Confessions of a Timid Rider is a memoir by Heather P. Wallace. Like many girls, Heather was enamored with horses as a child, but some time in her teen years she left horses behind to pursue other goals in life. It wasn’t until after Heather had children of her own that she rediscovered her love for horses and the joy of riding. She converted her joint passions for riding and writing into several small businesses which she continues to this day. Heather became a Certified Equine Sports Massage Therapist and she writes for multiple publications including her successful blog. Through it all, she has had to overcome personal fears and anxieties, which she writes about very candidly.

Confessions of a Timid Rider starts as a personal history/memoir, but as it goes along it reads more like a succession of blog posts. I was very impressed with Wallace’s honesty and candor as she shares her personal struggles. Frankly, I think she underestimates herself. I found her to be like the Cowardly Lion – anxious, yes, but actually very brave. Confessions of a Timid Rider will appeal to horse lovers, but also to people who are looking to overcome their own anxieties to accomplish their dreams. It is helpful to know a little about horses, but you don’t have to know much to enjoy Confessions of a Timid Rider. I found the book to be conversational and relaxing to read. Make yourself a cup of coffee and enjoy the heartfelt writings of Heather P. Wallace.

Confessions of a Timid Rider by Heather P. Wallace is a memoir about how one woman overcame her self-doubt to pursue her lifelong passion of working as a horsewoman and writer. When Wallace writes of being timid, she writes not of a fear of riding, but of being afraid to fail, of not living up to her own expectations, or of letting her insecurities defeat her. Her confessions begin with her first unsuccessful trail ride as a child and continue through her adolescence, college years, and adulthood as a wife and a mother. At all times, whether actively pursuing her love of horses or not, she always felt the pull back to the stables. Confessions of a Timid Rider details that pull in a series of short, blog-like chapters that provide both her confessions, solutions, and the wisdom she’s acquired along the way to achieving her dreams.

There’s much to appreciate in Heather Wallace’s Confessions of a Timid Rider. Wallace is detailed in the recounting of her experiences and refreshingly honest about her emotional conflicts, especially her anxiety and fears of failure. A self-professed ambivert, Wallace’s confessions take us through her first riding lessons, her experiences becoming a wife and mother, and the risks she took leaving a successful writing job to start her own business and follow her passion. Obviously cathartic for Wallace, the writing of this memoir will center her—and perhaps the reader—for future challenges. I think many people—especially women—will appreciate her struggles with confidence and will delight with her as she reveals how she worked her way through. Her love of writing and fear of writing for a public audience have a similar trajectory in the memoir, which is also quite relatable and real. In addition to the self-reflection, there is great narrative value in what Wallace writes about her time with horses, which I found informative and highly enjoyable.