The Horsemasters — Joan Wolf

In the lush green valleys of southern France, long before the mists of time, as humankind takes its first defiant steps to tame the earth, one special tribe among the Kindred is ruled by the Priestess Arika. But a feared change is coming, for the distant thunder of hooves brings terrifying whispers of a fierce race of conquerors whose astonishing horsemanship gives them the power of conquest ... a power that threatens to enslave Kindred women, murder their men, burn their villages.

It is left to the exiled Ronan, Arika's handsome young son, to meet this challenge. But first he must reunite with his true love, Nel, whose charisma and magical talents with animals may help him master the wild horse. And as the young lovers and their band of loyal renegades race to stem the invaders' relentless advance, the grasslands quake with the sound of battle to determine the Kindred's destiny. Against the lush backdrop of a vanished primeval world, this spell binding novel tells the timeless tale of adventure and conflict, rivalry and revenge, love and passion.