At the age of thirty-seven, Courtney Maum finds herself in an indoor
arena in Connecticut, moments away from stepping back into the saddle.
For her, this is not just a riding lesson, but a last-ditch attempt to
pull herself back from the brink even though riding is a relic from the
past she walked away from. She hasn't been on or near a horse in over
thirty years.
Although Maum does know what depression looks like, she finds herself
refusing to admit, at this point in her life, that it could look like
her: a woman with a privileged past, a mortgage, a husband, a healthy
child, and a published novel. That she feels sadness is undeniable, but
she feels no right to claim it. And when both therapy and medication
fail, Courtney returns to her childhood passion of horseback riding as a
way to recover the joy and fearlessness she once had access to as a
young girl. As she finds her way, once again, through the world of
contemporary horseback riding--Courtney becomes reacquainted with
herself not only as a rider but as a mother, wife, daughter, writer, and
woman. Alternating timelines and braided with historical portraits of
women and horses alongside history's attempts to tame both parties, The
Year of the Horses is an inspiring love letter to the power of
animals--and humans--to heal the mind and the heart.
