Chosen by a Horse: a memoir (Hardcover)

by Susan Richards (Author) "IT WAS A cold March day and the horse paddock at the SPCA was full of mud..." (more)
Key Phrases: neck warmer, bran mash, eating hay, Lay Me Down, Sweet Revenge, Current Squeeze (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
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)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
The lessons of love come in many different forms. For Richards, adopting a maltreated horse impacted her life in ways she could not have forseen. Richards adopts an emaciated mare and her foal, overriding the small voice telling her that she already has three horses to care for and a herniated disk. Her experience with her new charges proves profoundly instructive in terms of how love can foster growth of the human spirit and help in overcoming pain and loss. The abused mare, Lay Me Down, proves to be one of those rare creatures that remain gentle despite years of mistreatment, responding profoundly to the kind treatment that is part of everyday life for Richards' animals. 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. Pamela Crossland
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Soho Press (June 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1569474192
• ISBN-13: 978-1569474198
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #125,218 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

101 of 103 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It went straight into my heart...A delicious book, June 28, 2006

By	Jan R. Schulman - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I wasn't really sure of what to expect when I started this book. Something about the review grabbed me and I ordered it. But when I began reading it, I found myself transported into Susan Richards' life. I could see myself in her and found the feelings she had. Maybe it's because I lost my mother when I was young (along with my 3 siblings). But mostly it's because I am a lover of life, of all life, and especially animals. And I fell in love with all of her horses. This book made me feel clean and it was absolutely delicious to read. At Chapter 17 I began crying and fortunately I was alone in the house because I sobbed my way to the end, making loud sloppy noises and feeling free to just empty the box of kleenex by my side. But the overall experience of the book was the joy of life. You could feel and smell and hear and see all of the senses of life that were being described. It was a wonderful experience and I am grateful to Amazon for recommending it to me, and to Susan Richards for writing it.

65 of 66 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Beautiful Book I'll Read Again and Again, June 24, 2006

By	Lisa Ann Paul "FriscoBookworm" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is one of those rare books of prose that read like poetry. A beautiful story of a woman who rescues a horse and, surprisingly, is rescued herself. In a short 248 pages, Susan Richards, while turning a critical, yet humorous eye on herself and her troubled past, made me want her for my neighbor and had me longing for a magical horse like Lay Me Down for my very own. And I wanted as my new best friend her wonderful best friend -- part self-trained vet, part horse whisperer -- whose response to any abused animal is "Let's steal her and hide her", a tactic she first tried at age six when she thought two Shetlands were being overworked at a pony-riding farm. Rarely do I read modern writing that makes me wonder and worry over the characters lives as if they were my friends, neighbors or family. I felt that way about everyone in this book, including the horses! I eagerly await Susan Richards next book. And hope she tells me she tracked down one of Lay Me Down's offspring and now has him or her in a pasture with Georgia, Hotshot or Tempo.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A deeply moving interweaving of the horse's and author's unbridled spirits in the face of hardship, May 15, 2006

By	Lloyd D. Richards (Montpelier, VT) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

The author's clear prose style and restrained manner (never maudlin) draws the reader into this compelling story of great love and courage in the face of adversity. Richards sets to pen her unflinching rendering, exploring the bond formed with her horse, which could just as well speak to matters of the heart between husband and wife or lover and lover. Richards masterfully interweaves with a sense of urgency and extraordinary wisdom her own tormented past with the horse's dire predicament. In the end it is the author's indomitable unswerving spirit that time and time again comes to the animal's rescue and which has the reader rooting for her all the way.