About the Author

Camille Matthews provides Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) using rescue horses. She is an avid trail rider and lover of American Quarter horses. Camille was born in Lexington, KY, the heart of the Bluegrass region, known by some as the horse capital of the world. She loved horses and wanted one more than anything but like many parents hers could not make that happen. She especially liked to learn about famous horses like the Thoroughbred champions and different horse breeds. In her words, “Horses have always been my heroes.” She was an avid reader and wanted to be a writer when she grew up. She was an only child, which can be lonely at times, and her favorite thing to do was to visit her grandparents and her cousins. Somehow in the course of putting away childhood dreams, Camille gave up her plan to be a writer. Instead she became a social worker and psychotherapist. She never gave up her love of horses, though, and when her own daughter came along, they bought one. Ten years ago she and her husband decided to move from Upstate New York to the Western US. Her daughter was going off to college, so instead of selling their horse, Camille bought him a partner and brought them to New Mexico. It was there that she had the idea for the Quincy the Horse Books.

About the Illustrator

Michelle BlackMichelle Black is a professional trainer of dressage riders, a consultant on horse nutrition and a proponent of barefoot trimming for the natural hoof. She was born in Yuma, AZ into a world of horses. In her words, “I was practically born on a horse.” When she was 11 years old, her family moved to Australia. Life there required self sufficiency and independence. As she grew older, she did not have a clear plan for a future career. On the one hand “Horses were like breathing” on the other, training horses was not a respected career for a young woman in the 1970s. Michelle decided to leave her home in Australia when she was 19. She returned to the US to visit family and “discover where I came from.” Given that she could do anything with a horse, it is not surprising that she did indeed become a horse trainer. Not too long after that she began to paint. For Michelle, art is a way to express herself whether through the art of horse training or the art of painting.