoted best friend, Becky Howard. He won every time he set a hoof in a show ring. He garnered more fans from personal and TV appearances. Becky was with him every step of the way, even riding him in the Swallows Day Parade in their hometown, San Juan Capistrano. Disaster struck when two thugs put Becky in a coma, drugged him and dragged Prince Ali off to sell for diabolical purposes. When their buyer realized who Ali was, he nixed the deal. That landed the pampered show horse high in the mountains in late March. One night, a week later, he discovered the corral gate unlatched. Prince Ali mustered every ounce of strength, courage, and stamina he had to walk into the wilderness searching for the best friend he couldn’t live without.

See the entire series…

www.wonderhorsebooks.com

A Note from Author Hardesty...

I'm a published author of 5 books in a series about Arabian horses and the people who love them. Our stories are fiction, but we've pulled a lot of our material from my 35 years of owning Arabians, our time of owning a training/show barn, and my involvement in the industry as a whole. I've been a writer all my life in one form or another. I wrote my first "book" as an assignment in third grade. I've been a reader since age three when my mother taught me so I could read my first book, ff. I have been a horse lover since I was a year and a half old and infected by "Eau de Equine" from the pony rides I could talk my grandfathers into at the local park. I am currently working on the sixth book in the series and planning the seventh. I hope to continue writing until I can't. 

Our stories are about the connection young people form with their "heart horses" and are filled with emotion. Readers report they've laughed, cried, and cheered while reading them.

Writing the series began as a team effort with me and my best friend of 55 years. Nancy Shaffer Perez and I met in high school French class and have been close friends since. Nancy has written for herself since she learned to put words together and has been an avid reader since childhood. A few years ago, her doctors diagnosed Nancy with Auto-Immune Hepatitis. They listed her on the national transplant list while they struggled with medications and dosages to bring her to a stable condition at which time they took her off the list. Six months later my doctors diagnosed me with Stage 3 Cancer. I went through the full treatment of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy.  While I was taking the chemotherapy treatments, Nancy called and suggested we write a book together. 

Nancy and I live 100 miles apart. When we began writing, we discussed plot, characters, motivation, and setting in lengthy phone calls or Skype meetings. I had more time than her, so I took responsibility for writing our thoughts down. I emailed her chapters which we discussed, corrected, adjusted, and rewrote until we were happy with them. We found two trusted friends who became our BETA readers and we listened to them and their input. It took several years to put the polish on our first novel and we were lucky to find a publisher that works directly with authors. He reviewed our manuscript and put us under contract. The first book released on December 1, 2017. During 2018, we released three more books.

PRINCE ALI – WONDER HORSE BOOK ONE

Prince Ali had everything. He was perfection for his Arabian breed, talented, charismatic and had a devoted best friend, Becky Howard. Every time he set a hoof in a show ring, he won. He garnered more fans from personal and TV appearances. Becky was with him every step of the way, even riding him in the Swallows Day Parade in their hometown, San Juan Capistrano. Disaster struck when two thugs put Becky in a coma, drugged him and dragged him off to sell for diabolical purposes. When their buyer realized who Ali was, he nixed the deal. That landed the pampered show horse high in the mountains in late March. One night a week later he discovered the corral gate unlatched. Prince Ali had to muster every ounce of strength, courage and stamina he had to walk into the wilderness searching for the best friend he couldn’t live without.

LA DUQUESA – WONDER HORSE BOOK TWO

Maryann Wilcox dreamed about riding a silvery mare bareback across a meadow in the moonlight since she could remember. La Duquesa wanted her “one and only human” for as long as she could remember. A tragedy introduced them to each other, but circumstances kept them apart. Maryann’s riding instructor, Ginny Hartley, could see the connection between the rescued horse and the young girl who lived in poverty. Ginny began pulling strings trying to unite a broken family so she could unite that special girl with her special horse.

DESPERADO – WONDER HORSE BOOK THREE

Desperado was something of a wild child. He explored the territory around his birthplace because there was no lock he couldn’t pick to escape his stall or paddock. That exploration would save lives. Desperado had two loves in his life, one was his 80-year-old owner, Hilda, and the other was his rider, 14-year-old Todd. Because of his show-ring successes with Todd, his biggest fear was being sold to a sworn enemy. Desperado faced danger head-on to save Todd and Hilda when all other creatures were running away. He ran through fire to protect those he loved. He hoped that would be enough to ensure his place with Todd on the land he called home.

DESERT ROSE – WONDER HORSE BOOK FOUR

Desert Rose had an idyllic life boarded on Hartley Ranch with her mother. She and the Hartley’s son Brody formed a special lasting attachment. Brody was devastated when he came home from school and discovered Rosie and her mother were gone, taken home by their owner.  A despicable crime occurred that left Rosie, her mother, and three additional horses at risk of starvation and the life of a special and very valuable stallion owned by Rosie’s owner in more dire straits. Brody’s friend, Marianne was the only one who knew how Brody felt about Rosie. She instigated a chain of events to reunite them. When the truth about the missing stallion became known, Marianne and Brody got their friends together to search for him in the vast Mojave Desert where blistering heat, enduring monsoon rains, lightning, thunder, and treacherous flash floods couldn’t stop them. Their hope was if they could find that special stallion, the owner would recognize the deep bond between Rosie and Brody and allow them to be together forever.

FREEDOM – WONDER HORSE BOOK FIVE

Freedom was abused and betrayed by every human he came in contact with as a young horse. Despite his promise to his mother to grow up and become a “good horse,” he distrusted all humans while harboring the hope he would find his “Heart Human” someday. Nathan was born with Autism. He was brilliant but lacked the skill to communicate. His parents tried many forms of therapy to help their son and couldn’t find one that worked for him. He grew up isolated, passing his time on a computer learning about things he’d never be able to do.  Freedom’s owner donated him to a therapeutic riding center. Nathan’s mother got an invitation to a fundraiser for that center and investigated equine therapy for her son. Something finally worked for Nathan. Then Nathan met Freedom and magic happened. Nathan wanted to ride the Tevis Cup Ride, the toughest 100 miles in one day ride in the world. Freedom’s previous owner conditioned Freedom for that ride before she donated him. Four new friends stepped up to help join the horse with the boy and help them make their dreams come true.

About the Authors

Victoria Hardesty has bred, owned and shown Arabian horses for more than 30 years. She and her husband operated their own training facility serving many young people that loved and showed their own horses. She is the author of numerous articles in horse magazines, was the editor of two Arabian Horse Club newsletters, one of which was given the Communications Award of the Year by the Arabian Horse Association at their national convention. An avid reader from childhood, she read every horse story she could get her hands on.

Nancy Perez spent 30 years in advertising writing, creating and editing advertising content. She's a passionate reader, wrote for herself, and decided it was time to step up into a novel. As Victoria's best friend, she was frequently exposed to the Arabian horse and showing world. Best friends for more than 50 years, they teamed up to write a series of books about kids and their Arabian horses.

See the entire series…

www.wonderhorsebooks.com