Culture Corner: For the love of words

Anne and Poppy, a small horse with a lot of attitude.

INSET: Great Australian Horse Stories, recounting the tales of horses and their owners.

RIGHT: After a long day’s ride through the desert, a comfortable camp is a welcome sight.

CULTURE CORNER

For the love of words and horses

A love of words and a passion for horses turned out to be a productive mix for Anne Crawford, author of Great Australian Horse Stories, writes MARISA KUHLEWEIN.

Anne Crawford can still recall the exact sensation she experienced that spring day while she was minding a house for a friend travelling overseas. As she sat at a desk, warmed by gentle sunlight, she glanced out at the garden. Suddenly, it felt as if something had fluttered down from the sky and she’d caught it in both hands. “I’d like to write books” – it was a striking moment of clarity. Something that had been sleeping curled inside since childhood was nudged and awakened. Later, when Anne told her father about her epiphany, he wasn’t surprised, commenting: “Oh, I always knew you’d write books.”

For this successful Australian author, her first love was – and remains – words. “Even from when I was young, I loved writing,” she says. In her early teens Anne, along with a group of friends, created a horse magazine called Stables and Stirrups just for fun. “There were five of us. We all put in pictures of our horses and we made up stories. We only had one copy of the magazine and it would go from one person to the next. It wasn’t a very sophisticated operation,” Anne laughs. “One of my friends was recently doing a COVID clean up and she actually came across the magazine!”

Anne’s passion for writing led her to work as a feature writer for The Age and The Sunday Age for over 10 years. It was there that she honed her craft and learnt how to construct compelling narratives. However, it wasn’t until she had received her house-sitting revelation that she realised her true calling was to write books. Deciding to pursue her childhood dream of becoming an author, Anne left the world of newspapers in 2009, and hasn’t looked back.

One of her first books was Doctor Hugh, a memoir co-written with Dr Hugh Wirth AM, an iconic Australian vet and former RSPCA president. Dr Hugh had his own radio show and was well known for being controversial and at times, feisty. He took on everyone: from people acting cruelly towards animals to animal rights activists, politicians, and even people in his own profession. “I was listening to him on the radio one day when the announcer suggested that he should write a memoir, and he replied, ‘If only I had someone to do it for me,’” Anne recalls. On the spur of the moment, she rang the radio station, and asked to be put in touch with Dr Hugh’s producer. “It was completely spontaneous,” she laughs, “even after I had sent off my email to him, I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, what have I done? This man is fierce,’ but actually he was really nice.”

Over the course of the following two years, Anne spent many enjoyable

It's important for you and your mount to be colour co-ordinated, even when riding through the Moroccan desert.

afternoons with Dr Hugh. Woven through his memoir, which is written in his unmistakeable tell-it-as-it-is voice, are his thoughts regarding the proper care of animals, and his views on the best approach to animal rights in contemporary society.

With three books to her name, Anne was building a reputation as an author who could craft words into colourful tapestries that brought people’s stories to life. Her powerful writing and vivid imagery captivated readers, taking them along with her for the journey. Following Doctor Hugh, Anne’s publisher approached her and asked her what she’d like to write about next. “Horses were the first thing that came to my mind,” Anne says.

If writing is Anne’s first passion, then her second is horses. After pestering her parents incessantly for a horse, she bought her first pony Pepe at the age of 12. “There was a small scholarship available. My father said that if I won it, I could buy a pony. Well, I did win the scholarship and with it I managed to get a $350 pony,” Anne recalls.

It’s certainly an exhilarating feeling to ride a horse, and to hear their welcoming nicker as they see you approaching is always heart-warming. Time spent with horses can be both relaxing and restorative, and the very

There was a small scholarship available. My father said that if I won it, I could buy a pony. Well, I did win the scholarship and with it I managed to get a $350 pony.

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