Introduction

The sequel to The New York Times Bestseller Chosen by a Horse, a Book Sense Pick and a B&N Discover Pick When Susan Richards adopted an abused horse rescued by the local SPCA she didn’t know how Lay Me Down’s loving nature would touch her heart—and change her life. Susan, a writing teacher, had lost her mother at the age of five and been abandoned by her father to uncaring relatives; she had endured an unhappy marriage ending in divorce and had self-medicated for anxiety (and repressed anger) with alcohol. For more than a decade she had aspired to be published, but it was only with the memoir she wrote to honor Lay Me Down that she achieved this goal. The book led to a book tour, in the course of which Susan reconnected with family and friends. But even more joyously, at the second reading on her tour she met the man who had sold her his house twenty-four years earlier, a world famous photographer, Dennis Stock. And they fell in love.

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Excerpt

P R E FACE

Winters can feel endless and gray when you
live alone on a farm in upstate New York, and the winter of
2005 was the worst. I’d owned my home for twenty-four
years and had spent the last ten trying to earn a living teaching
as an adjunct in a nearby college, while at the same time
devoting myself to a lifelong dream, writing. After completing
two novels and a memoir, I remained unpublished. I’d
had three agents, but had not sold a book. I was a fifty-fiveyear-
old single woman facing a professional and financial crisis.
I couldn’t support myself on an adjunct’s salary and I
could no longer afford to spend time writing books that
didn’t sell. I was depressed and full of fears about the future.
Then my memoir, about a racehorse named Lay Me Down
that I had adopted, was accepted for publication.
I had no idea, on the raw, rainy day years earlier when Lay
Me Down hobbled into my life, of the extent to which my
future had just been changed. In an uncharacteristic
moment, I had responded to an SPCA appeal and offered to
take in one of more than forty Standardbred horses rescued
from an abusive owner. I had selected a horse by the name of
Current Squeeze from a list on which she was number 10.
As I confronted the milling herd of frightened mares and
foals in the paddock and attempted to locate the brass tag
that bore the number 10 hanging from the cheek latch of one
of their worn-out halters, a sick, emaciated bay mare followed
by her foal walked up the ramp to my trailer of her
own volition. This was Lay Me Down. I took her home to
join the three horses I already had and things were never the
same again.
During the years that she lived on my farm, her gentle,
loving nature helped me to heal from my own difficult past,
which continued its grip on my present. My family had disintegrated
with the death of my mother from leukemia when
I was five years old. My father had abandoned my older
brother and me to the care of relatives. His mother, an elderly
martinet, became my guardian, and I went to live in virtual
isolation—except for horses—at her home in Rye, New
York and, a few months later, on her estate in South
Carolina. My brother and I were separated, as he was sent to
a boarding school in another state.
I spent my adult years distancing myself as much as possible
from the stranger-relatives among whom I had subsequently
been passed, who had taken me in grudgingly. I had
severed my relationship with the past, or so I thought. I had
believed that I was destined to be alone in this world.
Lay Me Down showed me how wrong I was. Her affectionate
spirit, her willingness to risk loving me after all she
had been through, was an inspiration. The novels I had
labored over were written so I could call myself a writer.The
memoir was created in honor of Lay Me Down, as a tribute
to her.After I finished it, I thought I understood the magnitude
of what she had given me. Then the book, entitled
Chosen by a Horse, was published in 2006 and I learned that
the most profound gifts were still to come.

Not all gifts look appealing at first. When my publisher
decided to send me on a regional book tour beginning that
spring, I was fearful and shy. Readings, book signings, newspaper
and radio interviews—the public face of publishing
was exciting but difficult for me, as someone who had lived
a relatively solitary life tucked away on a small horse farm
for so many years. But the tour was a boon, bringing me
back in touch with old friends and important family members
with whom I had lost contact.The tour was a reminder
that when you’re doing what you’re supposed to be doing in
this life, amazing things can happen.
... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

1. Is perseverance as important as inspiration to a would-be writer? Discuss.

2. Can a woman inspire love if she thinks she’s unattractive?

3. Do you think that the more than twenty-year age difference between Susan and Dennis should have prevented them from marrying?

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