Riding Barranca: Finding Freedom and Forgiveness on the Midlife Trail

Poet, writer, and avid equestrian Chester (Rancho Weirdo) saddles up for a memoir related to her love of horses and the open trail. She chronicles the wisdom gleaned from the back of a steed across states and foreign countries as she searches for understanding, reconciliation, and eventual acceptance of her familial relationships. She weaves her faith into the narrative at several points by peppering her equine encounters with reflection and recollection about her parents' marriage, the death of her father, and interactions with her siblings. "They say that the Holy Spirit is present when there are heartfelt tears," Chester writes, recalling a time when her father's crying interrupts his recitation of the Lord's Prayer as he recovers from an esophageal cancer operation. Readers may sometimes find the relationship be-tween Chester's times on the trail and her discussion of family struggles a stretch, but she consistently manages to pull in the reins on "the beauty and silence of nature" that lift her and other midlife riders. (June)