Work Horse Tales

About the Book

“Work Horse Tales” are accounts of real life events that occur when man is partnered with horses to get work done. These stories are primarily about draft horses at work in the forests of Appalachia, restoring the wildwood. They are also about tending and training horses, as we share their lives from beginning to end. Our exchanges with these equine partners are recorded here as entertainment, not as instruction. I invite you, the reader, to give a fitting name to each story. This collection of anecdotes has been collected over time and depicts some of the charm and delight of living with horses – “an adventure sure to be full of risk and uncertainty, anxiety and weariness. But it would also be a journey containing joy and excitement, challenge and fulfillment, with high potential for meaningful satisfaction at the end of each day.” Not all are sugarcoated bedtime stories, as the ways of nature do not always seem pleasant to humankind. But living close to the natural world and responding to its demands has many pleasurable experiences as well, and all are enlightening if we take the time to consider them.

About the Author

Anita G. Mannon is a farm-raised native of the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia, and mother of three. She is a forest landowner committed to promoting restorative forestry practices that will insure the continuance of forests for the use and enjoyment of future generations. Toward this end, she is an active volunteer with the Healing Harvest Forest Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to address human needs for forest products while creating a nurturing coexistence between the forest and human communities. She has also found a way to keep a horse or two in her life ever since she was nine years old, and has recently developed a fondness for the Suffolk Punch breed.