From the Author:
Well, Dear Reader,
I hope you've enjoyed The Legend, a tale it has been my honor and my joy to tell.
Since I was a little girl, riding horses beside my Dad along the riverbeds of Southern California and through the mountains to the north, I've believed that these great and powerful creatures must have been a gift to us from a loving God. As I grew up and the exigencies of life turned me away from the faith of my childhood, I fell more in love with the horses, trusting them when I felt I could trust no human. For too long, I thought it was my destiny to journey through life alone. I didn't know, then, that I remained always in our Lord's loving arms--especially in the company of the horses He sent to be my guardian angels.
I was four years old when my Dad put me on my first horse. I was eleven when I started earning money for cleaning stalls and grooming rent horses at the Monterey Saddle Club on the San Gabriel River, south and east of Los Angeles. In the years that followed, I rode wild horses through auctions, exercised race horses, gave riding lessons to people of all ages and abilities, started colts under saddle, and even tried my hand at training show horses.
I've never met a horse I didn't care about and I've never run across a breed I didn't respect for its unique abilities. I was drawn to Arabians for their beauty and even more for their special affinity for people. As it happened, our Lord granted me a life's career that has kept me forever involved with these kind and beautiful creatures. Nonetheless. I still love them all.
When I was just eighteen, my first son was born and a new love affair began. Ultimately, my three beloved children, sons Rob and Russ and their sister, Riyan, did a grand job of raising me. Still, I remained true to the horses. For many years I've written magazine stories about horses and breeders and trainers. Over the course of time, I've had the honor of managing some of the world's most important Arabian horse ranches, as well as the careers of a few of that breed's greatest, most influential stallions.
In 1986, I began writing my first novel. Ten years and five major edits later I thought that book was complete. I may have been mistaken, however, since it remains to this day (2009) unpublished. Maybe someday.
In 1988, I married the soul mate sent to me by our Lord. A few years later, along came The Legend, a tale I know in my heart I was given the responsibility to tell.
As I look back over my own life's journey, it is impossible for me to disregard the role played by the horse. I am as certain as sunrise and sunset that God sent His horse to carry me ever toward Him across all the difficult days and nights and miles and years--most of all when I was least inclined to travel in His direction.
It is my fondest hope that some of you who read The Legend will allow yourselves to ride with the wind aboard God's beloved horse on your own journeys toward the Heaven He offers. May you hear His call and know His merciful love. And may we meet one day, you and I, somewhere along the road--if not in this life, perhaps we'll share a story and a memory as we ride the hills of Heaven.
With you in the arms of our Lord,
Jo
j.l. Hardesty
From the Back Cover:
The Horse
The horse is ~ to humankind ~ the ultimate symbol of freedom.
Indeed, the horse is nobility in its purest form ~ the personification of romance and beauty ~ the embodiment of the elusive dream that inspires man's endless questing.
In the ancient memory of our mortal souls, the horse is the vehicle by which we will return to our God at the end of the journey that is the essence of our existence on this earth.
Who, then, once acquainted with this carrier of destiny, could possibly elude the lure of independence that has echoed through the ages in the song of the horse? And who, but one without a soul, might dare to disregard the unabridged trust fixed on us by our Lord when He placed in our hands the fate of His horse?
Surely the horse must be among God's own most beloved creations--and His gift of this magnificent animal, yet another vivid reminder of His unconditional love for the human race.
j.l. Hardesty
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.