The story of a Dominican girl, the Anglo woman who introduces her to riding, and the horse who changes everything for her. Velveteen Vargas is eleven years old, a Fresh Air Fund kid from Brooklyn. Her host family is a couple in upstate New York--Ginger, a failed artist and shakily recovered alcoholic, and her academic husband, Paul--who wonder what it will mean to "make a difference" in such a contrived situation. The story illuminates their shifting relationship with Velvet over several years, as well as Velvet's encounter with the horses at the stable down the road--especially with an abused, unruly mare called Fugly Girl. With strong supporting characters--Velvet's abusive mother, an eccentric horse trainer, a charismatic older boy who awakens Velvet's nascent passion--The Mare traces Velvet's journey between the vital, violent world of the inner city and the world of the small-town stable.--From book jacket.

Velveteen Vargas is a Fresh Air Fund kid from Brooklyn. Her upstate New York host family is Ginger, a failed artist and shakily recovered alcoholic, and her academic husband, Paul. Over several years their relationships shift. Velvet's encounter with the horses at the stable down the road-- especially an abused, unruly mare called Fugly Girl-- changes her life. The journey between the vital, violent world of the inner city and the world of the small-town stable is told through various perspectives.