Sleeping With Horses
By: C W Patterson

Sara, in the third grade, struggles to escape a perilous family life and her despair. Intelligent, and timidly assertive, in foster care she befriends her retarded roommate, and a young horse scheduled for slaughter. An old ranch hand guides her to save and train the horse. She marries his grandson and they take up long distance riding to give her horse meaningful work. This success inspires a horse-care products business and later gives her the confidence to bear her own children. Early traumas appear in flashbacks; dreams inspire her future. She grows through a series of adventures with her horses and family. In the climactic scene, near the end of a fifty mile ride, Sara and her two children are trapped in a burning canyon. As the canyon is engulfed in a fire storm a vision leads their escape, confirms Sara’s self-confidence, and brings her peace.