Rider and writer: Equestrian's life, career, novel guided by love for horses | Kennerly

By the time accomplished equestrian Regina Kear Reid settled in Cocoa in 2010, she'd had enough life experiences to, well, write a book.

She'd been to riding school in England, graduated from college in the United States, forged a career in equine studies and, for decades, taught riding. She had traveled the world, savoring one adventure after another.

So recently, Reid, a longtime poet and freelance writer, dug in and wrote a novel.

"Heels Down Hall: Adventures of a Working Pupil" is based on the real-life letters she wrote home from the riding school — Heather Hall in Heather, Leicestershire — where she was enrolled from 1967 to 1968.

She passed the British Horse Society's Assistant Instructor's examination, which opened the door to her career with horses.

And penning the book — whose 17-year-old main character, Alexandra Goodwin, "resembles me in many ways," Reid said — finds the author living out a dream as a writer.

"Since it was going to be fictionalized, I thought I would just make it into a novel," said Reid.

"I hope that through my lighthearted story in 'Heels Down Hall,' I can inspire others to pursue their dreams, equestrian or otherwise — even the dream of telling your story when you are over 70. I'd like to help promote, or raise awareness of, and hopefully, raise some funds for, some selected equine-related charities."

Her childhood experiences alone tell a global story.

Reid's family lived in western Pennsylvania until 1960, and as a pre-teen, that's where she got the pony she'd wanted "ever since I could say the word pony," she said.

Then, her father, Jack E. Kear, took a job as transmitter supervisor with Radio Voice of the Gospel, a Lutheran World Federation project, to transmit news and and educational and Christian programming from the high plains of Ethiopia outside Addis Ababa.

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"These were the days when transistor radio was the lifeline to the outside world, in a country which, outside of the cities, was mostly without electricity," she said.

"Living in East Africa during my middle school years was an amazing adventure and my family took the opportunity to travel throughout the region. After our tour of duty, my mother, Zelda, insisted  we travel back to the U.S. via Asia and Hawaii. Upon returning to the USA, my father joined Voice of America and moved our family to North Carolina."

Her parents insisted she go to college although "I was keen to pursue a professional equestrian career," she said.

During college, she taught riding lessons at one stable and trained horses at another, as part of her graduate thesis for a master's degree in physical education administration from East Carolina University.

"In the 1960s in the U.S., there were very few colleges or universities with equine programs, and the ones that existed were mostly associated with veterinary medicine," she said.

Her abiding love for horses guided her personal and professional path: "Horses are beautiful, majestic animals and they bring great joy to many people for different reasons," Reid said.

As part of her master's thesis, she set up and taught therapeutic riding program at a local stable. Later, from 1978 to 1993, she was the director of equine studies at Pace University in Pleasantville, New York.

Post-Pace, Reid and her husband, Robert, moved to his farm in northeast Pennsylvania, where they owned a tack shop, boarded horses, and raised ponies.

After Robert's death, the Space Coast's "tropic beauty" beckoned on a trip to visit friends, and she settled near the Indian River.

She thought, she said, she was "finished with horses."

In Brevard County, she joined art leagues and the Space Coast Writers Guild; volunteered with Space Coast Rolling Readers and read to children at Endeavour Elementary for five years prior to the pandemic.

Still, she "kept drifting back to horses ... once bitten by the 'horse bug,' you can never really give it up," Reid said.

That led her to volunteering at Harmony Farms, a therapeutic riding center now located in Cocoa, when it was still in Viera.

She has enjoyed the wonder of exploring the countryside from the top of a horse and the thrill of winning prizes at major horse shows but sometimes, she said "the joy comes from sharing your passion with others."

Say, for example, when she was leading a horse for a young man who came every week to ride at Harmony Farms in a wheelchair. He had to be lifted on to the horse, and was so weak he could barely hold his head up.

The boy never spoke.

His reaction said everything.

"It was a particularly warm day and my feet were sore. I wondered if he was having fun," she said.

"I said to him, "Look at you! You are riding this beautiful horse." His face lit up and he lifted his head and gave me a broad smile. I forgot I was hot and tired."

"Heels Down Hall" is available at www.hoofbeatsandhorsetales.com or on Amazon.

Contact Kennerly at bkennerly@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bybrittkennerly Facebook: /bybrittkennerly. Local journalism like this needs your support. Consider subscribing to your local newspaper. See our current offers.

This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Cocoa equestrian's life guided by love for horses | Kennerly