Go for a ride with horses and the heart every other Saturday
If you DO subscribe (and THANK YOU!) make sure to check for love and equines in the untidy paddocks of spam and other filters and move When I Talk About Love, I Talk about Horses into your primary inbox.
My name is Katrina Hays.
I am a writer and a rider, and I am fascinated by equines.
(“Hi, Katrina…”)
When I Talk About Love, I Talk About Horses is a newsletter about my passion for combining horses, humans, stories, and ideas—using love as guidepost and glue.
I write to explore both my own relationship with horses and humanity’s 6,000-year engagement with Equus caballus.
I ride to connect with the most generous species on the planet.
I Substack to connect with you, the ones who love horses and good writing.
Who Am I?
Poet: I’ve published a lot of poetry, mostly in literary journals few people have heard of, and my work has been anthologized and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Some of my best poems are about…horses.
Freelance Writer: I’ve published in SAIL, Scuba Diving, Trail Runner and a lot of other magazines. I’ve done hundreds of feature stories for small newspapers on topics ranging from knife sharpening to garden feng shui to horse breed profiles. I also was a writer and editor for IBM. Now I have a series for Eclectic Horseman Magazine, where I identify and interview people I believe are paradigm-shifters in the horsehuman world, that is, people who are helping humans be better for our horses and ourselves.
Lucky: I had the great good fortune to work with a Welsh Cob/Thoroughbred named Finney who taught me the beginnings of the fine art of dressage as well as secrets of the horse heart. He made me happy in a way only an equine can, and I was blessed every day I get to spend time with him. (Finn is the good-looking buckskin in the photos above.)
What You’ll Get for Subscribing
When I Talk About Love, I Talk About Horses will be delivered to your inbox twice a month on Saturdays—FREE OF CHARGE FOREVER. (I may miss the occasional Saturday due to travel or other work. I will let you know, promise.)
Like a horsehair lariat in the hands of a trick roper, the writing will encompass me, you, equines, passion for equines, and possibly that mysterious something that happens between writer and reader which creates connection without touch, taste, or smell. It’s ephemeral. It’s magic.
I hope you and I can ride together on words.
Join the Prodigious Pledger Herd
Yes, yes, I did just shout at you in all caps up there: FREE OF CHARGE FOREVER. And, no, I’m not doing a sneaky little spin-and-buck on you. I will never charge for WITALITAH. However…
If you like the writing, if you like the topic, if you find value in this Substack, and if you want to support the species that have helped humans without demanding anything in return from us, here is my pledge to you:
If you pledge your hard-earned money to support When I Talk About Love, I Talk About Horses, I will donate every single penny of your pledge to an organization that helps horses.
· I will put up a post each December (beginning in 2025), asking for feedback as to which organization we should donate to.
· I will be transparent about how much money we have raised and to whom we have donated. [In 2025 we donated $2000 to Mustangs to the Rescue.]
· And, everyone in the Prodigious Pledger Herd will receive longer bits of writing from me, videos, and group chats that only the Prodigious Pledgers will have access to. Tell me what you want and I’ll try to meet it!
Listen!
I believe in reading aloud and I like listening to writing. To that end, I will always record my Substack posts in audio form so if you want, you can listen instead of read.
Note: In order to listen to dulcet tones and deathless prose, you’ll need to have the Substack post open in your web browser, or get the Substack app.
THANK YOU!
I hope you find a like-minded human herd in these pages. Thank you for reading or listening—
TO THE HORSE!
