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| TANYA HANSON |
Greetings "Sweethearts of the West" and Friends—I have the pleasure of introducing a very talented Western Historical author, Tanya Hanson. She lives on Central California’s coast with her firefighter husband. She gives of her precious time making friends with the horses at the California Coastal Horse Rescue
where she volunteers cleaning stalls. She says her two grown-up kids are the best thing she’s ever done, and she’s the besotted gramma of a four-year old little boy. Tanya's career as a high school English teacher helped her hone her writing skills; pioneer ancestors, college days in Nebraska and Colorado, and childhood TV Westerns led her to find a home writing stores set in the West, both historical and contemporary inspirational.
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Welcome, Tanya! We've been looking forward to your visit. Besides cleaning out horse stalls and playing grandmother, what else are you involved in? I know it's something to do with writing.
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Absolutely. Last fall, the release of Redeeming Daisy, my second inspirational contemporary novella in the Hearts Crossing Ranch series, came right on the boot heels of my western historical Marrying Mattie. Since both heroes, some 130 years apart, are horse doctors, I reckoned I’d look into veterinary history a bit.
Okay. Long ago, the caretakers of the horses of the ancient Roman army were called “veterinarii”. The term itself derives from the Latin root for “beast of burden.” The first veterinary school was founded in Lyon, France, in 1762.
But in colonial America, words like “veterinarian,” horse doctor, or even “animal doctor” weren’t part of the vocabulary. For the colonists, animal disease was surrounded by mystery, superstition and ignorance—pretty much the same as for human ailments. Simple cures were largely unknown, because even physicians had little information on bacteria and anatomy. Often a sick horse was tended by a herdsman or farrier (blacksmith) with roots, herbs, and often witchcraft. The prevailing and unfortunate creed was—the more it hurt, the better it must heal.
But in colonial America, words like “veterinarian,” horse doctor, or even “animal doctor” weren’t part of the vocabulary. For the colonists, animal disease was surrounded by mystery, superstition and ignorance—pretty much the same as for human ailments. Simple cures were largely unknown, because even physicians had little information on bacteria and anatomy. Often a sick horse was tended by a herdsman or farrier (blacksmith) with roots, herbs, and often witchcraft. The prevailing and unfortunate creed was—the more it hurt, the better it must heal.
By the early 1800’s, professional veterinarians, most of them graduates of the London Veterinary College founded in 1791, began migrating to America’s cities. Without suitable veterinary schools here, young men apprenticed with these professionals and went on to become animal doctors. There were also medical doctors who used their knowledge of humans to treat animals, and other doctors who served both “man and beast.”
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| TANYA WILL GIVE AWAY AN ELECTRONIC COPY OF THIS BOOK |
On the frontier, most animal doctors were self-taught, like Call Hackett in Marrying Mattie. He has studied science at university level and reads treatises by such as William Youatt extensively. He performs necropsies when he can in a small lab he has set up in a shed on his land.
Back in the 1800’s, books and pamphlets on horse medicine helped spread knowledge. The first surgical anesthesia upon a horse was performed in London in 1847 and helped advance animal surgery in America.
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| ANTIQUE HORSE GAG |
Prior, surgical techniques were rarely attempted on horses: forcible restraint and terrible anguish were just not pleasant for anybody, especially the animal.
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| DR. A.J. CHANDLER |
Fun Fact: Dr. A.J. Chandler, a veterinarian who graduated with honors from Montreal Veterinary College at McGill University, left a successful practice in Detroit to come to Arizona in 1887 to set health standards for the growing cattle industry.
Fun Fact: Dr. Mignon Nicholson, Class of 1903 at McKillip Veterinary College in Chicago, is the first known female veterinarian. Because of their smaller size, though, women were not usually accepted as large animal doctors.
One Important Final Fun Fact: Dr. M. Phyllis Lose, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School in 1957, is credited as the first female “horse doctor.”
One Important Final Fun Fact: Dr. M. Phyllis Lose, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School in 1957, is credited as the first female “horse doctor.”
Readers, you can purchase Marrying Mattie at:
You can Purchase Redeeming Daisy at:
And you can find Tanya at:
Blurb and Excerpt from Marrying Mattie, second in the Paradise Brides series.
Blurb: Call Hackett knows everything abour horseflesh and nothing about women, yet he's managed to snare beautiful Mattie Carter's heart. With their wedding coming up and him nervous and inexperienced, his beautiful bride manages to ease his worries in just the right way.
Mattie Carter, betrayed by her wealthy husband back home, seeks a new life with the handsome horse doctor she's promised to wed. But her ex halts their vows, claiming to the whole church she's still his wife. Can she regain Call's trust? And can the two of them find out the truth?
Excerpt:
Her voice had grown deeply serious, too serious, and her glorious eyes clouded over.
Not sure what to say, he fiddled with the cushions. The high-backed bench wasn’t the most comfortable thing, but piled with pillows, it served well enough. Soon as he could afford it, he’d order her something soft and upholstered.
Call couldn’t wait to get close to her, to let her warmth and scent cover him. Kiss her. He’d done that plenty of times and his technique seemed to please her. Maybe the rest of it would go all right. But right now, she seemed stiff, not quite welcoming, and his heart began to thump with dread.
“What’s wrong, Mattie?” He had to know.
Her forehead crinkled even more. “What’s wrong? We’re meant to be together, Caldwell Hackett. I wore this dress tonight to remind you of that day we met. I knew from that moment on my heart was yours. My soul, too.”
Despite the sticky summer evening, she wore the exquisite dark green velvet gown he’d remember until the end of his days. A pretty sheen of moisture glazed her upper lip and made it more kissable.
He shrugged against the hard back. “I knew it, too.”
“Then what’s changed? Something’s different these last few days.” Mattie’s voice trembled. “Caldwell, are you having second thoughts?” She grasped both his hands, tight, and her despair broke his heart.
“Oh, no. No, my dearest darlin.’” He draw her close like he’d never let her go. Even through her thick velvet, her breasts merged with his chest, and his manhood raged. His stomach churned the same time as his heart pumped wildly. His bridal night couldn’t come soon enough yet he wanted it to hold off. What if he ruined everything?
She pulled back from him a little. Seeing her eyes misting, Call took a deep breath. To ease her fears, he needed to let it out now. But he had to look away for her troubled gaze.
“I want tomorrow night to be perfect,” he said, low. “But I fear I’ll disappoint you.”
“Disappoint me? We discussed this, love. I don’t want a fancy hotel room. I want our wedding night to be right here. In our very own house.”
He fidgeted against her, but it had nothing to do with the hard wooden bench. “Mattie, I’ve never…I’ve never had a woman. It’ll be my first time.”
For a while she was quiet, dead quiet, then she smiled. “Is that all? Sweetheart, it’ll be my first time, too.”
“What?”
She cuddled closer than ever “With you.”
*****Remember, Tanya will give away an electronic copy of Marry Mattie to one lucky reader!
Celia Yeary-Romance...and a little bit 'o Texas http://www.celiayeary.com
