A common question for a new author is, “Why did you write this story?”
I suppose a pre-writing question could also be, “Why do you think you should write this story?”
My answer to both questions is the the same: Because I promised.
Dusty/Duchess is based on a real pony, of the same name, who came into our lives in the early 1990’s just after we moved to North Vancouver Island.
We could count every bone in her body. We found out it was the third time she had been starved. We heard how she witnessed her two friends, one by one, die of starvation. You could see her muscle mass compromised by the repeated starvations.
Dusty/Duchess was the sweetest soul you ever hoped to meet with perfect tiny ears and little black hooves. Her large brown eyes, once dull and sad, shined with liquid love and gratitude as she began to trust us.
I promised her one day I would write her story and highlight how easy ignorance, and heartlessness, can turn to abuse.
I miss her everyday but I know, because of our, and other’s intervention, her later years were better than her early years.