{{Betsy}} I wish I had something wise to say other than just sympathy.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure you're not a 'poseuse', whatever that word means (see, I don't even know that!), because from what I got to read from you I think you have a wonderful way of intermingling words and thoughts.

{{Betsy}}

I know exactly how you feel, and often feel the same myself.

Betsy, just so you know, I'm in line behind Deb with the wifflebat.

You know the drill, just keep going, even if it's pants.

So says the woman who has written all of 1,000 words in the last month, all of it madly scribbled in longhand on the bus. Sigh.

Betsy, you will, too, finish. And it will be a fabulous success, I'm sure.

Sorry, Susan, I had gone to bed. Your book does read exactly like a high-quality regency romance, and I love the idea that the hero rides a smaller horse to keep himself "in scale," as it were. I would suggest you research, if you haven't done, whether Arabians were known or prevalent in England at your time period. When they were introduced, I remember reading, they were thought of as deformed-looking and ugly, in comparison with the current breeders' standard. So if James is going to ride an Arabian, you might want to have him do a bit of promotion and or defense for the breed, depending on what your research shows was the prevailing reception at the time for Arabians.

I like Deb's little amendment to Lucy's noticing James' eyes.

Okay, I'll confess that I was reluctant to give specific ages for my characters, because people came to adulthood and died earlier in the 12th century than they do now. If I gave my main character's age as 15, to relate to the modern reader, it would make her 25 or so by her period's standard. Or if I made her 11 or 12, the reader would never believe the actions I attribute to her. I was confused, I was writing AU, I took the coward's way out and ducked the whole question, preferring to infer age by speech and habit.

And, like Susan, I do describe the men more than the women, one character is large and "brown of eye and skin and hair" and one is dark-eyed, with hair curling over his collar, and one is older, with dark hair going silver and pale eyes. And a limp. And one has a shock of russet hair and dark eyes. Another is tall and gaunt, with a dour disposition. I describe him physically because he does loom, at times, and tall, gaunt men loom better than short round ones. Yet another one is described mostly in his grooming habits and dress, but it is mentioned at one point that he is "not much taller than she." Which doesn't give you a firm estimate of exact height, as I never say how tall "she" is, either.

I never actually found it important, and so my two group members' chiding caught me off guard. And I wondered if I'm being obstructionist and they're actually presenting a reasonable request. And if I should provide a few descriptive clues.

I would suggest you research, if you haven't done, whether Arabians were known or prevalent in England at your time period.

It certainly wouldn't hurt me to do more research, but I know they were at least known, since all the Thoroughbred foundations sires were Arabians or Barbs, and that was before my time period. Late 17th or early 18th century, IIRC. So I think they were known and reasonably well-respected, though a purebred would've been rare. I've gotten around that by having Lucy, in one of the bits I cut from the excerpt above, remark on how Ghost is the first Arab she's seen outside of engravings or paintings, and having James purchase Ghost and the second horse he later gives Lucy as a wedding present from a friend who has something of an experimental breeding stable.

Bev, I had no problem inferring her age; it seemed quite clear that if she could give orders that briskly and ride as well as she did and get people to listen to her, she was whatever age a woman would be in the AU you were using to be able to pull that off.

The Arabian Horse in Europe, Jane Ross Ewing's Horse Pet Peeves.

Most riding stock, IIRC, regardless of breed--and my head is rusty on this--would have been slightly shorter than riding stock today. Despite what many novels would have you think, 17hh is quite tall. A tall riding horse (everyday riding, not bred-specially-for-an-event) still tends to be 16.2 or under.

I *think*, and don't quote me on this, because my books aren't handy, that most riding stock 200 years ago would have been under 16hh. Arabs (who are now generally overbred and scary-looking) about a hand shorter?

having James purchase Ghost and the second horse he later gives Lucy as a wedding present from a friend who has something of an experimental breeding stable.

This is a great way to deal. Fanwank has taught us well.

Arabs (who are now generally overbred and scary-looking) about a hand shorter?

Everything I came to love about Arabians I learned first in King of the Wind, where a good horse measured equally from withers to nose, and withers to tail.

Thanks, Deb. I was hoping it would work that way.

Thoroughbred Heritage's Foundation Sire section.

Racing sites *are* the best way to get information on the oriental influence on English horseflesh. The breed-specific Arabian sites are head-up-the-ass romantics about it.

Maybe I should change "seventeen-hand hunters" to just "tall hunters" or somesuch. Other than that, I'm happy to say I think I've successfully avoided all of those horse pet peeves. For example, I'm so sick of heroes on big black stallions that no one else can control that I deliberately gave James a 14.2- or 15-hand gray mare that, although fleetfooted and spirited, is good-natured, promiscuous in begging for carrots and sugar lumps, and could be managed by any experienced rider.