“I wrote the book because I am deeply concerned about the exploitation and abuse of horses. I wanted to make people aware and gain their support in the fight against this maltreatment.”

Widowed at thirty, Hannah Bradley is a successful journalist focusing on animal abuse issues. An accidental meeting introduces her to lawyer, Winston Caughfield III. Drawn to Hannah’s gentle beauty and fierce commitment to her work, Win joins her in a fight to save wild mustangs from slaughter. Together they rescue a badly injured horse with a mysterious background. Hannah’s search to discover the animal’s true identity leads them into a web of black marketeering and international intrigue. Action packed with crisp colorful dialogue the story propels the reader to a race against time conclusion. Marilyn Holdsworth delivers a gripping tale of mystery, adventure and romance guaranteed to hold the interest and capture the heart. She brings true-life characters together with real-life issues to create a fast-paced irresistible story.

I

Background For Pegasus:
Cruelty to horses and the need to preserve our mustang herds is a huge issue today, and activists are finally gaining traction in congress, with Madeleine Pickens leading the charge. Mrs Pickens has acquired thousands of acres in Nevada which she calls her Wild Horse Monument, where she has made a home for the range mustangs and those rescued from the Bureau of Land Management, (BLM).
There is a strong lobby representing ranchers who say the mustang herds are destroying their grazing lands and using water needed to raise cattle. Ultimately, these two groups will have to be reconciled.
Several attempts at legislation, to prevent slaughter and transportation of horses has failed to pass through Congress. According to The Humane Society of the United States, in spite of majorities in the House and Senate, the previous bill was blocked by senior committee members in the house and Western Senators. However, State laws and federal judicial action has virtually shut down all horse slaughterhouses since September 21, 2007. This  has not stopped sending horses to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. An estimated 100,000 horses a year are transported hundreds or thousands of miles in cramped conditions without food, water or rest to an inhumane death.
In 2011 a new bipartisan Bill HR 2966, known as the American Horse Slaughter Act of 2011, was introduced into the House, and a companion bill in the Senate. The bill has gone to commuuittee. If passed, it will prevent transportation of horses for slaughter.
Representative Dan Burton of Indiana, sponsor of the House Bill, made a speech in the House, in September 2011, asking that funding to the BLM be cut to prevent them from rounding up and transporting 3000-5000 horses from their habitat in the Western States 1000 miles to Oklahoma to join 35,000 to 40,000 others in holding pens. He points out that it will cost the BLM $2500 a year per horse to keep them in the pens. This makes no sense when they can stay on the range for a cost of $500 per year according to Madeleine Pickens.
Furthermore, according to Congressman Burton, some estimates say it is costing the government $500 million per year keeping grazing lands in private hands where people pay very small fees for their use. He says that this makes no sense, particularly while the government is running such large deficits.

On March 2, 2011, I  published PEGASUS which contained a description of a HORSE MEAT RACKET similar to what actually happened two years later.
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