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Original Essays | September 9, 2013
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Chosen by a Horse: A Memoirby Susan Richards
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:When she agrees to take on the care of one of the abused horses just rescued by the local SPCA, a new chapter opens in Susan Richards's difficult life. She lost her mother at the age of five and was raised by uncaring relatives; married unhappily and divorced; and suffered from alcoholism. While Susan is trying to capture the horse assigned to her, Lay Me Down, a skeletal mare, walks into Susan's horse trailer of her own volition. Susan already owns one mare and two geldings — the diva — like Georgia, boyish Tempo and hopelessly romantic Hotshot — but it is with Lay Me Down that she forges a special, healing relationship that alters her life.
Poignant and evocative, this is a book for anyone who has ever loved a horse, and for everyone who has ever lost a loved one. Review:"The horse was Lay Me Down, a tall, scrawny, sick (with pneumonia), abused standardbred mare, with a hostile foal at her heels and a wheezing sigh. The human was middle-aged, also abused (both as a child and in a bad marriage), an AA veteran and the owner of three Morgan horses in upstate New York. The Morgan mare, Georgia, was furious about the new intruder, although, Richards writes, 'I blamed myself for creating a monster, a monster named Georgia. All these years of spoiling her, of never allowing anyone else to ride her, of letting her boss me around....' Richards's first book is an engaging, honest and low-key memoir of her love affair with the sweet-natured Lay Me Down and her almost love affair with a fellow named Hank, with many digressions into horse lore as well as life lore. Charming and sensitive descriptions of fiery Georgia; the gallant, lovable old gelding, Hotshot; loyal friend and 'horsewoman extraordinaire' Allie; and daily life with animals intersperse with the trials of dating and buying underwear. The end of neither affair is happy, but this is a bracing and likable book, highly recommended for backyard horsewomen and their admirers. (June)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
Review:"Proof that love for another animal can alone make one human and humane: wit and crushing sadness chasing each other all across the page; intelligence and bravery and perfect literary pitch. Damn great." Melissa Holbrook Pierson, author of Dark Horses and Black Beauties: Animals; Women, a Passion
Review:"Two kindred spirits find each other in this beautifully written memoir about the human-animal bond." Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation
Review:"Should rank with the great animal stories." Ann Arensberg, author of Incubus
Review:"Proof that love for another animal can alone make one human and humane: wit and crushing sadness chasing each other all across the page; intelligence and bravery and perfect literary pitch....Damn great." Melissa Holbrook Pierson, Dark Horses and Black Beauties: Animals, Women, a Passion
Review:"A tender lesson in courage and dependence." Kirkus Reviews
Review:"Fascinated by the affection this animal accords a stranger, Richards notes the mare's courage and slowly begins to emulate it in her own life, opening up to a love affair and its aftermath and proving to herself that she will not run when life pushes hard against her heart." Booklist
Review:"A triumph for all spirits." Laura Shaine Cunningham, A Place in the Country
Review:"This is a book that will break you to tears, but leave you grateful. A stark, unvarnished, uplifting, heartbreaking, telling of the tale of life — with horses." The Gaited Horse
Review:"A fine tribute to the incredibly healing bond between horse and horsewoman." Samantha Dunn, author of Faith in Carlos Gomez and Not by Accident
Review:"A bold and sensitive memoir of what it means to open one's heart to love....A magnificent read." Adele von Rust McCormick, Ph.D and Marlena Deborah McCormick, Ph.D., Horses and the Mystical Path; Horse Sense and the Human Heart
Synopsis:A recovered alcoholic draws strength from the abused racehorse she nurses back to vitality. Synopsis:“Proof that love for another animal can alone make one human and humane: wit and crushing sadness chasing each other all across the page; intelligence and bravery and perfect literary pitch... Damn great.”—Melissa Holbrook Pierson, author of Dark Horses and Black Beauties: Animals; Women, a Passion
“A bold and sensitive memoir of what it means to open one’s heart to love... A magnificent read.”—Adele von Rust McCormick, Ph.D and Marlena Deborah McCormick, PhD, authors of Horses and the Mystical Path; Horse Sense and the Human Heart “A triumph for all spirits.”—Laura Shaine Cunningham, author of A Place in the Country “Should rank with the great animal stories.”—Ann Arensberg, author of Incubus "Two kindred spirits find each other in this beautifully written memoir about the human-animal bond."—Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation When she agrees to take on the care of one of the abused horses just rescued by the local SPCA, a new chapter opens in Susan Richards’s difficult life. She lost her mother at the age of five and was raised by uncaring relatives; married unhappily and divorced; and suffered from alcoholism. While Susan is trying to capture the horse assigned to her, Lay Me Down, a skeletal mare, walks into Susan’s horse trailer of her own volition. Susan already owns one mare and two geldings—the diva-like Georgia, boyish Tempo and hopelessly romantic Hotshot—but it is with Lay Me Down that she forges a special, healing relationship that alters her life. Poignant and evocative, this is a book for anyone who has ever loved a horse, and for everyone who has ever lost a loved one. About the AuthorSusan Richards teaches writing at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York, and at Ulster Community College in Stone Ridge, New York. She has a B.A. in English Literature and a Master's Degree in Social Work, and was a psychotherapist at a private mental health clinic for 15 years. She lives in Olivebridge, New York, with three dogs, two cats, and four horses.
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