Interview with Patricia Guthrie

Here's the promised interview with Patricia Guthrie, author of In the Arms of the Enemy.

1) Have you ever owned a thoroughbred?

Yes, I’ve owned two.


2) What has been your experience with them?

Two were ex-race horses that didn’t like to run ahead of other horses. So, they were lucky enough to be sold as riding horses.

I used them as riding horses and showed a little, although I could never afford to aim for the big time.
I rode them hunt seat, until I discovered I hated jumping and thought dressage was pretty cool. (in recent past years, I’ve worked more with quarter horses and trained and showed a few for close friends)

I loved working with the thoroughbreds when I had them, but my riding experience wasn’t quite up to what they required. Fortunately, I didn’t know that at the time. Luckily, I didn’t get thrown, especially from the seventeen-hand horse.

Seabee was a good horse but our bodies just didn’t fit together. Oh brother. I traded him to a woman who was short than me, but a much more experienced horsewoman. She hunted him with great success. Her horse was part thoroughbred, part quarter horse.

So began my love affair with quarter horses. But, that’s another interview.


3. Have you found them to be wild and excitable as claimed?

It depends on the horse. Thoroughbreds are bred for running, for speed, so to be successful; they have to have the drive, spunk and action. They’re excellent campaigners not only on the track but in dressage, in the jumping arena and as riding horses.


4. Experience on the race track.

Some, but none professionally. I enjoy watching the horses run and enjoy following their racing careers. When I was a teenager I could spot out the names of every Kentucky Derby winner. Now, when I have time I love to go to the track and watch every type of person milling in the crowds and through the barn area.


3) I am not familiar with the name you mentioned before, regarding euthanizing healthy horses for the insurance money. I thought you were talking about the show horse circuit, where George (can’t remember his last name-but I do remember that he was very wealthy and rode jumpers) had a horse put down in order to collect the insurance money. I know he was put on trial, but I don’t remember what came of it.
(I believe that was his brother, Silas Jayne who was a bad--an evil excuse for a human being. He died in prison, where he still controlled the “horse mob.” I purposely avoided writing this story in the horse show circuit. I live in the area)

Euthanasia implies humane. There’s nothing humane about the way some of these people murder the horses. You’ll find this inhumane horror in every aspect of the horse industry that involves money. Lots of money.


4) What’s your next book about?

Waterlilies Over My Grave, a romantic suspense, should be out in September of 2008. This is about a woman who leaves a career and an obsessive psychotic, psychiatrist ex-husband to take a job in a resort town half-way across the country, only to find he’s followed her with deadly intentions.

As I have three collies at home who help me with my writing at all opportunities, I’ve honored them with a place in my book. Lady, a tri-color collie named Lady. She loves getting into the action. At one point she sniffs out a bomb, in another she points to a bad guy, but her people don’t quite have her instincts. Lady helps get the bad guys. She’s in quite a few of the scenes.

After that, I’m working on paranormal romantic suspense. The heroine inherits a castle in Romania inhabited by drug dealers. This one has a horse in it that belongs to a nine-year-old boy. The horse wears a straw hat. I haven’t worked out her name or breed yet.

5) Are you going to continue with a horse theme or something related to the industry?

Yes. I have a mystery outlined, but it’s still in the changing-planning stage. Horses will be a main part of the story and background.

6) How often do you ride?

As often as possible, but not nearly enough. I’m working out a new schedule, where I hope I’ll be able to utilize my time better. (if that’s possible, sigh)


7) And when do you find time to write?

See question six. (LOL) I’ve been writing for ten years and even when I retired from the teaching field, to write full time, I discovered that being an author is a little different than being a writer. Being an author
entails having a little bit of a bi-polar personality. Part of you has to be reclusive to concentrate and focus on your plot/put yourself into the scene. The other part of you has to be bubbly and effervescent to market your book and meet the public.