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 Courtney 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 physical and emotional landscapes of 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.
