“A modern-day Black Beauty. The Brat and the Bullfighter is the horse book you didn’t know you needed—a story that carries us across continents and decades, through grief into healing, and deep into the complex, life-altering bond between horse and human. By turns funny, tender, and deeply honest, this is a love story that reminds us what it means to listen, to trust, and to be changed—by animals, by loss, and by love.”—Laura Munson, New York Times best-selling author and founder of the acclaimed Haven Writing Retreats
Description
A heartwarming dual-perspective memoir for fans of The Ride of Her Life and Horse Crazy, The Brat and the Bullfighter explores how a misunderstood Lusitano stallion and an uprooted Army brat find healing, belonging, and each other.
Some horses don’t just change your life, they save it.
Arty’s blood runs hot. White hot. A white Lusitano stallion with bullfighting in his bones, he was born on a prestigious Brazilian farm and sold through an elite auction to a private ranch in California. There, human misunderstanding dims his brilliance. Rider after rider mistakes his sensitivity for defiance, eroding his confidence and trust.
As an Army brat, Erin relates. She grew up always moving—the perpetual new kid, never quite belonging, rarely feeling understood. Her love for horses was her only constant. So, when Arty’s owner recognizes he needs something different and offers to sell him to her, she can’t refuse.
What follows isn’t a fairytale. Erin questions everything: her choices, her ability, whether she’s helping or hurting him. But when unexpected loss shatters her, Arty steps forward to light a path through darkness.
Told from both human and horse perspectives, The Brat and the Bullfighter is a dual coming-of-age memoir about trust, love, and the bond that forms between two souls who, in finding each other, finally find home.
Reviews
"I dare anyone to resist falling in love with this book. Rich in serious humor, honest self-doubt, and tender ferocity, The Brat and the Bullfighter grabs you from its first pages and holds on tight. As a truly original love story, it's also a timely reminder to listen with our hearts and to find our teachers in unexpected places."—Elizabeth Rosner, author of Third Ear and Survivor Cafe
“A magically lyrical memoir . . . This clever narrative dares the reader to suspend disbelief in order to acknowledge truth and insight can be more clearly revealed through a perspective other than human.”—Patricia Wood, author of Lottery
“The Brat and the Bullfighter is an exquisitely written ballad between a horse and a woman that unfolds slowly and beautifully in two parallel memoirs.”—Carol Odell, LICSW, author of Girl, Groomed
