#64 Publishing in the Equestrian Industry with Martha Cook

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On this episode, we're talking with Martha Cook, the managing director of Trafalgar Square Books, a publishing company serving the horse industry with beautifully illustrated, well-written books to supplement the growth and development of horse people.

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Trafalgar Square's mission statement through all these years has been publishing for the Welcome to the Equestrian Connection podcast from Wehorse.

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My name is Danielle Crowell, and I'm your host. Martha Cook runs the daily operations of Trafalgar Square Books, as well as handles contracts, print buying, rights, and promotion and marketing. Trafalgar Square Books believes that with the help of their authors, we can all learn to ride better, teach our horses to perform better, feed them and hose them more in accordance with their needs, care for them when they fall ill and help them recover from injury, and above all, treat them in a fair and just manner as they deserve. Martha started riding at the age of five and got her first horse, a two green four-year-old Morgan mare at the age of 12. Throughout high school and college, she worked summers at breeding and training firms, riding, driving, training, and assisting with the breeding programs. Today, she owns two Morgan Geldings and rides as much as time allows. On this episode, we're chatting all about books and the publication of educational materials to support the growth of the horse industry. So let's get started. Martha, welcome to the WeHorse podcast. I'm so excited to talk to you today. We have quite a few of our WeHorse trainers that have published through Tropical Square books, and I'm really excited to chat with you. So thank you for being here.

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You're welcome. It's my pleasure. Yes, we have published English editions of quite a few of the WeHorse trainers. And we've actually, some of our American authors are now on the WeHorse platform. So it's been an exchange going back many years, back to when it was local TV and DVDs.

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Yeah, yeah. So cool. Yeah. Since we're talking about, you know, going back and all of that, can we discuss a bit of the history of Tropical Square Books and like the history of it, the mission behind it and how it all got started?

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Sure. Yeah. The business was started by Carolyn Robbins, who was an expat from the UK. She came to the States working in publishing already to New York and in the late 60s. And she and her husband bought a small weekend house in Vermont. And then they moved there permanently in the 70s. And her UK connections wished for her to do some book distribution. So she said, well, send some books over and, you know, we'll start distributing them in the U.S., So the book, the publishing was originally a distributorship of UK books. But Carolyn and her husband were horse people and they had horses. What has now become a big farm. They had horses there. They rode. And Carolyn started to ride with Sally Swift, who I'm sure many of our listeners are be familiar with. Centered riding. Sally was also from Vermont. And Carolyn, being in publishing, offered to help Sally write her book. Nothing like starting off with your company's bestseller right off the bat. That book was published in 1985. It's still in print. It's been translated into 17 languages. And internationally, it's sold about a million copies. So that really struck Carolyn off on horse book publishing. And so it is centered writing will be having its 40th anniversary in 2025. And we've published hundreds and hundreds of horse books since then.

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Hmm. It's so interesting. I remember hearing about that book. I haven't read it, but I remember hearing about it and hearing about Sally Swift and, and all of that, you know, years ago, like when I was in my teens, getting started with writing and always thinking that's neat. That's a different take on it. That's interesting. And now, you know, that's, that's so much more of my world going from, kind of the type of riding and training that's a little bit on the oats nowadays and heading into, you know, what Sally was, in my opinion, a bit of ahead of her time.

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She definitely was ahead of her time. And, you know, now so much of that work has just been assimilated into general riding instruction. Yeah. It was completely new back in the 70s and 80s because it used to be just, you know, get on and kick on, make them do it, you know, heels down. And there was no body awareness. There wasn't, you know, taking the horse into consideration. And boy, have things changed in the last 40 years.

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Absolutely. And in the best way possible.

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Yes, absolutely.

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Yeah, yeah. So you started with the centered writing book, and, I mean, obviously it's grown into an equestrian library now. How do you decide which books to publish?

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Well, we get books a couple of different ways. Our managing editor is also an active horse woman, as am I. And so, you know, we really know who the people are in the world that probably ought to be publishing horse books. So we actually go out and invite people to write a book where we think they have something to say or they're, you know, famous in the horse community. And then we have other submissions come to us. I mean, we have dozens of submissions every month and they're reviewed by Carolyn Robbins, who's our publisher emeritus and myself and Rebecca. And, you know, we look at what we've published, what may need to be published, what could use an update. It's really, you're talking, comparing it to riding horsebacks, it's a lot about feel and what just seems right for the time. And for the most part, we've really, you know, been able to hit that pretty well in the years of the company.

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Yeah. Yeah, one of the things I love is, I'm going to read this out here. Trafalgar Square Books believes that with the help of their authors, we can all learn to ride better, teach our horses to perform better, feed them and hose them more in accordance to their needs, care for them when they fall ill, and help them recover from injury, and above all, treat them in a fair and just manner as they deserve. So I love that. I love that you have that mission that you take into consideration with each book that you publish and each author that you work with. And so in my opinion, that really helps you stand apart from other publishing hoses, whether it's in the equestrian industry or just general. But is there anywhere else that you feel that you may stand apart from other publishing hoses?

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Well, Trafalgar Square's mission statement through all these years has been publishing for the good of the horse. And that I think what sets us apart is that we really are horse people. We're kind of the last publisher standing in the equestrian field, honestly. You know, years ago, some of the big New York publishers had some equestrian lists. They've all, you know, kind of gone by the wayside. And we used to sometimes just shake our heads when we'd see some of those books and we're like, well, it was edited, but it certainly wasn't edited by a horse person. Yeah. And I think that's really what has stood us in good stead over the years, that we're as passionate about what we're, you know, publishing and reading as our reader will be when they actually get their hands on the book. Hmm.

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That's such a good point. And the importance of working with horse people so they get it. It's the same as if I was a higher photographer to take pictures of me and my horses and they weren't a horse person. And then you look at the photos back and you're like, well, they don't look good in that photo, you know, or something like that.

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It's the same sort of thing. Yeah. So we do most of our editorial work in-house, but we do have some freelance editors and they have to be horse people. And even our indexer is an avid horse woman. She's a professional indexer, but and she loves doing our books, of course, because it's her subject matter. But it really does matter because, you know. To know what needs to be in an index seems like a really minor or unimportant thing, but it's one more thing that makes Trafalgar Square Books special. you know, really user-friendly and, you know, at the top of the field.

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Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. There's always trends that kind of come and go, you know, with any sort of a thing, whether it's educational material, books specifically, or just anything in the equestrian industry. But are there any specific trends that you've been noticing, whether in recently published books or books that are currently in, you know, the process of being published?

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Mm-hmm. Well, it's I mean, there's a huge one social license and doing what's right for the horse. Trafalgar was we were kind of ahead of our time with that anyway. I mean, way back to when we published Linda Tellington Jones back in the, you know, let's see, that would have been in the early 90s. Her, you know, body work and her connection with horses and taking a horse's opinion in, you know, into account started back then. And even with Sally Swift, we also published Mary Wanless, who also kind of moved that needle forward later. And then natural horsemanship kind of became a big thing in the, you know, I would say around the late 80s and 90s with Tom Dorrance and Buck Branaman and when they were starting to teach, which... changed horse training tremendously. You know, there was no more, you know, breaking horses so much. It was starting horses. And that was a really good thing. We're now seeing that social license has really come in. And our big book, of the last few years was a book called Horse Brain, Human Brain, the Neuroscience of Horsemanship, which is our bestseller. It's been our bestseller this decade. where people are really thinking about horses being sentient beings and actually having thoughts of their own and opinions of their own. And, you know, isn't there some onus on humans to acknowledge that? And I think we're also seeing that in animal-human interaction across the board, right? with, you know, wild animals and as well as, you know, small animal pets. So I would say that is the biggest trend at the moment are these books that are really exploring horses' rights, if you want to put it that way. Not in a PETA way, but in a, you know, they should have an opinion on how their lives are lived.

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Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, that's definitely something. It's a trend that you notice across social media, across just, you know, training in general, for the better of the horse and for the better of the industry.

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Yeah, absolutely.

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I love that we're seeing that more. Can you walk us through? So if somebody is listening and they're like, OK, I've got this book in my heart and I want to get it out. I have this idea. How do you take an idea and then you bring it to publication? And I know that's a very loaded question because there's a lot of things in there.

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But how what is the process of going from idea to published book? Well, books come to us in various states when they're proposed to us. Some people just call us on the phone and say, hey, I have this idea. And we'll maybe talk it through a little bit. Other people, you know, some people send us an entire book written. But we work pretty closely with our authors. And if we think an idea is a good one and hasn't been explored, then we work with an author. Rebecca does a lot of substantive editing where, you know, she, if someone has good thoughts about, We'll work with them on an outline, you know, highlighting the things we feel need to be brought to the fore in the book during the writing process. So, I mean, that can take anywhere. I mean, we've had books that people have been working on for years. Others, you know, come quickly. But that is really where we start. Books are usually published early. And a standard time frame would be, you know, 12 to 18 months, probably on average about 18 months from acquisition, because they have to kind of fit into a pipeline of, you know, other books are in the works and are being edited and then, you know, products. takes time so um we work with authors all the way through the process um you know design of our books also can inform you know um how material is presented um we don't have we don't design to a formula i think that's one other thing that's made our books a little unique um is that if a book needs illustrations, it gets illustrations. If it needs step-by-step photos, it gets them. So that's all part of the process. I think that's the question you asked, but continue to ask if I haven't answered it.

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Absolutely. No, I just I find it fascinating. I feel as though there's a lot of people that, like I said, have books on their hearts and they have no idea where to get started or how to get started or anything like that. So any sort of clarity on the process, I think, is always a good thing.

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Mm hmm.

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Yeah. And so we talked a little bit about Sally Swift, and I know you mentioned Linda, and we love Linda here at WeHorse. Is there any, do you have any stories or things that you can share about authors or particular books that have had a big impact on your readers?

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Well, of course, starting with Sally Swift. I mean, her imagery was, it just kind of lit a fire under writing for She was so imaginative, and I was lucky enough to actually know Sally. I grew up in a town very near where she lived and worked, which is actually what brought me to Trafalgar Square Books, because I knew they had published a horse book, because I was just... Crazy about horses since I was, you know, a toddler. So Sally, of course, there were stories of riding Sally personally and other people all around the world. Another author, Jane Savoy, was a big influence on our publishing company and her, you know, positive mind power as well as her, you know, Dressage 101 that just kind of made dressage understandable without what we call dressage speak. I've tried to think of any specific anecdotes of being with authors that Denny Emerson, who we've published three books, he is a character. Anyone that follows his Tamarack Hill Facebook page will know that Denny has lots of opinions and interesting stories about horses in his life. He's in his 80s now and still riding multiple horses a day, which is what we all want to aspire to. I mean, we've literally had hundreds of authors, so it's a little difficult to to think of specific stories, but there's certainly plenty of them out there.

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I can only imagine. And if you go through to like the authors and and the books, you're like, oh, my gosh, yes, that way. Yes, that one. Yeah, that one. Like there's just there's so many standout books and and authors and people who have made big impact in the industry that you've you've worked with. So I think it's fantastic. There's a lot of impact in there.

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Yes, yes, there has been. And, you know, we try to spread it out. I would say we're stronger in the English writing side of things, but we have done Western writing books. And, you know, we try to cover. All the different, you know, aspects of, you know, horsemanship.

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Yeah. So what's next? You know, we talked a little bit about the past and the present. Is there anything upcoming that you're excited about that you can tell us about?

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What's next for the horse? One of our spring 25 books is a second book by Tick Maynard, who is pretty well known. He wrote In the Middle of the Horsemen. I guess that was, I don't know, six or seven years ago. Tick's star has risen a lot. And he won the American Road to the Horse competition in 2024. which is kind of considered very much Western natural horsemanship. And two weeks later, he competed in the four-star Kentucky International event. So Tick is doing a new book. It's called Starting in the Middle. And it's about starting horses. He interviews a lot of great young horse trainers from around the world. So that's the highlight of something that's coming. Very cool. We have a number of questions. kind of technical anatomy kind of books coming, the stabilization of the horse's skeletal and muscle system, another book on lateralism and one-sidedness in horses. You know, we kind of geek out on some of that stuff. A book we published early this year was The Horse in Positive Tension, which So those who kind of like to dig into the horse's body and physiology and anatomy, we have things coming. And then we also have quite a few memoirs we've expanded into people telling their lives with horses, which is kind of where Tick Maynards falls into. But we used to do really just instructional books, but we've changed that up. We even started to do some middle reader fiction for children. So we have more of those coming along. So. Yeah, stay tuned. We have books planned through 2026, so we haven't run out of ideas yet.

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Yeah, I'm sure. That's awesome. When you were describing the trends earlier and you mentioned social justice and And I expected that. And I also expected biomechanics and those sorts of things. So when you said that, I was like, yeah, absolutely. I was, you know, just that that's also something I'm seeing a lot of within the equestrian industry that people are really digging deep into is, you know, the movement, the postural and everything that comes with it.

[SPEAKER 1]
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Yeah. And in early in 2025, we're publishing a book called Stable Core Training, which is basically positive tension for the rider by a woman the name of Joyce Kramer, who I've had the privilege to actually train with myself. And she's really terrific. You know, 40 years later, she's kind of she's using the centered writing principles, but she's, you know, taking it in new directions. So we hope that'll be, you know, a kind of a groundbreaking book for writing because she does it. She's not discipline specific in any way. um it's basically about body use um and uh again she uses imagery and a lot of kind of props um uh you know balls and straps and you know to make you know get your body to feel things um because boy proprioception is is so can fool our body fool us so much and that's kind of Between Positive Tension and Appropriate Exception, those are what she's bringing to writers. So I'm really excited about that title.

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Yeah, very cool. I love it. To those listening, like I said, if there's any aspiring authors or anything like that that's listening here, do you have any advice that you would give for, you know, publishing, writing, anything like that?

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I, you know... A lot of people make the decision to self-publish these days because it's kind of become done. Amazon, for better or worse, has led people down that path. I do. I mean, it is my profession. I do encourage people to, you know, explore traditional publishing. No one can edit themselves and come out with a really good book. and part of the process is someone else's take on your material. And being good at taking critique is important. I mean, the best writers in the world have really great editors. It's kind of like we're all better writers because we have a trainer or an instructor. And, you know, publishing can kind of run along the same lines. You know, going to a horse show by yourself when you haven't done had any eyes on the ground. Very few people do that. Yeah. And they feel that they can run off and, you know, publish a book without having any eyes on the ground. Or should I say eyes on the page? So I encourage people to if they really want to do a good book and be a serious writer. to allow yourself to be edited. It's a long process. Be sure you really do your homework and your research. One of the things that Rebecca and I always remark on, we frequently will get proposals where it's pretty clear they haven't even really explored our website. You know, go out there and see what else is out there and what other people are writing about. You know, don't live in a bubble. That's not going to impress a publisher. And, you know, make sure you, you know, send a proper letter and query. You know, we occasionally get, hey, you want to publish our book? And, you know, there still needs to be some kind of formality in the process, in my belief, not just sounding old fashioned. But, you know, those are kind of my hints. You know, take your proposal seriously if you want someone who's going to publish it to take it seriously.

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Hmm. Yeah. I remember hearing one time there was an author and she wanted her manuscript or her book proposal to stand up from the rest. And so she like did it in in print and she like she put all this like she tied it with a ribbon and like sent it in and like really did her homework on the publishing house before she submitted it. And they said they're like, nobody's really done that. Um, and, and not to say that you have to go and do those things, but yeah, I, I completely agree with you where it's like, take your, take yourself seriously. Um, and therefore like take the process seriously as well.

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Yeah, don't send a submission letter that's riddled with typos. It's not the lead-in that you want. And it happens. Get someone to check it for you.

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Yeah, absolutely. I've been asking all of the guests this question. It's just something that I feel like it's an important question and something that sits on my heart a lot. Martha, what is your hope for the future of the equestrian industry?

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Oh, well, I would like to see a lot more oversight on how horses are treated and, you know, and it's not sports specific. You know, we do have kind of an overview of many different sports, many different breeds. You know, from the recent international headlines in Dersage. I mean, there's equally horrifying things going on in the Western riding industry, in the show horse industry. I mean, I just hope people become more educated. I mean, money is always going to be the root of evil for for a lot of horses. But, you know, some of it's just lack of education. Yeah. you know, people don't know what they don't know. And they, you know, they get a horse and they really don't even have the basic knowledge. And I hope that will change. I think we've seen a lot of change as with the social license and the refining of training with natural horsemanship. And I just hope those, you know, those goals continue. Because You know, horses are exist now for our entertainment and pleasure. And a lot of them get the respect they want, be it over being overshown or many horses, you know, breeders breeding irresponsibly and not, you know. You know, just trying to find that one ace horse. Well, what happens to the other, you know, 15 you bred last year? We are doing a book coming up in 2025 called The Unwanted. And it's a pretty serious look at how did we get here with all these unwanted horses? It addresses the slaughter issues, transportation of horses outside the United States for slaughter issues. And it's a question that we all should be looking at because, you know, it's all looks shiny on the top. But, you know, if things are happening so badly on the international level, there's a lot of really bad things happening behind closed doors. And, you know, I just hope that education will address a lot of that.

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Absolutely. Absolutely. We have four rapid-fire questions we ask every podcast guest, and it's just the first thing that pops up.

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Okay.

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The first one is, do you have a motto or a favorite saying?

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Oh, gosh, this goes back many years. It's a task begun is half done. I always felt I was kind of a procrastinator, and so I kind of try to live by that. And it's a good one for writers. You know, sitting down with a blank piece of paper or a blank screen, just start because it's a start that gets us, you know, to the finish line. If you're paralyzed by not even being able to begin, that's, you know, you're never going to live your aspirations or dreams.

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Absolutely. That's a good one. Who has been the most influential person in your equestrian journey?

[SPEAKER 1]
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Oh, wow. Oh, this is so hard because I've had so many equestrian, influential equestrian people in my journey given what I've done for the last 30 plus years. I would say one of the biggest influences was not just one person, but a farm where I started to learn about breeding and riding and training back when I was a teenager. They did things, you know, very, very well from... grooming, to tack cleaning, to, you know, turnout, I would say they probably set the bar for my personal goals and for how one conducts rides, keeps horses. I would say going back to, you know, my mid-teens, that those people were pretty formative in my way forward with horses. Hmm.

[SPEAKER 2]
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It's good to have that from like a beginning rather than later on in life.

[SPEAKER 1]
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Right.

[SPEAKER 2]
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Yeah. Yeah. If you could give equestrians one piece of advice, what would it be? It doesn't have to be related to publishing or writing or anything like that.

[SPEAKER 1]
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Right. Um, take a breath and quiet your mind when you're around horses. Um, It's you need the time. They need the time. There's way too much rushing that happens with horses. More thinking and observation needs to happen rather than action.

[SPEAKER 2]
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Absolutely. And that can be applied outside of horses as well.

[SPEAKER 1]
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Exactly. Especially, yes, in this modern world for sure. Yeah.

[SPEAKER 2]
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And the last one, please complete this sentence. For me, horses are...

[SPEAKER 1]
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Oh, this is going to sound trite, but, I mean, everything. I have formed many of my life decisions around horses and having horses in my life and having horses at home. They make me smile. I mean, just looking out the window and seeing my horses brings me complete joy. Yeah. I don't know what my life would have been without them. So, um, you know, besides my husband, they're the most, they're, they're what I love probably the most in this world.

[SPEAKER 2]
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That's awesome. I love that. And I know you have Morgans as well. Is that correct?

[SPEAKER 1]
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I do. I love Morgans. I've had one since I was 12. I've had, um, I've had, um, red quarter along the way, but, I do love my Morgans. I like to drive and they're just, for the most part, good thinkers, sound horses. Yeah.

[SPEAKER 2]
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So, yeah. Absolutely. Absolutely. So cool. It's a breed that are at least around where I am. It's not... common. Um, there's a lot of Morgan mixes and Morgan crosses, but any Morgans that I've known, whether it's a full Morgan or, or a cross, they've been such good horses. Like you said, just like good head on them. Um, so willing, so happy to, you know, to work and to please and, um, yeah, healthy sound.

[SPEAKER 1]
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Awesome horses. Yeah. I have a 25-year-old who I've had since he was a yearling, and he's still sound as a dollar, still riding the Vermont hills. They live in and out. They have access to in, access to out. They're just, you know, there's just not all those blankets on, blankets off, you know, cold thoroughbred or, you know.

[SPEAKER 2]
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tender-footed you know it's just they're just yeah they're and they're good thinkers and they're they're hardy yeah yeah that's how i keep my horses too it's they have an in and out choice they're here in my backyard and they can go in if they want they go out if they want um they are healthier than when i was keeping them at a boarding burn and overanalyzed everything that they did they're absolutely healthier than that yeah it's Absolutely.

[SPEAKER 1]
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I mean, we recently did a book called No Bored Horses, you know, about all the things you can do that horses are contained and everything else. And I'm like, my horses are stimulated all the time. They're so lucky.

[SPEAKER 2]
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Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So cool. Martha, this has been an absolute pleasure for me to speak with you and to talk about this. I've loved books since I was a child. My mom used to always say if we were shopping and I would be like, oh, can I have this toy? She'd say, no, but you can have a book. And so books have always been a big part of my life. So it's been a real pleasure speaking with you.

[SPEAKER 1]
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Yeah, you too, Danielle. Thanks for inviting me on.

[SPEAKER 2]
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Thank you. Thank you. Until next time, be kind to yourself, your horses and others.

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