The Year of the Horses

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A Good Morning America, Vanity Fair, NYLON and PureWow Best Book of May and a Publishers Weekly and Boston.com Best Book of Summer

Sharp, heartfelt, and cathartic, The Year of the Horses captures a woman’s journey out of depression and the horses that guide her, physically and emotionally, on a new path forward.

At the age of thirty-seven, Courtney Maum finds herself in an indoor arena in Connecticut, moments away from stepping back into the saddle. For her, this is not just a riding lesson, but a last-ditch attempt to pull herself back from the brink even though riding is a relic from the past she walked away from. She hasn’t been on or near a horse in over thirty years.

Although Maum does know what depression looks like, she finds herself refusing to admit, at this point in her life, that it could look like her: a woman with a privileged past, a mortgage, a husband, a healthy child, and a published novel. That she feels sadness is undeniable, but she feels no right to claim it. And when both therapy and medication fail, Courtney returns to her childhood passion of horseback riding as a way to recover the joy and fearlessness she once had access to as a young girl. As she finds her way, once again, through the world of contemporary horseback riding―Courtney becomes reacquainted with herself not only as a rider but as a mother, wife, daughter, writer, and woman. Alternating timelines and braided with historical portraits of women and horses alongside history’s attempts to tame both parties, The Year of the Horses is an inspiring love letter to the power of animals―and humans―to heal the mind and the heart.

This discussion guide was shared and sponsored in partnership with Tin House Books

Book club questions for The Year of the Horses by Courtney Maum

Use these discussion questions to guide your next book club meeting.

“At thirty-seven,” Courtney Maum says early on in the memoir, “I did not know what depression looked like, but I refused to admit that it could look like me.” Have you ever struggled with feelings that you felt no claim to?

Why do you think Maum interweaved her own equestrian experiences with stories of women and horses throughout history? Was there anything you learned in these stories that surprised you?

How do you see Maum’s childhood in Connecticut shaping the person she becomes? Which parts of her upbringing does she want to embrace as an adult, and which parts does she struggle to let go of? How did your own childhood form the person you’ve become?

The concepts of needing to be in control, and learning to let go of it, are manifested in Maum’s behavior, attitudes, and even her physical body throughout the memoir. Which moments stand out to you in this regard? Do any of these moments resonate with experiences you’ve had in your own life?

Of all the riding disciplines, why do you think Maum is drawn to polo especially? More broadly, what do you think it is about polo that attracts people to the sport?

How do you see Maum grow as a mother over the course of this memoir? What does she learn from her daughter, in particular, and what does her daughter learn from her?

What does this book say about the relationship between horse contact and creativity—in this case, between riding and Maum’s work as a writer? In your own experience, what kinds of activities have been most useful to you in developing your artistic self?

“When I was little,” Maum says, “it was not enough to be good at what I was good at, I had to be the best. Curiously, this pressure was never put on me by my parents: really, it was the opposite.” How do you see this drive towards perfectionism both helping and hurting Courtney over the course of the memoir? How—if at all—do you perceive this drive has changed or shifted by book’s end?

How does this story relate to—or differ from—others you’ve seen or read about women and horses? Are there certain stories that stand out in your mind as classics, or titles in this genre that you especially love?

The Year of the Horses Book Club Questions PDF

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"Beautiful, lyrical. . . . The past interweaves with the present in this fabulous, memorable memoir."

― Good Morning America

"Over the last couple years, as lives and priorities have shifted in the wake and midst of a dozen kinds of large-scale tragedies, it has not been unusual to learn that a friend or acquaintance is rekindling a relationship with a childhood hobby or passion. Drawing, playing an instrument, spending time in nature, working with clay. For those who haven’t, but hope to, this book may be the velvety nuzzle of a nudge needed to start."

― Vanity Fair

"A beautiful story about animals and our love for animals and very relatable. . . . who hasn't looked fine but is going through something really terrible?"

― Weike Wang, TODAY

"Artfully written and deeply relatable."

― Shondaland

"Horses play a key role in her recovery, but Maum extracts larger lessons about. . . . the soulful value of acting just for pleasure, and just for yourself, especially as a woman."

― Electric Lit

"As a reader (and as a mother), Maum’s narrative propelled me to keep turning the page. . . . Ride with Maum and celebrate her using horses to redefine what it means to be a mother."

― Chicago Review of Books

"The introspection and self-knowledge present on every page of the book are as stunning as the prose itself."

― The Arkansas International

"Raw, emotional, and particularly inspiring."

― The U.S. Polo Association

"Tender, honest, and beautifully written."

― Kate Baer, #1 Bestselling author of What Kind Of Woman

"Searing, lucid, tender and wise, The Year of the Horses is a moving, beautifully-written interrogation into a complicated, privileged childhood and its aftermath. Courtney Maum weaves together the sensory, tactile world of horses and their capacity to heal us, along with one of the most illuminating and powerful depictions of depression I have ever read. Oh, and it’s also a page-turner. I tore through it with immense pleasure."

― Dani Shapiro, author Inheritance

"Gorgeously written, wry but loving, heartbreaking and, most of all, roving. . . . The Year of the Horses is a memoir of power and beauty and pain that moves across the world like the beautiful horses that carry it."

― Lisa Taddeo, author of Animal

"A touching and insightful memoir of depression and healing."

― The Millions

"I was sold at Courtney Maum and “horses,” TBH, but pleasantly surprised to learn about the other threads in this one: Maum’s experience of reckoning with depression, plus historical portraits of other horseback-riding ladies. Saddle up, we’re going riding."

― LitHub

"Author of Touch and Costalegre, Courtney Maum writes honestly and openly about confronting depression in her 30s and, when all else failed, taking up horseback riding again."

― Katie Couric Media