Blind Horse Bluff: A Novel by C Ellen Culverwell

"...a thoughtful, uplifting story, highly recommended for young adults" The Midwest Book Review

“Horses are just like people” says Claire Westfield, otherwise known as The Horse Lady. Young Maggie Forrester, an orphan who lives with her grandfather, and Claire, who she helps in her work with abused horses, spend their summer at St. Michael’s, a facility for the blind and handicapped. Here they have to deal with damaged teens as well as horses.

They have students who have a variety of disabilities and who cope in a variety of ways. All appreciate the activity and confidence that riding can give them. All except Jeremy who is blind, privileged, emotionally deprived, resistant and uncooperative. Claire has the idea that a blind horse could help him…especially if Jeremy is not aware that the horse is blind.
Everyone, including Claire and Maggie, has much to learn in this sequel to C Ellen Culverwell’s first novel, The Horse Lady.

C. Ellen Culverwell and her daughter, Hayley (who designs the covers for the books(, live on adjoining farms in northern New York. In her youth, C. Ellen Culverwell was a competition rider but now is content to train her daughter in Hunter/Jumpers. Like the character of Maggie, her daughter, Hayley, lost her father when she was very young and mother and daughter used the rehabilitation of horses to bond, and to fill a void in their lives.

Reviews:

The Midwest Book Review: Blind Horse Bluff is a thoughtful, uplifting story, highly recommended for young adults.

Deborah A. Montesanti, former deputy sheriff serving also in community outreach programs: Countless times I have seen the aftermath of what death, divorce and custody hearings can do to both children and adults. I appreciate the way those situations are handled in Ms. Culverwell’s novels. The characters deal with them in a direct and positive manner. If there is one message I take from her work it is: family are the people who love you, not necessarily the ones you are related to.