{"id":46541,"date":"2021-05-28T23:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-28T23:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/lewis-author-pens-novels-about-local-horse-culture\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:32:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:32:07","slug":"lewis-author-pens-novels-about-local-horse-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/lewis-author-pens-novels-about-local-horse-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"Lewis author pens novels about local horse culture"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Local
Local horse trainer and instructor Susan Carpenter Noble has written two novels about the experiences young people have riding and training horses. (Courtesy photo)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

Local professional horse trainer and educator Susan Carpenter Noble became inspired when she heard from a young student that he did not read many books because nothing was out there \u201cfor us ranch kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hearing that \u201cjust broke my heart,\u201d said Noble, of Lewis.<\/p>\n

So she started writing stories that weave her experiences as a horse instructor into two books that young readers and adults can relate to and learn from.<\/p>\n

Published last year, \u201cCowgirls Don\u2019t Quit,\u201d and the sequel \u201cThe Free Horse\u201d are set in the Dolores and Cortez areas.<\/p>\n

The novel\u2019s characters are based on Noble\u2019s former students, her experiences and people she has known in her 20-plus years as a horse trainer.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is about real life. I can write about horses and cattle drives, and I really enjoyed the creative storytelling too,\u201d Noble said. \u201cThere were times the story went in a direction I did not expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

The stories have an upbeat pace that also mix in the hardships and realism of agriculture lifestyles.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are realistic. Things can go wrong, but what you learn from that can lead to positive outcomes,\u201d Noble said.<\/p>\n

Her writing explores the challenges and adventures young people have as they work on the ranch or farm, learn to ride and care for their horses and negotiate adolescence.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Cowgirls Don\u2019t Quit\u201d 11-year-old Meghan Callahan goes on a cattle drive and proves her courage and tenacity with family members and friends.<\/p>\n

In \u201cThe Free Horse,\u201d Meghan learns hard lessons as she trains her horse, Savannah, and in the process strengthens her friendship with a girl with Down syndrome.<\/p>\n

\u201cFree Horse\u201d was listed at a top pick for younger readers in the November issue of Colorado Country Life magazine.<\/p>\n

Noble\u2019s knowledge of horses comes through in the books. Besides being interesting tales, they have an authentic educational value.<\/p>\n

\u201cPart of my intent was to include horse lessons within the stories as a way to share what I know with young people who want to learn,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

According to an author biography on Square Peg Bookstore, Noble has won state championships in reining, Western riding and working hunter. She has coached students to compete dressage, trail and barrel racing techniques, among others.<\/p>\n

When not in the arena teaching, she can be found typing away on the keyboard, telling the kind of horse stories she would have liked to have read growing up.<\/p>\n

She is working on the third book in the series and is going on book tours now that the gatherings are starting up again.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am blessed to learn all that I have about horses, and I don\u2019t want to keep that to myself,\u201d Noble said.<\/p>\n

Her books are available at the Dolores River Campground and online at Square Peg Bookstore<\/a>, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. Contact Noble at susan.carpenter.noble@gmail.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Professional trainer shares stories and lessons on riding horses and rural life<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":46542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[281,639,21,44,28,1300,60,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-46541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-agriculture","tag-book","tag-cortez","tag-dolores","tag-headlines","tag-horseback-riding","tag-montezuma-county","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46541"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46541\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":86922,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46541\/revisions\/86922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46541"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=46541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}