Manitou Springs author back on the horse through writing
Writing about what you know is something Manitou Springs resident John Boyd takes to heart; although he claims not to be a writer, his novella, “Career Change,” indicates otherwise.
Boyd, a former horse trainer and jockey, writes about 24-year-old Margaret Sage’s transition from a dental assistant to a professional jockey. After lying about her experience with horses, she’s initially hired to break 2-year-old thoroughbreds at an Ohio race track.
“Everything in the book I pulled from somewhere in my life,” Boyd said. His knowledge of horses and riding is evident as Margaret learns the paces, never looking back on her previous career. “The beginning and the end are close to my life. I had to give her some problems to work through, and then pull it all together in the end.”
Even though aspects of the book are autobiographical, Boyd says he had several reasons for choosing a woman as the protagonist. “My target audience is horsewomen. I picked a female character to appeal to women horse riders.”
It took a lot of time and several drafts to be certain, he admits.
After sharing a few pages of an early draft, he was told he “didn’t know how to string two sentences together.” This would be enough to deter anyone from going further. “I am persistent,” he says and acknowledges that the criticism inspired him to read as much as he could about writing — and not give up.
He credits the reading as making a difference. “I learned about POV, point of view. That’s when I decided to use first person voice. I know that’s something a lot of people don’t like, but I wanted to put the reader at the starting gate, so to speak.” He smiles, aware of the pun he’s just made.
He says it took multiple drafts over about eight years to complete the book. Early feedback from readers has been positive.
Boyd was around horses in his youth, but it wasn’t until he was in San Francisco in the early 1970s that he really learned about them. He went to the track at nearby Pleasanton and was hired as a trainer.
Boyd has the body of a jockey. “I’ve always been small and I liked to go fast. I thought maybe I could race,” he says.
When he started as a trainer, he worked two groups of 10 horses and one group of 12 every day, unlike Margaret who only trains 10 each day. What is similar, though, is her appreciation of the horses, both their looks and personalities. Boyd imbues each animal with distinct characteristics and names. He also describes what a racetrack is like behind the scenes.
Another similarity is Margaret’s pleasure of her early morning rides. “For me,” Boyd says, “it was heaven being out at the crack of dawn on a beautiful morning.”
From California, Boyd went to Florida, where he trained horses, including at Hialeah Park. He arrived there in 1974, a year after Secretariat won the Triple Crown. This was when Boyd’s career as a jockey took off. Unfortunately, it was short-lived after an injury.
A few other careers followed, unrelated to horses or racetracks. Boyd moved to Colorado from Florida in 2016. “When I got here, I was retired and I had time to kill,” he says. “I felt I had a story to tell and I needed to get this out there.”
With some pages in hand, he started attending a writers’ workshop. “Before this, I’d only ever written a letter to the editor when I was in college,” Boyd says. He adds that he tore up multiple drafts, several of which did not feature a female main character or were written in third person voice. “I really like that I went with first person and present tense.”
Boyd says he misses being around horses and their different personalities; writing the book made them more present in his life.
As for writing, Boyd offers advice: “Don’t quit, but when you do pick it back up and then pick it back up again. I’ve done that at least five times!”
“Career Change” by John Boyd; Pegasus (164 pages)
Former horse jockey John Boyd with his gear ready for a race.
John Boyd racing at Florida’s Hialeah Park in 1974.
Manitou Springs author John Boyd with a copy of his book “Career Change.”