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Sunstorm: The Rugged One (Racehorse Tales)
No two racehorses are created equal. Sunstorm may not run for a million bucks, but the macho chestnut gelding's attitude and rugged good looks are what groom Merri Melde falls for instantly. The cheap claimer leaves a great indelible mark on Melde's heart in his barn at Longacres racetrack. Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FR3G4QE ebook only
The Mighty Zambezi (Traveler Tales)
A turbulent rafting trip down one of the world's wildest navigable rivers, the mighty Zambezi in Zimbabwe, tests the author's mettle, bring her face to face with her weakness. Merri Melde's inspired narration of this short story provides a thrilling and terrifying ride for readers on this white-water adventure. Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EYMZ7OE
Turn Right At The Sarcophagus: An Egyptian Adventure
Despite being a seasoned solo world backpack traveler, Merri Melde discovered a divine new way of traveling after snapping up the chance to visit Egypt with friends, staying with an expat and her countless entertaining rat terriers in her home in the countryside outside of Giza near Cairo. Taken from her travel journals and photos, Melde uses her unique story-telling ability to recount a visit there as an inside-outsider, helping to put on a horse ride in the desert (where the trail turned right at a random sarcophagus), visiting the famous Giza Pyramids, experiencing the famous Khan Al-Khalili market, exploring the backroads of Giza, touring the Sinai, experiencing sunrise in a Bedouin camp under Mount Sinai, and galloping a horse through the desert around lesser-known pyramids and ancient tombs. Told with humor and insight, this delightful chronicle of Melde’s unplanned Egyptian adventure gives readers a glimpse of both native Egyptians’ lives and the lives of a diverse expat community, who all have riding horses as their common bond. Author of numerous books and short stories, Turn Right at the Sarcophagus is the first of Melde’s travel journals put into print. There’s never been a better time for Armchair Travel!
Claim the Trick: The Royal Ass
This little racehorse has a mind of his own and is as strong as a mule. He entertains people as he drags groom Merri Melde on unplanned detours whenever and wherever he feels like it, as he trains and runs at Longacres racetrack. Racehorse Tales are true stories of some of the extraordinary, diverse, entertaining, and unforgettable equine personalities Melde cared for as a groom on the racetrack. Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GBIYVKA ebook only
The Indian Post Office (Traveler Tales)
Author Merri Melde delves into the often comical confusion and chaos of a few Post Offices - and alternate alleys - in India to mail letters and a box home. In these short stories, readers will learn how to get attention when they're the only customer in a Post Office; how to hold their own at the counter at a crowded Post Office armed with a sense of humor; and how to negotiate all the (arbitrary) steps on what it takes to mail a parcel. Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EZ7XAQ0 ebook only
Tales From The West: Four Seasons in the Owyhee Country
This book is a collection of essays that take place in the present-day Wild West: southwest Idaho. In these keenly perceptive, and often humorous lyrical word portraits of nature, animals, local history, and horse rides and hiking adventures in the Owyhee country, Merri Melde gives readers a look at four seasons of a unique outdoor life. Melde’s photos with each essay give readers a visual glimpse of the country. From experiencing wild thunderstorms, flash flood and wildfire, to horseback riding on cattle drives, among wild horses, along trails of old gold miners, and through a biblical swarm of Mormon crickets, to startling and entertaining encounters with cows, birds, rattlesnakes, and cougars, Melde’s remarkable observations and experiences reveal a life in the West that isn’t that far removed from life as it was 150 years ago. Melde’s photos, which accompany each essay, give readers a visual glimpse of the area. “In case you’re wondering, it’s the southwest corner of Idaho I’m talking about. It’s nearly 7700 square miles of high desert sagebrush, rabbit brush, the Owyhee mountains, pronghorns, deer, cows, and a few herds of wild horses. If you’re charmed by the ways of the Old West, it’s easy, when you’re out riding a horse or hiking, to imagine you’re still part of that time period. Squint your eyes into the sunlight, and you’ll see the dust from the old cowboys chasing the cows or rounding up the broomtail horses. Life in Owyhee means a life steeped in Western lore, Wild West adventures, horses, Ravens, and nature. It means beauty in every corner, under every rock, in every storm, spring, summer, fall, and winter.” Tales From The West: Four Seasons in the Owyhee Country is available on Amazon at this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838Z7C5Q
Safe To Say: The Comet (Racehorse Tales)
Fate briefly throws groom Merri Melde together with Safe to Say, a kindly, intelligent gelding and brilliant runner at Longacres racetrack, during an extraordinarily memorable season of racing. Racehorse Tales are true stories of some of the extraordinary, diverse, entertaining, and unforgettable equine personalities Melde cared for as a groom on the racetrack. Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FY9T28S ebook only
Racehorse Tales: Volume One is a collection of 4 true stories of some of the extraordinary, diverse, entertaining, and unforgettable equine personalities that Merri Melde cared for as a groom on the racetrack. Claim the Trick: The Royal Ass This little racehorse has a mind of his own and is as strong as a mule. He entertains people as he drags groom Merri Melde on unplanned detours whenever and wherever he feels like it, as he trains and runs at Longacres racetrack. Ol’ Mom’s Holme: The Witch Some horses are like people: born on the wrong side of the barnyard. Ol' Holme is bad news, and she and groom Merri Melde have to figure out a way to get along during the filly's racing career at Longacres racetrack. Safe to Say: The Comet Fate briefly throws groom Merri Melde together with Safe to Say, a kindly, intelligent gelding and brilliant runner at Longacres racetrack, during an extraordinarily memorable season of racing. Sunstorm: The Rugged One No two racehorses are created equal. Sunstorm may not run for a million bucks, but the macho chestnut gelding's attitude and rugged good looks are what groom Merri Melde falls for instantly. The cheap claimer leaves a great indelible mark on Melde's heart in his barn at Longacres racetrack. This volume is a compilation of the Kindle Singles of each of these horses, plus a bonus story on Ol' Mom's Holme at the end. Available as ebook on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PF6D8M5
Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond
Clinging to a four-legged rocket ship among the Pyramids in Egypt. Riding a racehorse on the Curragh in Ireland. Winning a first endurance ride in Texas. Flipping a packhorse down a cliff in California. Flying on a Lord of the Rings horse in New Zealand. Cowgirling it in Idaho. All of these serendipitous equine adventures, and more, are disparate pieces of a puzzle that have merged to create the eclectic, nomadic lifestyle that Merri Melde lives every day with horses. And none of them might have happened if she had not first met the racehorse Fred, who taught her how to fail spectacularly at her dream job. It's not the destination of new dreams but the journeys toward them that allow Melde, by chance or by divine intervention, to experience such diverse escapades and to come to know and love such magnificent horses as Harry--a fire-breathing dragon who gives her a great gift; Zayante--one of the country's best endurance horses; Jose--an Avatar and Kindred Spirit; and Stormy--The Most Beautiful Horse On The Planet. In Soul Deep in Horses: Memoir of an Equestrian Vagabond, Merri Melde paints a vivid portrait with her moving words of a unique life irrevocably entangled with horses--the beauty, the humor, the thrills, the fun, the fear, and above all, the love that goes deep down into the soul. Part memoir, part travel and horse-riding adventure book, this heartfelt narrative packed with excitement and emotion will appeal not just to horse lovers, but to anybody who has ever experienced failure and success in following their dreams, and anyone who has ever lost their courage and rediscovered it once again. Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JDJ9LCC
Ol' Holme: The Witch (Racehorse Tales)
Some horses are like people: born on the wrong side of the barnyard. Ol' Holme is bad news, and she and groom Merri Melde have to figure out a way to get along during the filly's racing career at Longacres racetrack. Racehorse Tales are true stories of some of the extraordinary, diverse, entertaining, and unforgettable equine personalities Melde cared for as a groom on the track. Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00G2GRS9C ebook only
The Alphabet According To Stormy: A Delightful Horse Coloring Book
Coloring is not just for kids, and not just for adults. It's perfect for both, and what better way than to color with your kids and grandkids, brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, friends and school chums? Stormy the horse and his friends present you with the 26 letters of the alphabet and images to inspire you with a mix of simple and intricate designs of hilarious animals, enchanting nature, and a few humans. Perfect for learning, laughing, relaxing, meditating, entertaining, and best of all for spending time with your family. Author and illustrator Merri Melde brings her horse, and her horse's humor and imagination to life as Stormy and his whimsical friends illustrate each letter of the alphabet. Access your creative inner artist as you experiment with color on these distinctive black-and-white designs and a unique take on the alphabet. Grownups and kids who love to color, and those who are horse and animal lovers will adore this charming and funny coloring book. It makes the most distinctive, perfect gift for your friends and loved ones, and anyone with sense of humor and a box of crayons or markers or colored pencils. Book contains twenty-six coloring pages and room for you to draw and color more!
Tevis Cup Magic: Taking on the World's Toughest 100 Mile Endurance Ride
Winner of Best Book at the 2016 American Horse Publications Equine Media Awards Every horse endurance ride has its challenges and difficulties, but the Tevis Cup has 100 miles of it. It's extreme, challenging, relentless, frantic, exhilarating, heart-breaking, exhausting, exasperating, beautiful, treacherous, insane, exciting. Merri Melde’s dramatic story of her unplanned and unforeseen attempt at the Tevis Cup, the world’s toughest 100 mile endurance ride, will put you in the saddle, gripping the reins, racing the clock to cross the finish line in the 24 hour time limit, on a beautiful, gallant gray horse. Available on Amazon here as ebook: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01G6J5EX6 and as paperback here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0991346009
The Other Side (Traveler Tales)
In this short story, author Merri Melde takes on one of the world's most beautiful - and toughest - hikes on the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal's Himalaya, reaching 17,872 feet. Melde's evocative prose transports the reader directly into her hiking boots on this one-of-a-kind national geographic-like adventure among some of the world's highest peaks. Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EYL6CXA ebook only
