Author Spotlight: Michelle Holland

I am pleased to showcase Michelle Holland, not just as an author, but as a loving, caring human being whose love extends to her pony rescues.

Introducing Michelle Holland:

My name is Michelle Holland and I live in Brighton (located southern coast of England, in the county of East Sussex). I became passionate about pony rescue after taking on a neglected New Forest pony 30 years ago who I called Bella. What really touched my heart and was truly priceless, was the transformation over a one-year period - after some hard work and understanding Bella turned into a healthy & trusting pony.

In 1995 I opened my own sanctuary for New Forest ponies and saved and rehomed over 57 from slaughter over a 5-year period. This was so rewarding and totally voluntary and I had to raise over £80,000 ($95724.80 US) a year to keep it going. I took on Chelsea (alias Bella who is the star and inspiration behind 6 of my books. She was only 6 months old, was riddled with lice and worms and would attack any man who came near her. After plenty of patience and tender loving care we formed a truly awesome and special relationship, and I decided I would keep her myself! I had a lot of difficult ponies, young foals that I rescued who had been taken away from their homes too early.

Wild mares, and many sick foals who needed calm and understanding and ongoing veterinary care. Body language played a very important part and I had over 30 volunteers helping on a rota, this is how I met my best friend, Hannah Evans. Chelsea actually made it to compete at Burghley, against other ponies costing 1000’s of pounds. This was one of my proudest moments. I received an award from the Mayor of Eastbourne for my hard work within the community.

One of my rescues DHAC (Didn’t Have a Chance) who I rescued from the meat man in 1995, found himself needing a retirement home due to suffering from arthritis and Cushings Disease, so in November last year I decided to give him the loving home he so deserved, and he lives in comfort three miles from my home at a friend’s retirement livery farm alongside Chelsea.

I have donated all profits from the first book in the series of The adventures of Bella & Emily between my 5 chosen rescue organisations. https://www.thebrooke.orghttps://www.helpingpaws.co.ukhttps://leinsterhorseandponyrescue.comhttps://www.horseworld.org.uk and https://www.retreatanimalrescue.org.uk Please show your support and donate if you can, as they need all the help they can get.

To date I have donated £3,245.23 ($3883.11 US) between the 5 of them.

In 2012 myself and my partner adopted a 6-month old dog from our local rescue centre. He had been shut in a kitchen, abused and had half his tail chopped off. The inspectors had brought him in, and he had laid in his own wee at the back of the kennel for the first two weeks. Well, I wasn’t expecting what happened next! Poor Jasper suffered with severe aggression, I had been used to horses biting me, but never a dog! I couldn’t hoover, if I put him in the boot of my car, he would wet himself and get in such a state that he couldn’t control himself and would end up biting me. The rest is in the book Inside A Dog’s Mind Jacob’s Journal. After several behaviourists and hundreds of pounds spent, we were still no further, and one even gave him an asbo! I went to talk to my vet to see if there were some herbal treatments to calm him down, unfortunately Jasper went to bite him, and he advised me he should be put to sleep there and then. This is when I started to get pictures in my head about what had happened to Jasper and this is where we started moving forward as a team.

In November 2012, my partner and I took him to one of Elizabeth Whiter’s healing nights in Ditchling, and this was the start of a fabulous friendship with Karen Lippitt who was Jasper’s healer on the night.

Karen had just founded Helping Paw’s with an aim to help any rescue animal in need from all over the world. Helping Paws continuously fundraise, hold auctions, events, anything we can think of to raise money and to date the total raised has reached over £400,000 ($478624.00 US). Karen Lippitt, the founder can tell you more about all the wonderful work Helping Paws does. https://www.helpingpaws.co.uk

After my journey with Jasper proved to be so successful, (Jasper is now 9), I realised I wanted to help other dogs who had problems, this is when I decided to study to become a behaviourist. I detest any behaviourists who bully, scream or shout at dogs, dogs need calm, patience and understanding with positive and guided reinforcement.

Jasper is the inspiration behind one of my other books Inside A Dog’s Mind Jacob’s Journal. This book is told by the dog himself.

***EXCITING NEWS***

Inside A Dog's Mind will be launching soon on BookStreamz with Joe Gill, Leslie Ash, Kate Braithwaite, Sasha Clark, Sara Dee and more as a great cast brings the story of Jacob to life.

In the meantime, get a FREE and invaluable guide to help with dog training with 50 Top Tips brought to you from the perspective of Jacob. Join me FREE on bookstreamz to find out more! Just click on https://bookstreamz.com/michelle-holland-author/

One Saturday in June 2015, I came across another collie with a troubled past at a rescue centre. She was only 18 months old, had been a stray in Ireland, before being involved in a road traffic accident, hence she has a metal pin in her hind leg. Poor Penny had been rehomed, but sadly sent back and had spent the next three months pacing up and down a concrete kennel going stir crazy. I was devastated to find she had already been booked in at the vets to put to sleep only 36 hours later, on Monday. My mission started and I fought like crazy to save her life. Penny is now 7 and a half years old and is the inspiration behind one of my other books Inside A Dog’s Mind Penny’s Journal.

I am a fully qualified Canine Behaviourist Practitioner after completing my Canine Psychology & Behaviour course with The International School for Canine Psychology & Behaviour https://theiscp.com/about-the-iscp

I work full time and have owned my cleaning company, ‘Time For You Domestic Cleaning Brighton & Sussex’ for coming up 20 years. https://timeforyou.cleaning/uk/home-cleaning/brighton

I have suffered with fibromyalgia and arthritis in my neck for 9 years, so my days of helping horses and ponies hands on, are sadly over. This is the main reason why I decided to donate money from my books, as I know the hard work, heart ache and commitment that goes on behind the scenes and without help they cannot continue to do the amazing work they do.

I have twin sons Christopher and Martin who are 33 years old and I live with my partner of 13 years Hayley, along with our 3 rescue dogs. My dream is to sell 1 million copies of my books, half the money will go to my 5 chosen rescues and the rest I would use to set up a small rescue centre!

For signed copies, please contact me @ www.michelleholland.co.uk

Here is a list of my current books

The adventures of Bella & Emily

The adventures of Bella & Emily in Devon

The adventures of Bella & Emily Devon-Revisited Week 1

The adventures of Bella & Emily Devon-Revisited Week 2

The adventures of Bella & Emily Devon-Revisited Week 3

The adventures of Bella & Emily Continued

INSIDE A DOG’S MIND JACOB’S JOURNAL

INSIDE A DOG’S MIND PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS

THE ADVENTURES OF JASPER AND HIS FURRY FRIENDS

---

Note: All of the above books have been reviewed by Amy’s Bookshelf Reviews. Michelle Holland is an exceptional writer, but more than that, an exceptional human being. I am honored just to read her work, and share her work, her passion, with the world.

--Amy Shannon