I found the answer to my midlife questions by getting back to horses. She found hers going back to school. How will you find yours?

by Melinda Folse

I’ve known from the inception of The Smart Woman’s Guide to Midlife Horses that it had some potential as kind of a crossover book. You don’t really have to have “horse dreams” to get the bigger idea of this book — and I’m glad to see that its truest purpose (stated very clearly right there on the back cover) is coming through loud and clear with all kinds of audiences. Nothing makes me happier (and there’s a special dance that goes along with that; just ask my daughters) than hearing that The Smart Woman’s Guide to Midlife Horses has encouraged someone to stop, ask, and answer, “What about my dreams? And Is it my turn yet? And If not now, when? And best of all, “If now, how?”

So yes, the book is, on one level, all about the social phenomenon now reaching full tilt in my generation — the midlife journey to revive our childhood “horse dreams.” But I did mean for it to be more than that. Much more. And, oddly enough, readers are getting it! In addition to the nice August 1 article by Kathleen Green in the Dallas Morning News, here’s a review that just came up on our Amazon.com page that made me do the happy dance:

Someone FINALLY understands! August 29, 2011

By grannymanhart

I have gotten questioned A LOT about my return to college after an absence of 40 years. During those years I was raising a family of six children, helping my husband and his dad by doing farm work and doing all the things moms do. When the kids had flown from the nest, I decided to go back to college and complete the degree I started in 1968. My husband had a hard time understanding why in the world I would want to do such an outrageous thing. THEN HE READ THE BACK COVER OF THIS BOOK. He looked at me and asked if I had read it. I hadn’t and so I did. I almost cried. THIS WAS ME! I told him it said exactly what I felt. WHY NOT NOW? AND IF NOT NOW….WHEN? I am 62, and love the freedom of learning and expanding my knowledge and meeting all types of people and am so glad I found this book to underline the need we all have for chasing that dream of ours, silly tho it may seem to some. Thank you, Melinda Folse. (I think my husband FINALLY understands!)

You know, I don’t think it gets much better than this!

What did you “get” from this book that spoke directly to your situation, with or without horses? I’d love to hear from you! (This little dance really makes my daughters roll their eyes. That’s part of its charm. And secretly, I think they kind of enjoy it — and are most likely working on one of their own.) Post your own reflections on our Facebook page (the first one to evoke the happy dance gets a free t-shirt!) or post a review on Amazon to tell others what else besides “horse sense” you “get” from The Smart Woman’s Guide to Midlife Horses.