Chosen by a Horse

Book excerpt: “Two kindred spirits find each other in this beautifully written memoir about the human-animal bond” (Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation). When Susan Richards agreed to take on the care of one of the abused horses just rescued by the local SPCA, she didn’t know it was about to open a new chapter in her life. Things had not always been easy for Susan—she had lost her mother at the age of five and was raised by uncaring relatives, married unhappily and divorced, and suffered from alcoholism. But while Susan is trying to capture the horse assigned to her, a skeletal mare named Lay Me Down walks into her 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, Chosen by a Horse is a book for anyone who has ever loved a horse, and for everyone who has ever lost a loved one.