When Horses Teach Us About Hope: A Conversation with Kathryn O’Neill

In this episode, author Kathy O'Neill shares her journey from horse-loving kid to author of 'Hoofprints of Hope,' a devotional blending faith and science for young readers. Discover her insights on the spiritual lessons from horses, her writing process, and her involvement with Right to Ignite.

See the Blog Version of this post at www.valeriefentress.com/blog

 Kathy O'Neill | Author, Speaker, Art Educator

Chapters

 00:00 Introduction to Hoof Prince of Hope

02:37 The Connection Between Horses and Faith

05:17 Writing for Children: A Journey from Teaching

08:06 Lessons from Horses: Patience and God's Presence

10:32 The Role of Writing in Kathy's Life

13:15 Right to Ignite: Supporting Christian Children's Writers

15:55 Future Projects and Closing Thoughts

Let's discover great books together!

Follow for more:
FB: @bookworthypodcast
Instagram: @bookworthy_podcast
YouTube:  BookWorthy Podcast - YouTube
tiktok: @valeriefentress

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

Valerie - Welcome to Bookworthy, where we discover children's books, board books, and YA that your kids will love and you can trust. Today, we're talking with author, art educator, and Right to Ignite critique group coordinator, Kathryn O'Neill. Her devotional, Hoof Prince of Hope, explores 52 wonders of faith and science for horse-loving kids. Whether you're a horseback rider or you just love horse stories, these equestrian devotions for ages 8 to 12 will inspire kids for a whole year.

Welcome to Bookworthy, Katherine.

Kathy - Thank you, Valerie. It's so nice to be here. I'm really looking forward to talking with you about this book. Thank you.

Valerie - I'm excited too. I'm a bit of a horse lover myself. So I'm kind of like, ooh, 52 devotions about horses. I can't wait to talk about it. But before we get to talking about your book, let's do our random question of the week. And this week it is, are you an early bird or a night owl?

Kathy - Well, I have tried both, being both when I was younger. I can't do that anymore. I really prefer to be a night owl because that's when I love to read. But it doesn't work with being a teacher for 30-plus years. I've had to get up too early. So mostly I've become a morning person.

Valerie- I seem to go in seasons. Like, there are certain seasons of life where you're like, yeah, I could stay out till 3 a.m., and it's no problem. But then there are definitely seasons you're like, I think what it is? About 10 years ago, I had to decide, all right, I am getting up at five. I am doing the things. I'm going to make myself a morning person in order to accomplish things. So it is interesting how, and my husband has always been a night owl. So we kind of, I wake up early, he stays up late. It's weird, but we still love each other.

Kathy - I know, it is hard, yeah, it's hard. I tend to give myself one night a week when I'm just, I'm gonna be a night owl and just read as long as I want.

Valerie - That is the hardest part when my husband catches me reading in a chair at like nine 30 at night, and I'm falling asleep reading. And he's like, " You need to go to bed. I'm like, but I didn't finish the chapter. She's like, " You fell asleep, go to sleep. Yes. Yes. Yes. Well, Kathy, I'd love to hear about your inspiration behind your hoof prints of hope.

Kathy - Yeah, you're leaning over and falling out of the chair, right? Yeah.

Kathy - Yeah, well, I've been, I've been horse, I'm still a horse crazy kid. I've never graduated from that. And I have ridden all my life. So it's, it's just, I think it's in my DNA. My grandparents had a farm, and I grew up near them. And although they didn't own horses, they used to, and he actually had this wagon where he delivered meat all around our main coastal town. And so we'd play in the barn in that wagon, even when I was really young. And he still had other animals and stuff. it's, I just always loved horses. And although I've never had one of my own, I think in some ways that's been good because I've gotten to meet and ride lots of different ones, and I've loved every one of them. And I could go on and on about, know, Mandy, who taught me this, or Webster, who taught me that, or this one, who, I don't think I ever want to ride him again. But there have been very few of those. They're just really, they're sweet, trainable, friendly creatures, and they have a lot to teach us. They really do. So they've definitely been an inspiration.

Valerie - Most definitely, what is it? I was a horse person, a horse girl myself, and my parents thought, okay, let's get rid of this horse-loving bug by sending me to horse camp, which was a camp where you muck stalls, you got up early, you did all the things you needed to do, and every once in a while, you rode the horses. And let's just say I went when I was 10, I went back for the next five years, so it did not fix the problem. It's too defeated.

Kathy - Yeah, yes, that's good. I'm glad you had that experience. I'm sure it was wonderful.

Valerie - It was, it was. Now, kind of how did you connect your love of horses to writing devotionals that combine both faith and science?

Kathy - Well, I've been writing devotionals for I started out writing devotionals for adults, but as a teacher for many, many years at all different levels, I really wanted to begin writing for children. So I started writing for Devote Kids, which is an online program, and then Clubhouse Junior. And then my agent and I started talking about a middle-grade to YA book because it kind of goes, it doesn't cover all of that, but it starts at middle grade and goes up into high school. And horses just seemed like a natural thing. As I said, I grew up around them, riding. I knew quite a bit already. I knew it. And he said, " Let's go for it. So we did.

Valerie - That's awesome. It's great when what is a passion and a purpose kind of collide and you're able to do both because it's usually where winners are found. Now, a horse question for you. Are you an English saddle or a Western saddle person?

Kathy - I've ridden English all my life, but as I've gotten older and still want to ride, I kind of tend to use a Western saddle now just because it's a little more secure, and I want to keep riding.

Valerie - That's a good note. Like I started writing Western and then I got into English, and I enjoyed the English cause I felt I knew almost more connected to the horse, which was interesting, but they're both amazing ways just to connect with nature and an amazing animal. Controlling a thousand-pound animal is a very interesting skill.

Kathy - I think it's they allow us. They like us, and they allow us to do that, and that's amazing, really.

Valerie - Okay, here's another horse question for you. So I have been told that to call yourself a true horse person, you must have been bucked off at least seven times. Has that happened to you?

Kathy - No, thankfully. No, I've never been bucked off. I certainly have ridden through some bucks. Thankfully, none was very bad. But I certainly have come off a few times. When I first started, I rode as a child and then stopped for a while because life got so busy. And then I went back to it, and I started jumping. And one time, I was ready to go over the jump, and the horse wasn't. So, yeah, I came off, and that did, and that does affect you mentally, but yeah, I've never been bucked off. Were you? Really? So you are a horse woman.

Valerie- Yes. Yeah, at least seven times. So at least by that standard, at least. Yeah, between was it, you know, I did more show and rodeo riding. So, you get two horses that don't like each other next to each other in a pattern. And that can just send things going sideways or me to the ground, one or the other.

Kathy - What kind of rodeo writing did you do?

Valerie - I was in Girl Scouts, and they have something called Tejas Riders, which is kind of an opportunity for young girls to grow in horsemanship. And Tejas Riders is a competition team of going to different rodeos, and basically can't remember the word for it, but we just kind of ride in an entertaining dance of a sort. You call it horse dancing because they're just all moving around and having a good time. But it was, it was a lot of fun. a great experience for certain.

Kathy - Yeah, yeah. Well, in English writing, we have something called quadrilles, which is the same thing. Yeah, and I wrote dressage. Yeah, and I wrote that for one year, I wrote in a quadrille group, and I loved it. It was so much fun. It was a lot of camaraderie with the other writers, and it was just so much fun. A lot of fun. And I think

Valerie - Okay, yes, very true. That might be the name for it.

Kathy - Yeah, and I think that's why a lot of people enjoy riding because it's not just the horses, but it's the people you're riding with and working with. Most of them are very friendly and helpful.

Valerie - Very true. Now, kind of in your horsemanship experience, what kind of how do you see God in that experience when you're around horses?

Kathy - I can see that was one of the things I think that inspired me and made me want right devotions because when I look at a horse I see its beauty, I see a creature that God has created in a way that is just perfect for helping human beings and being friendly with human beings built well to survive in the wild, but they're also friendly and trainable. And everything from their eyes, which are high up on their heads and on the sides, so that even when they're grazing, because they're prey animals, they can still keep watch for almost 360 degrees. They have good night vision. So all those things about the way they're made help point to God because he's obviously their creator. But I think also in riding, you learn to have patience because they're not always going to do what we want them to do, and friends are like that too. They have times when they, I mean, they can be lonely just like we can be. Horses are herd animals. So they really like to have preferably other horses around, but they'll put up with a goat, maybe a cat. Some of them may even be known to befriend chickens. So we can learn lessons like that for us too. And so I think that was part of why, definitely part of why I wanted to write about them.

Valerie - I love how God does that. He communicates those truths that we need everywhere around us through creation, through the animals we interact with. It's not just people because we're a little hard-headed, and sometimes we need to get bucked off a horse a few times to remember, don't do this. Well, Kathy, what do you hope kids walk away from your book with?

Kathy - Well, this age is, you know, the middle grade to high school. They are so busy and yet so vulnerable at that time, especially these days with all the things coming at them, that I hope that the facts and the fun facts and the information will kind of grab their attention and help them slow down a little bit to enjoy that. But then that will lead them, you know, to some more insights about the fact that even though my life may be hard, lots of times it is, God is with them. And I've often used in the book the analogy of life as a trail ride. But God is always there with us on that trail ride, even though some days it's sunny and happy, other days it's not, but God's always there. So I hope they'll take that away from it.

Valerie - I love that analogy that life is a trail ride because yes, you never know what's going to come across the path and you never know if you're going on a new trail, you never know exactly how it's going to twist and turn and up and down or how the horse is going to react to certain things. And so it is a very good analogy to the Christian walk for sure. Now, Kathy, said you've been a teacher. Did you always want to be a writer, or was a teacher first and foremost?

Kathy - A teacher was definitely first. That was my major in college, along with art and psychology. So I've taught for, probably, I hate to say it, because I couldn't tell you. Well, my hair already tells you what age I am, but about 30 years old. And I've taught in Christian schools, some years in public school, some a little bit in homeschool groups, and certainly in churches because my husband's a pastor. And I've always enjoyed it. Most of my, well, not most of it, but some of my teaching was classroom teaching. I taught kindergarten, fourth grade, and middle school. And then we moved back to New York, after we'd been somewhere else for a while. And they saw all the art in my resume from college. And I hadn't thought about it really. And they said, " We need an art teacher. And I said, well, I hadn't really thought about teaching art. But I said, I'll pray about it. And I did. And so, probably for the last 18 years or so, I've been teaching art at all different levels. And I have just loved it. So the teaching definitely came first.

Valerie - Well, what made that turn from teaching to writing?

Kathy - I'm not sure. I think it was always in the back of my mind. Excuse me. I've always loved reading, and I just started writing here and there, a little free time now and then, and it just kind of grew from there. Yeah. I started with a story about Winslow Homer. He's an American artist, and he lived and worked in the town where I grew up before I was born. And I just started writing some stories about him and his dog. He had a really cute dog. And kind of went from there. That never went anywhere. But anyway, you know that. You're an author too. So you know some stuff's just down in the drawer, really going anywhere right now. Maybe someday.

Valerie - Yes, there are plenty of files that are, if anyone needs something, I could maybe pull from. If someone needs Winslow Homer, you've got some material for them. That's very fun. Now,

Kathy - So it was writing art.

Valerie- Yeah, that is neat. It's one of those fun things to think about how you just kind of fall into something that God naturally put in you. And whether it's teaching and writing, because you do have done a lot of devotionals and kind of a lot of really fun things with Clubhouse Junior and Devote Kids. It just seems like a natural progression for you. It's like it's the same as teaching. You're just teaching with words rather than in person.

Kathy – I think so. I'm not a fiction writer, but the desire to impart some information and then have that point to God has just kind of been in there.

Valerie - Definitely, especially as a pastor's wife too. I'm sure you've seen lots of God moments that you could draw from. Now, Kathy, what is your favorite book other than the Bible?

Kathy - Probably Lord of the Rings.

Valerie -Any particular one of the whole trilogy, or just the Lord of the Rings, the first book?

Kathy - The whole trilogy, yeah, it was kind of interesting. I ran across it while we were, my husband and I were in college together, and I knew the type of writing that he liked. It wasn't what I liked at the time. And I thought, oh, I think he's going to like it. And I'd never heard about it before. And at that time, we were not Christians. And I gave it to him as a gift. I think he's read it probably 30, 40 times. And the first time or two, he read it, not even being a Christian. But I haven't read it that many times, but I really enjoy it too. And now that we have become Christians, you have just begun to see the world that he built, which just really shows the gospel.

Valerie - That is definitely true of the Lord of the Rings series is you can read it as a non-Christian and still enjoy all the richness of it. But as a Christian, there's definitely more layers to unravel that just make you, you know, stand in awe of what Jare or RR Tolkien did with his story. It's a good reminder to writers that, you know, it took him 17 years to write this thing. like, okay, okay. If that piece of quality art could take 17 years, then I can keep going on whatever I'm working on.

Kathy - Yeah, apparently, you used to be a little bit jealous of the fact that C.S. Lewis could write so quickly. I understand because I'm not a fast writer, so I understand that. Look at friends and think, I can't write that fast at all.

Valerie - Now you've been involved in Right to Ignite for quite a few years. Can you tell us a little bit about that organization?

Kathy - Sure. It's an organization. I was not there at the founding of it, but I have been a part of it for several years now and really feel like I've found my tribe, as they say. They are Christians who write for children. So it's a group that is really trying to encourage and educate those writers and help them to further their careers in whatever direction they're going. So it's not just YA or board books, but it's kind of the whole gamut of board books to YA. We have critique groups online, and everybody really loves them. And I enjoy helping people get connected to them. We have a newsletter, which we have twice a year, and we have a masterclass that's online. They just did one recently that's all about

Adding humor to your writing, which kids appreciate. And I probably need more of it because I'm not a super humorous person. But it's beginning to grow even more. I think more people are discovering it and finding out that ability, that opportunity to be with other writers who are like-minded, writing for children, and are Christians.

Valerie - Writing could definitely be an isolating goal, hobby, or profession. And so it is great to have other people to encourage you and help you see what's working and what's not, because you can get lost in your own head a lot. Well, Kathy, what can we expect next from you?

Kathy - Well, I'm continuing to write for Clubhouse Junior, which I really enjoy. But we're in the exploration stage at this point for a new middle-grade book that might be somewhat similar to Whiff Prince, but on a different topic. But we're still in the exploration stage of that.

Valerie - Very fun. Well, where can people find out more about you and your book?

Kathy - They can go to my website, KathrynONeill.com. They can go to Tyndale, TyndaleHouse.com, and then there's TyndaleKids.com, which is, they're the ones who actually are working on and releasing hoof prints. And then Amazon, of course. Those are some good sites.

Valerie - All good places. I've really been surprised by the fact that you can follow authors on Amazon now. And that's been really neat to see so-and-so coming up with a new book. I'm like, yay. So it's happy mail because you get enough spam in your email. It's nice to hear, yay, some good news. There's a new book. Too fun. Well, we'll make sure to have all those links in the show notes for people to find easily. Well, thank you so much for being with me today, Kathy.

Kathy - Thank you. It's been enjoyable to talk to you, Valerie.

Valerie - Lots of fun. And thank you for joining Cathy and me on this episode of the Book Worthy Podcast. Hit follow wherever you're listening and leave a review to help Christian families discover more great books your kids will love and you can trust. The blog version of this episode can be found over at ValerieFentress.com slash blog. Happy reading.