Meadow Lane — The barn we all wish we belonged to

If you’ve ever spent your weekends at a barn that held the wonderful aroma of horses, hay and saddle soap—or wished you had—you already know Meadow Lane Farm. It’s that place lives in our memories and grounds us. The kind of barn where kids grew up hanging out after school, trading barn work for extra lessons and sharing secrets, where friendships were sealed over trail rides, and where horses taught lessons, no human could. And where the instructor had standards.

While If You Follow Your Heart centers on Charli’s return to the farm, Meadow Lane’s story doesn’t begin or end there. For me, Meadow Lane is the hub of my fictional world. If You Follow Your Heart sits at the center, but the farm’s story stretches beyond that book in many directions. While my writing interest is in clean adult fiction, some stories that linger in my mind circle back to the days when Charli and her friends were young and full of big dreams. They overcame barn drama and became tight friends. Other stories springboard outward to show how the lives of people who spent time at Meadow Lane developed. Some stories, like Bet’s (whom you’ll meet in 2026) follow those riders as they chase new dreams and build new relationships across the country.

Think of it as a wheel with spokes. Everyone has a memory of Meadow Lane Farm.

The farm that built them

In If You Follow Your Heart, Meadow Lane belongs to the Lockhart family, but a little piece of the farm belongs to each person who’s ever taken a lesson, cleaned a stall, gone to summer camp, or leaned on a fence rail to watch someone ride. It isn’t a fancy show barn. It’s clean, practical, and real—red-painted boards that have weathered Missouri seasons and still stand strong. The kind of place where chores start before sunrise and coffee always tastes a little better after morning feed.

Meadow Lane is built on the values that shaped so many of us in the horse world—work hard, tell the truth, treat horses with respect, and always put your horse first. Originally, the Lockharts’ breeding and training program was never about quick sales or ribbons. It was about doing right by the horses. Their Thoroughbred mares—like French Lace—produced foals with not just good movement but good minds. And French Lace is the horse who carried new riders to success in competition.

When I picture the farm, I see sunlight cutting through dust motes in the barn aisle, the rhythmic sound of hooves in the indoor, and the chatter of students cooling out their horses after lessons. I hear horses bang their stall doors and rattle their feed tubs. I hear that grunt when they lie down to roll in fresh shavings. I smell fresh pine, sweet horse feed and alfalfa, the sharp tang of liniment, and that special aroma of horses—the good kind! There’s always a dog asleep in front of the office door and a stray cat pretending it doesn’t want attention. It feels alive, comfortable, and honest—a place that holds memories the way Guidos displays the ‘Wall of Champions.’

Meadow Lane grounds my stories

I didn’t plan for Meadow Lane to become such an influential part of my stories. It’s almost become its own character. It happened naturally or as some might say—organically. So far, all my heroines, except Lizzie Stratton took their early riding lessons at Meadow Lane where they developed the sense of belonging, the friendships built through hard work, the way a horse can turn someone’s life around. It’s as if once I opened the door to that barn, the story ideas kept building.

Maybe that’s because most of us who love horses carry a Meadow Lane inside us. We remember the barn where we first learned to ride or the one we dreamed of as kids—the one that felt safe, steady, and full of possibility. Writing with Meadow Lane in the back of my mind lets me revisit that feeling and share it with readers who know exactly what it means to get up before dawn and slug out to the truck for a horse show.

The farm also grounds my characters. Rylie (Remember Not), June (Last Wish), Kristi (Where the Wild Ones Roam), and Charli (If You Follow Your Heart) were members of the show team together as kids. Slightly different in ages, they attended camps and lessons as a friend group. They were there when Michael and June began dating in high school, when Katie Rose’s (Many Lives Ranch) parents died in a horrible plane crash, and when Charli lost Cruise Control. They supported and missed each other when they departed on their adult life paths and are there as friends whenever the opportunity arises. Their history together gave roots to their own adult stories. Their time with horses and each other gave them the solid base to face adult trials.

The people who pass through

Every barn has its cast of characters. Meadow Lane is no different. Some, like Charli Lockhart, grew up there and know every board in the place. Others like Katie Rose (Many Lives Ranch) were only at Meadow Lane for a short while but the foundation she gained from her time with horses showed up in her later life. Rylie became the professional horsewoman, and Kristi developed a love for wild horses. Even though they took different equestrian paths, the things they learned together, and their love for horses, developed an unbreakable cord of friendship between them.

That’s why I call Meadow Lane the hub. Even stories that don’t take place there seem to circle back. Maybe a student from years ago becomes the heroine of another story. Maybe she steps into a new world and influences a whole new group of people, like Rylie in Remember Not.

My stories take a different path

I have had complaints that my stories aren’t about a specific horse and therefore are not horse books. While I respect readers’ opinions and I know my style of story doesn’t suit everyone, I disagree. Horses shape the people who love them. My stories aren’t about striving for the ‘Gold’ or the big win—they’re about the lives that unfold in different aspects of the horse world. My heroines are committed to their horses and have the grit and determination to keep riding no matter what obstacles are thrown in their paths. They are the ‘ride or die’ women, strong enough to fight for what they want, gentle enough to work with a hyper horse, and soft enough to fall in love.

Each story also touches on something in the horse world that matters to me—the shortcuts, the neglect, the loss of values that sometimes creep into an industry I love. I don’t write to lecture. I write to explore what happens when people face those truths and try to do better.

The name Meadow Lane might not appear in every book, but its spirit always does. It’s the quiet sense of home, the honesty between horse and rider, and the belief that redemption often starts in the most ordinary places—like a barn aisle at dusk.

A name with history

The name Meadow Lane has been with me from the beginning. It’s the name of the road where I first learned to ride and where horses became a lifelong part of my story. My early lessons were on a pony named Gunsmoke. I still remember the day he bucked me off! And there were other horses, Buckskin, Apache, Blackie, my own horse, Red, and so many more who live in my memory.

Nearly thirty years ago, I used Meadow Lane Farm as the lesson barn in a children’s tale—“Lizbeth Boz, Old and Shaggy,” about a retired show pony and a handicapped child—long before I knew anything about word counts or publishing—or writing, for that matter. That little book still sits quietly on my virtual bookshelf, waiting for its turn to come back to life.

Coming home

So welcome to Meadow Lane Farm—the roots for many of my stories. If you’ve ever longed for a barn that felt like home, I hope you’ll recognize a piece of your own story here.

Because whether it’s the farm down the road or a fictional one on the page, Meadow Lane stands for the same simple truth. Once horses touch your life, they never really let go.