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two novels and a memoir, I remained unpublished.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 abbreviated excerpt only...

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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