Diane Robbins Jones

Diane Robbins Jones grew up in the quiet rural town of Boxborough, Massachusetts. Born with an innate appreciation and love for nature, Boxborough was the perfect town to cultivate her adoration for animals. 

One of Diane’s neighborhood friends had a pony. This ignited the desire for her own horse. Each week she scoured local newspaper ads in search of the “perfect” horse, which meant an inexpensive one. Surely if she found a cheap one her Mom couldn’t say "no" but sadly, that was always the answer. At her young age, Diane didn't understand how much it cost to care for a horse, and her family had little disposable money. Years went by but she never gave up on her dream of having a horse.

Diane graduated from Acton-Boxborough High School and completed a bachelor’s degree in Marketing from Massachusetts Collage of Liberal Arts. After graduating she relocated to Wells, Maine where she resided for a decade. In 1994 she took a job in the financial services industry with John Hancock. Twenty-five years later, Diane is still in financial services, and after working in Boston for fifteen years she took a new job in 2013 allowing her to relocate back to the seacoast area.

Living in Portsmouth and working from home afforded Diane the work-life balance she had been longing for, and at the age 50 she committed to weekly horseback riding lessons. She had no thoughts of horse ownership but through a series of serendipitous events, she bought Rudy for a dollar. Rudy is a striking chestnut thoroughbred with a playful loving personally. He also has some scars from previous experiences as well as gaps in his training. Not having a clue what horse ownership entailed, Jones dove headlong into the biggest joy and challenge of her life.

Three years into horse ownership, she’s published the first in what she plans to be a three book series of middle reader children’s books, “Rudy – A Big Horse with a Big Heart.” The book chronicles her first year with Rudy as told by Rudy. He takes readers on a journey through the high’s and low’s as he and Jones begin to work together, learn to trust each other, and eventually develop a deep bond. Readers learn how horses think, the emotions they feel, and what goes into training a horse from both the human and horse perspective. 

Diane’s goals for writing “Rudy – A Big Horse with a Big Heart” was to have kids fall in love with Rudy, and make him relatable by sharing his emotions. At the same time, Jones wanted to educate children about horses. Diane embeds equine education throughout the books and includes a comprehensive glossary of terms, horse anatomy as well as 20 Horse Facts in the back of each book.

In addition to loving animals and being passionate about protecting the environment, Diane frequently enjoys her time off in northern Vermont. Diane is an avid downhill skier and travels extensively in both the United States and abroad.

To follow Rudy, and learn about "Rudy" book events go to Instagram Rudy.therudster or Facebook @Rudy the Rudster or visit his website   https://www.rudytherudster.com