Page 150 - January 2017

I am perfectly happy where I am and feel very lucky to be able to live where I do, doing what I love.
by John Moorehouse
The word prolific certainly describes Heather Smith Thomas. She has written two dozen books and more than 12,000 articles—with nearly of all them pertaining to horses, livestock, and ranching.
A long career began, as Thomas puts it, “by acci- dent” when she was 12 years old.
“When I was a kid, I loved horses and wrote lots of stories about horses but they were long, like a never-ending series of chapters,” she said. Her father, a Methodist minister, suggested that she try writing a shorter story. Heather did just that and her short story was published in a Methodist youth magazine that sold for $10.
“I realized that I could actually make money doing something I enjoyed!” Thomas said.
Since then, Thomas has not stopped writing.
She took to the keyboard, a natural place for her, to answer these questions in the latest installment of our “Lighter Side” feature.
Q: Where were you born?
A: Kenosha, Wisconsin. My parents were from Idaho and Washington, but my dad was going to graduate school in Illinois serving a student church in a little town called Winthrop Harbor. The nearest hospital was just across the state line in Wisconsin. When I was four months old, we moved back to Idaho.
Q: What are your hobbies outside of horse racing?
A: I am not sure where hobbies/avocation/vocation start and end. I am passionate about horses, cattle and writing. I don’t think I’ve ever had a hobby, per se. My horses and cattle and writing keep me more than busy.
Q: What is your favorite movie, and why?
A: “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World” because it has so many excellent comedians and they do a great job with a crazy comedy. I also enjoy good movies about horses, like “Phar Lap” and “Secretariat.” I love a good horse movie if it is fairly realistic and not too hokey (my pet peeve is when they keep substituting horses in a specific role thinking the audience doesn’t know the difference).
Q: Give an interesting fact about your family.
A: My grandmother Smith came from Scotland in 1895 as an 18-year-old orphan, by herself, to teach school in Utah, and then married a young
man who was also a school teacher. During the Depression, she and my grandfather lived on a farm in southern Idaho. My dad, who was one
of their six children, grew up on the farm and enjoyed working with the draft horses. Even after he became a Methodist minister he still wanted to be involved with horses and livestock, so he and
his brother bought a ranch which enabled me to grow up with horses and cows! My dad also wrote
a few inspirational books and magazine articles and one historical novel. The writing gene seems to carry on. My son, who ranches here on Withington Creek on our upper place, is now writing technical articles for agricultural publications and his daugh- ter, my oldest granddaughter, published her first book last year called Basic Horsemanship: How
to be Safe with Your Horse. It is published by the same outfit that published my latest three books. So, we have had four generations of writers here on Withington Creek.
Q: Do you have a nickname and, if so, what is it and how did it come about?
A: Heb—because my little brother couldn’t say Heather and it came out as Hebber, and I was Heb from then on in my family.
Q: What is the strangest personality quirk you have ever seen in a horse?
A: My granddaughter’s old Arabian gelding loved to eat people food. You could feed him anything you were eating: chicken sandwich, Cheetos, candy bars, etc.—and he’d also steal the dog food. He’s the only carnivorous horse I know of. An Arab
HEATHER SMITH THOMAS
John Moorehouse
148 SPEEDHORSE, January 2017
THE LIGHTER SIDE