Status
Available
Call number
Publication
Mariner Books (2007), Edition: 1, 256 pages
Description
The horse Susan Richards chose for rescue wouldn�t be corralled into her waiting trailer. Instead Lay Me Down, a former racehorse with a foal close on her heels, walked right up that ramp and into Susan�s life. This gentle creature�malnourished, plagued by pneumonia and an eye infection�had endured a rough road, but somehow her heart was still open and generous. It seemed fated that she would come into Susan�s paddock and teach her how to embrace the joys of life despite the dangers of living. An elegant and often heartbreaking tale filled with animal characters as complicated and lively as their human counterparts, this is an inspiring story of courage and hope and the ways in which all love�even an animal�s�has the power to heal.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Whisper1
Simply stated: This book took my breath away.
Written with humor, poignancy, candor, and clear, crisp poetic style, the author takes us on a wonderful journey regarding the redemptive power of love.
There are times in life when we spontaneously, unexpectedly break out of character, when previous
It was fate that brought Susan Richards and an abused horse together. When the local SPCA posted a SOS plea asking the public to assist with 40 recently confiscated malnourished, poor- in- health horses, uncharacteristically, Susan jumped in her car and drove to the SPCA.
When a severely emaciated mare named Lay Me Down walked into her horse trailer, tiny foal behind, Susan knew it was not she who chose which horse to adopt, but indeed she was chosen.
Susan knew pain and abandonment. Her mother died when she was five; her father then left for a life of booze and denial. Susan was shifted to homes of relatives who clearly thought her a burden. Abused and unwanted, knowing love hurt too much, Susan learned to build a wall where pain could not touch.
Then, at 43, after a broken marriage and recovery from alcoholism, a broken horse helped a broken hearted woman, the rescuer was rescued and the wounded horse helped a wounded owner to find the strength to risk and dare to love.
When the horse developed a tumor, the author knew that Lay Me Down had created a space wherein the horse and her childhood merged forcing her to learn that risking love, in all the beauty and potential sorrow, takes strength and courage and creates a gift that keeps right on giving.
Highly recommended. I believe you will laugh, you will cry and this is a story that will hold your heart for a while.
Written with humor, poignancy, candor, and clear, crisp poetic style, the author takes us on a wonderful journey regarding the redemptive power of love.
There are times in life when we spontaneously, unexpectedly break out of character, when previous
Show More
behaviors are uncautiously thrown to the wind and afterward we ask ourselves -- What just happened?It was fate that brought Susan Richards and an abused horse together. When the local SPCA posted a SOS plea asking the public to assist with 40 recently confiscated malnourished, poor- in- health horses, uncharacteristically, Susan jumped in her car and drove to the SPCA.
When a severely emaciated mare named Lay Me Down walked into her horse trailer, tiny foal behind, Susan knew it was not she who chose which horse to adopt, but indeed she was chosen.
Susan knew pain and abandonment. Her mother died when she was five; her father then left for a life of booze and denial. Susan was shifted to homes of relatives who clearly thought her a burden. Abused and unwanted, knowing love hurt too much, Susan learned to build a wall where pain could not touch.
Then, at 43, after a broken marriage and recovery from alcoholism, a broken horse helped a broken hearted woman, the rescuer was rescued and the wounded horse helped a wounded owner to find the strength to risk and dare to love.
When the horse developed a tumor, the author knew that Lay Me Down had created a space wherein the horse and her childhood merged forcing her to learn that risking love, in all the beauty and potential sorrow, takes strength and courage and creates a gift that keeps right on giving.
Highly recommended. I believe you will laugh, you will cry and this is a story that will hold your heart for a while.
Show Less
LibraryThing member ladycato
This is an approachable and fast memoir that most any animal lover would enjoy. Susan Richards had a lot of baggage, but by the time she entered her 40s she regarded herself as an independent woman in control of her life. She had conquered the alcohol addiction that dominated her for decades. She
I was surprised at how gently this book flowed. It felt like stream-of-consciousness, progressing from memory to memory without me even fully realizing how far the story strayed. Susan had a very difficult life, and she is very honest about what she endured and also what she brought on herself. Her relationship with Lay Me Down and other horses, even the impetuous Morgan Georgia, reveal a lot about her and her maturity. This is really a book about love, life, death, and how a person is never to old to learn and grow wise.
Show More
shed an abusive husband and family. But when she agreed to take care of an abused mare and foal, she got more than she bargained for. The mare, Lay Me Down, had every right to hate humans, but she didn't. She looked on Susan with trust and faith, and Susan felt her old protective barriers begin to fall. But barriers exist with a reason, and soon Susan would need to face the truth: with love comes vulnerability, but it is still worthwhile.I was surprised at how gently this book flowed. It felt like stream-of-consciousness, progressing from memory to memory without me even fully realizing how far the story strayed. Susan had a very difficult life, and she is very honest about what she endured and also what she brought on herself. Her relationship with Lay Me Down and other horses, even the impetuous Morgan Georgia, reveal a lot about her and her maturity. This is really a book about love, life, death, and how a person is never to old to learn and grow wise.
Show Less
LibraryThing member TimBazzett
I bought this book for my wife for Christmas, but I read it first. (She still hasn't.) It's a very well-told story about a woman who lost her mother as a child, then suffered abandonment, abuse, neglect and an all-around lack of love throughout her youth. As an adult she lost herself in happy
Show More
hours, alcoholism and promiscuity, followed by a bad marriage that ended in divorce. Finally, through AA, a few good friends, and an innate love of animals, particularly horses, she gets herself straightened out and begins to learn how to love herself again. In other words everything you need for a good potboiler of a book. But instead Susan Richards chooses to examine her life carefully. The catalyst for doing this is an abused horse she rescues, a special horse who seems to return Richards' unconditional love in kind. The horse, Lay Me Down, is a Black Beauty for the 21st century, that rare animal who endures man's cruelties and gives back love in return. And helps a damaged lonely woman to finally come to understand that she is capable of loving and of being loved. Geeze, this sounds almost too corny, but it's what just came out when I started writing this, so ...? I also found it interesting that Richards ended up a Social Worker, since it seems so many abused and mistreated women finally end up in this profession. Is it because they feel they've been through it all and so can do some good for others who have suffered the same kind of stuff? I don't know. Now I've gone and broken the spell of that fine review I started. What the hell. This is a damn good book, and one of the best "horse books" I've read since Molly Gloss's lovely novel, Hearts of Horses. Read 'em both. Show Less
LibraryThing member CarolynSchroeder
This is a surprisingly wonderful, honest memoir about how one reluctant rescuer was chosen a horse who saved her life - not the other way around, like it was supposed to be. That said, Richards DID foster, and then adopt, "Lay me Down" after the horse's life of misery at the hands of a
Show More
breeder/hoarder (then acquisition by the SPCA); and she spoiled that horse with the love and care she never had. The wonder of this book is what the author learns from this gentle soul of a horse and how she grows, so I do not want to say much and "spoil" the beauty of that unfolding. While a sad book, it is also a hopeful one. I believe anyone (but particularly women) who has had a rough past/childhood/marriage/relationship and loves animals will get a lot out of this parallel lives story. It's also a quiet one about the wisdom of choosing sobriety and facing the problems of life, through love and hope, and not escape, despite how hard that might be. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member FionaCat
The beautiful but sad story of how the author rediscovered her capacity to love while taking care of a terminally ill mare rescued from an abusive owner. Lay Me Down is one of the sweetest horses you will ever meet between the pages of a book.
LibraryThing member traceydanine
This book was beautifully written an was much more than a "horse story". It was the story of a women in her 40's finally learning to face fears and enjoy life.
LibraryThing member gypsyhomebody
I got this book to read on the plane during an up-coming trip. I couldn't wait to read it, so I read it before the trip. I am so glad I did. I bawled like a newborn baby. It is so real. I am a horse-lover, however, I don't feel like this only appeals to horse people. This book is about a woman who
Show More
goes through some of the toughest times of her life and the horse who is with her during it all. What she learns from the horse, is inspiring. Show Less
LibraryThing member sally8658
This is a great story about how animals can teach us a lesson about being caring.
LibraryThing member Pandababy
Author Susan Richards deeply touched my heart with her memoir, originally published in 2006. Subtitled "How a broken horse fixed a broken heart", she tells the story of Lay Me Down, an abused race horse that she adopted, and how, in the process of healing the horse, the horse healed her.
I liked the
Richards makes no excuses for her alcoholic and promiscuous youth, nor for her divorce or her decade of anti-social isolation. She acknowledges the damage and focuses on her gradual recovery, driven by her love for her horses and in particular, the mare she rescued.
I avoid most memoirs of an abusive childhood or marriage. I dislike reading the details of someone else's pain, and too frequently, such books are riddled with excuses and blame. I marvel that Susan Richards manages to escape those traps, and consider it clear proof that her broken horse truly did fix her broken heart. Her story is upbeat but relentlessly honest, a combination irresistible to me.
Richards integrates her painful childhood, chaotic youth and angry adult years to reveal a charming, mature woman capable of deep friendship and compassion, love and generosity of spirit, but not a soft person, rather, a woman of strength and courage of the most rare kind - with the courage to face herself and her history, her feelings and hopes, with unflinching honesty and acceptance.
Books are my friends, have been my friends all my life. Chosen by a Horse is very good friend indeed, the kind that wears well and demonstrates qualities I want to imitate in my own life, the kind of friend that makes me a better person than I would be without them.
I liked the
Show More
matter-of-fact way Susan gradually reveals the emotional and physical abuse she suffered as a child, and the lack of self-pity in her narrative. She dwells not on her past but on the healing process and her life with her horses.Richards makes no excuses for her alcoholic and promiscuous youth, nor for her divorce or her decade of anti-social isolation. She acknowledges the damage and focuses on her gradual recovery, driven by her love for her horses and in particular, the mare she rescued.
I avoid most memoirs of an abusive childhood or marriage. I dislike reading the details of someone else's pain, and too frequently, such books are riddled with excuses and blame. I marvel that Susan Richards manages to escape those traps, and consider it clear proof that her broken horse truly did fix her broken heart. Her story is upbeat but relentlessly honest, a combination irresistible to me.
Richards integrates her painful childhood, chaotic youth and angry adult years to reveal a charming, mature woman capable of deep friendship and compassion, love and generosity of spirit, but not a soft person, rather, a woman of strength and courage of the most rare kind - with the courage to face herself and her history, her feelings and hopes, with unflinching honesty and acceptance.
Books are my friends, have been my friends all my life. Chosen by a Horse is very good friend indeed, the kind that wears well and demonstrates qualities I want to imitate in my own life, the kind of friend that makes me a better person than I would be without them.
Show Less
LibraryThing member acook
This book is primarily about the author’s relationship with her horses, particularly her most recently rescued one, but also includes some biographical sections, detailing her abusive childhood and alcoholic young adulthood. It is at times touching, amusing and informational about horses. I
Show More
enjoyed it at all those levels. In our family, it has to be given the dreaded “HD” rating (Horse Dies). Beware if that bothers you. But you sort of know it’s coming, and it’s handled very tenderly. But get your hanky ready. Show Less
LibraryThing member Peggy72
I haven't had such a good cry at the end of a book for a long time. I couldn't put it down! Thank God I wasn't on the train when I got to the end or it would have been very embarrassing!!
I didn't just cry for the gorgeous horse who still managed affection and trust towards people after the abuse
What made the book so special was that broken animals & broken people can mend and bring such healing and joy later to others. Very heartbreaking but in the end incredibly inspiring.
I really loved it.
I didn't just cry for the gorgeous horse who still managed affection and trust towards people after the abuse
Show More
she suffered but also for the author. Susan is so searing honest and her matter of fact descriptions of the abuse she suffered at the hands of relatives as a child had me running for the tissues.What made the book so special was that broken animals & broken people can mend and bring such healing and joy later to others. Very heartbreaking but in the end incredibly inspiring.
I really loved it.
Show Less
LibraryThing member teddy380
One of the best books i have ever read. I have read it multiple times, wich I never do. Especially considering I don't own it. Woch I'm going to change that......
LibraryThing member ksr611
One of the best books i have ever read. I could read it 20 times if I need 2
LibraryThing member cequillo
For anyone who has a love for horses, has felt the bonds and exhilaration such a love can bring, this book should not be missed. Richardson has given horse lover's something to treasure in the words in this book. Highly recommended.
LibraryThing member annaflbak
Carefully written and evocative. Sad.
LibraryThing member lorielibrarian
Lovely read for horselovers...how we learn from our horses, even about death. Keep the Kleenex handy
LibraryThing member hitchcockbe44
I really loved this book! I can so relate to the rescue of a horse as well as healing from caring for and interacting with a horse. I laughed and cried right along with Susan on her journey. A really great read!
LibraryThing member lyn369
What a wonderful heart warming story. If you have ever loved a pet this is a story to read.
LibraryThing member Bookish59
Susan Richards adopts Lay Me Down, an abused, sick horse from an SPCA rescue mission. Susan and Lay Me Down bond from the start. Susan nurses Lay Me Down back to health even after Lay Me Down is diagnosed with a tumor.
Beautiful story that illustrates what most animal lovers know: animals have
Lay Me Down was a very special horse; she had a sweet disposition despite her history. She was able to help Susan process her unresolved grief and learn patience and forgiveness.
Excellent read!
Beautiful story that illustrates what most animal lovers know: animals have
Show More
personalities, preferences and moods just like us. Lay Me Down was a very special horse; she had a sweet disposition despite her history. She was able to help Susan process her unresolved grief and learn patience and forgiveness.
Excellent read!
Show Less
LibraryThing member diananagy
This was a wonderful heart-felt touching and inspiring book to read. I really enjoyed it and I am not a fan of horse novels. This is definitely a book I would recommend to anyone who needs a little bit of love and encouragement in their life. It helped my heart and I didn't even know it needed it.
Show More
Sometimes we all need a little inspiration to get going in life! Show Less
LibraryThing member ezza85
It was an easy, nice book to read. I wouldn't rave about it, however the ending was quite emotional and I did cry for the first time reading a book.
LibraryThing member Narilka
Chosen by a Horse is a memoir by Susan Richards of the time she rescued a former racehorse, Lay Me Down. It is a sad and sweet tale. Both Lay Me Down and Susan come from similar backgrounds of abuse. Through caring for Lay Me Down, Susan re-learns that life can be full of joy and love and is worth
Show More
the risk of being hurt. It begs the question of who rescues who when we take an animal into our lives. While I am a general animal lover, I don't know much about horse care or horse personalities so really enjoyed those parts. Susan also writes about her own efforts as a 40-something woman attempting to date again with rather mixed results. Keep a box of tissues handy, this one is a tear jerker. Show Less
LibraryThing member clamato
Touching and poignant.
LibraryThing member Gingermama
A beautiful, sweet and occasionally laugh-out-loud story of a former racehorse and the woman who loved her.
LibraryThing member LisCarey
Susan Richards has survived an abusive childhood and a bad marriage, and now, in her forties, is living on a small farm with her three horses, working as a social worker, and determinedly protecting her independence. Having given up alcohol, casual sex, and in fact men altogether, she may be
Then she gets a call from the local SPCA, which has taken in more than forty horses from an abuse case. Their barn was already full; they need foster homes immediately. Against her better judgment, Richards agrees to take one of the horses.
She gets a Standardbred named Lay Me Down, a 16-year-old broodmare who is terribly thin and who has pneumonia. With Susan’s care, Lay Me Down gets back to a healthy weight, recovers from her pneumonia, and gets successfully integrated into her existing herd of one Morgan mare and two quarter horse geldings.
And then she discovers that Lay Me Down has an eye tumor. In the position it’s in, it can’t even be biopsied safely, but it’s almost certainly cancerous.
Susan Richards, whose heart broke at age five when her mother died a lingering death from cancer, and who has steadfastly avoided any emotional commitments that would lead to loss, finds herself committed to a beautiful, sweet-natured horse who has had a life as hard as her own, and who is going to die. Susan struggles with Lay Me Down’s illness, her own conflicted feelings, and her first stumbling efforts to rejoin the human race. This truly is a deeply moving story about a horse, a broken heart, and the beginnings of healing.
Highly recommended.
I borrowed this book from a friend.
Show More
lonely, but at least she’s safe.Then she gets a call from the local SPCA, which has taken in more than forty horses from an abuse case. Their barn was already full; they need foster homes immediately. Against her better judgment, Richards agrees to take one of the horses.
She gets a Standardbred named Lay Me Down, a 16-year-old broodmare who is terribly thin and who has pneumonia. With Susan’s care, Lay Me Down gets back to a healthy weight, recovers from her pneumonia, and gets successfully integrated into her existing herd of one Morgan mare and two quarter horse geldings.
And then she discovers that Lay Me Down has an eye tumor. In the position it’s in, it can’t even be biopsied safely, but it’s almost certainly cancerous.
Susan Richards, whose heart broke at age five when her mother died a lingering death from cancer, and who has steadfastly avoided any emotional commitments that would lead to loss, finds herself committed to a beautiful, sweet-natured horse who has had a life as hard as her own, and who is going to die. Susan struggles with Lay Me Down’s illness, her own conflicted feelings, and her first stumbling efforts to rejoin the human race. This truly is a deeply moving story about a horse, a broken heart, and the beginnings of healing.
Highly recommended.
I borrowed this book from a friend.
Show Less
Subjects
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2006
ISBN
0156031175 / 9780156031172