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The response to Bruja has been absolutely phenomenal with the first print run being sold out in a matter of weeks!

A second print has now almost sold out as word spreads. I am very surprised and delighted at how much people are enjoying reading about Bruja and really appreciate comments and e-mails from those who have read the book, so please feel free to contact me via the e-mail address and if you would like your comments printed on this page just let me know.

Remember, Bruja is Published by: Fisher King Publishing

and is available on-line from*: www.fisherkingpublishing.co.uk @ £9.99
BORDERS BOOK STORE SELLS OUT!

Borders book store in Glasgow Fort have twice sold out on their copies of Bruja. This combined with two book sigining days by the Author has proved to be a great sucess. Borders is currently in stock so if you would like to order from them direct or grab a copy off the shelf before they sell out you might need to be quick! If you would like a signed copy then just ask Borders to arrange another book signing day with the author and this can easily be arranged.

COMMENTS FROM READERS:-

“I am reading the book at present and it is most enjoyable. Bruja sounded a marvelous horse and I can understand how you felt about her because this is just how I feel about Hannah” Sally Peers - horse owner

“Morag has excelled in sharing her emotional highs and lows as owner and partner of the remarkable Bruja. It reminded me of my own equine adventures as a youth and that horses continue to change my life” Ailsa Powers - Equestrian Yard Manager

“I want to tell you how much I enjoyed it and how so much of what you said was like my own experience with horses, from when I wished for one every time I blew out my birthday candles to the day I finally got my own horse and then the heartbreak of losing my soul mate when I had to have her put down. Thank you for your story - it really touched my heart

and conveyed so well the love and partnership between a girl

and her horse.” Elaine Hutchinson Horse Owner

“I’ve started reading Bruja and it is very good. I felt proud becasue the author signed it specially for me!” Emma Anderson (age 9yrs)

“An emotionally descriptive account of the horses’ ability to teach, the altruistic companionship they give and commitment they so rightly demand” Alan James Mueller MRCVS

“Anyone who has spent time around horses will be moved by this account. Any young girl who has yearned for a horse of her own will be inspired. It will touch the hearts of all who read it.” Sue Armstrong MA VetMB VetMFHom CertIAVH MRCVS RSHom

BOOK REVIEWS:-

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW & BESTSELLER EXTRACT: Bruja

by Russell Leadbetter Evening Times, 200 Renfield Street, Glasgow G2 3QB

IT’S the most unlikely publishing hit of the year - a book that fondly recalls 20 years in the company of a horse called Bruja.

Even the book’s author, Morag Higgins from the East End of Glasgow, can’t believe that her words are in such demand. But it’s proved so popular that the publisher’s first print-run has sold out and a large Glasgow book store has been doing excellent business out of it. The book is a funny, and moving, record of Morag’s time with the Irish draught thoroughbred cross, which died nine years ago.

“Bruja and I basically grew up together over 20 years,” says 43-year-old

Morag, who was brought up in Mount Vernon.

“I kept her in a yard at the back of the old Glasgow Zoo and we used to ride

along the main road, through all the housing schemes, through Broomhouse,

Barrachnie, Baillieston, Shettleston, Mount Vernon, Carmyle.”

“We’d go out with other horse riders and had some mad times. I remember

things like sneaking into Bothwell Castle and being chased by park rangers.”

She laughs at the memory.

“She was an exceptional horse in all sorts of ways. She was a professional

show-jumper, I qualified for the Horse of the Year Show at Wembley with her

two years in a row and she won a lot of money. When I retired her from show-jumping she went on to do one-day eventing, cross-country, dressage, showing. She was one of those horses that could basically do anything. When Bruja died, I was absolutley devastated. Like other people who’d also experienced loss, I remembered everything we’d done together. So I told myself, Morag, you should write this down now, because in years to come you may have forgotten it all and this will be

something for you to look back on and think, God, I remember when we did

that!’”

Her story took her just a week to write, but was an emotional, cathartic

experience and she would frequently find herself typing through floods of tears.

“At other times, I’d be helpless with laughter as I recalled some of the things we did together.”

The manuscript was written just for herself, though she let friends and family read it.

Morag was speaking with a publisher about another book she had planned on horse training but he sensed something in her voice when she spoke of Bruja and after telling him some of the story he asked if he could see what she had written. He called me and said ‘put the training book on hold, Bruja should be your first work.’

If Morag was bemused by that, it only increased when the publisher said that, in his view, the book ‘had the feel of the next Black Beauty’.

The book, as promised, appeared, and Morag did not know what hit her.

“Not only has it been published, but its first run sold out,” she says.

“Because I’m a professional horse-trainer, I know a lot of people in the field. A book review appeared and that spread the word further still. It has been a roaring success, and not just with horse lovers. What we’ve found is any animal-lover can relate to the story. A neighbour of ours read it and said it reminded him so much of his dog - he said, ‘I understand now why my dog did this or that, and how I could have been better for him.’ All I ever wanted in my whole life was to work with horses. Growing up in the East End of Glasgow, what were the odds of that happening? Very slim. Yet there was a drive in me - I wanted this so much, and tried so hard. I think the book reflects that.”

Morag had had a successful horse-riding career by the time Bruja died, but it was a horse, Brogan, bought for her a year later by her husband Mark that propelled her to the next stage of her career.However, while Brogan, was sweet and cocky’ he also had a fiery temper that, if provoked, could make him volatile. Morag saw a TV programme about a cowboy called Monty Roberts, widely known as a man who listened to horses. Amazed by what she saw, Morag contacted Roberts’ people, and they told him where she could learn his methods. The upshot is that Morag is now an expert in what is known as natural horsemanship, which relies on principles of psychology and equine behaviour to help horses and their owners achieve their full potential. You may need a tissue or two when you read it, but this inspiring, moving story will also make you laugh. Morag, who runs an equestrian centre near Larkhall, Scotland, has come a long way, but Bruja will forever be part of her. Bruja is published by Fisher King Publishing and is available

at £9.99 on line at www.fisherkingpublishing.co.uk

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