![\"Thumbnail](\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/bookbound\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2012\/05\/headnotheart3.jpg\")
<\/p>\nIt must be wonderful to know what you want to do with your life at a young age–at least I’ve always thought so. Certainly the kind of self-assurance which inspires an early career choice must be lasting. Well, not necessarily. Sometimes seeing your whole life laid out before you can be as frightening as not knowing what you want to do at all. Just ask Alex in Natalie Keller Reinert’s The Head and Not the Heart . . . <\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Natalie Keller Reinhart has spent most of her life around a
\nhorse. So it’s not surprising that her novel The Head and Not the Heart<\/i> should resonate so clearly with professional
\nequestrians in almost any discipline. It’s a <\/p>\n
fine line they walk, those who
\nlove horses and also earn their living by them. It’s an arduous work schedule,
\neven on the best of days. And make no
\nmistake, it is not just a job, it’s more than a career, it is a lifestyle.
\nEvery aspect of one’s day, one’s season, one’s life, is dictated by the needs and
\nof the horse and the barn.<\/p>\n
For the
\nnovel’s heroine, Alex, things are no different.
\nAs is the case with many horse people, her lifestyle choice was made at
\na young age. The setting is an Ocala farm where she works and lives with her employer
\nand lover (twice-her-age lover), Alexander. When we meet her she is twenty-five
\nyears old, already a veteran horsewoman in many ways–a knowledgeable and capable
\nold soul. But she is also a vibrant and romantic–in the broad definition of
\nthe word–young woman. The ups and downs of the farm and training life cannot
\nbut affect the life and relationship she has with Alexander. On the eve of a last-minute trip to New York (to
\nexamine a horse in training at Aqueduct Race Track) Alex examines her life as
\nit is–current professional and personal stresses fully comingled. It’s all
\nprescient of the life which lies before her and she suddenly wonders if this is
\nit, if it’s enough.<\/p>\n
While most
\npeople have these crises of life a bit further on, for many who choose an
\nequestrian career, one decade can feel like two or three–both psychologically
\nand emotionally. When it comes to Alex’s situation there are several pros and
\ncons for her to consider, but it’s the cons that are on her mind in New York. Her
\nplanned evening in the city consists of a dinner with an older (senior-citizen
\nolder) horseman friend of Alexander’s and then turning in early to be at the
\ntrack at dawn. After dinner she spies a group of New York twentysomethings
\nheaded out for the night and their carefree life sets her thinking about her
\nown–what would her life be like if . . .<\/p>\n
She
\nfollows the jovial group to a club and ends up befriending them, spending the
\nevening drinking with them, talking to them, telling stories and comparing
\nnotes. Most of her newfound friends can’t even conceive of a life like hers,
\nthey have no frame of reference for what an equine life entails. Alex considers
\nand compares herself to her new friends and giving up her racing life seems
\nlike a very viable option. Certainly, the hangover she has only a few hours
\nlater when she is already at the track might have swayed her to consider a
\nlifestyle with a less rigorous schedule.<\/p>\n
What goes through her mind when she
\nsees this potential addition to the barn? Will this<\/i> horse be different?
\nWill he be the barn’s “big horse”–the one that makes a career, that makes
\nhistory? Or will he be heartache and dashed hopes? This is the emotional
\npendulum that racehorse trainers experience with every new trainee. Is Alex
\nwilling to go through this again, over and over, for the rest of her life? Can
\nshe handle feeling those emotions indefinitely? Will she choose another life?
\nWill she follow her head or her heart? <\/p>\n
These thoughts, these feelings of
\nuncertainty are the same that everyone has either had, or will have at some
\npoint–at least once. The choices we make in those moments are based on the
\ninformation we have at the time<\/i>, just like Alex does in The Head and
\nNot the Heart<\/i>. She’s easy to relate to–equal parts doubt and hope, insecurity
\nand confidence. I think she’s inspiring, and will nudge her readers to face
\ntheir own crises. After all, no matter what decision one makes, it will be <\/i>the
\nright decision . . . at least . . . it will be at the time.<\/p>\n
**UP NEXT**<\/p>\n
The Drowning People <\/i>by Richard Mason<\/p>\n It must be wonderful to know what you want to do with your life at a young age–at least I’ve always thought so. Certainly the kind of self-assurance which inspires an early career choice must be lasting. Well, not necessarily….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":9456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4,5,9],"tags":[11,35,37,43,49,59,62],"class_list":["post-10302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fiction","category-horse-racing","category-literary","category-review","tag-acqueduct-race-track","tag-horse-farm","tag-horse-racing","tag-life-crisis","tag-natalie-keller-reinert","tag-the-head-and-not-the-heart","tag-thoroughbred"],"yoast_head":"\r\n![\"Thumbnail](\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/bookbound\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/17\/2012\/05\/drowningpeoplepb.jpg\")
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