Book Review: Chosen by a Horse - A Memoir How a broken horse fixed a broken heart By: Lauren Pigford Chosen by a Horse is a memoir by Susan Richards. This book begins with Richards standing at a fence on a cold, rainy, March day witnessing 40 seized and emaciated Standardbred Racehorses standing on top of each other, knee deep in mud, hoping for some warmth and shelter. Uncharacteristically, Richards found herself willing to help and adopt one of the broodmares and her foal. She originally chose a horse named Current Squeeze because she favored the name out of the rest. When she and an SPCA worker could not find Current Squeeze through the unruly and skittish herd, they realized a broodmare and foal had voluntarily left the herd and walked onto the trailer. By that time Richards told the SPCA workers to forget about Current Squeeze, that she would take the two on the trailer. After checking the broodmare’s number she learned her new horse’s name was Lay Me Down. Richards reminisced about how disappointed she was to get a horse with such a “lame name.” Richards offers humor and candor as she depicts her past with her new horse and spirited foal. She found herself terrified that the newly rescued horse would not make it because she was emaciated and sick with pneumonia. Richards would stand at the gate and watch Lay Me Down eat bran mash and hay for hours. While caring for the sick and abused mare, Richards became mesmerized by Lay Me Down’s sweet and trusting nature. Richards recounts her childhood and her past marriage, talking carefree about how she was abused as a child and a wife. Without emotionally involving the reader in her past pain, Richards writes candidly about how she closed herself from forming a real relationship with anyone. She talked about the anger she carried around with her, and how she didn’t trust anyone. She evolved into an alcoholic during her marriage, only becoming sober after her divorce, when she bought her own house and barn in upstate New York. Richards began to evaluate Lay Me Down’s trust, love, and openness. She soon admired the mare for her openness to love and trust another even after the atrocities the mare had been through. In the first 100 pages, Richards realizes she learned probably the most important life lesson from her newly acquired horse: “They say you can’t escape your past, but I don’t believe that. I believe you escape it everyday, over and over again, always cognizant of the difference between past and present” (54). This is a story about a broken down woman who isolated herself from the rest of the world after countless failed relationships with family, friends, and a husband. The abuse Richards lived through handicapped her from the social world. She secluded herself to the safety of her home and barn. Her horses were the first thing that never rejected her or tried to maliciously hurt her. It was when she found herself bonding with another abused animal that she learned how to forgive and look to the future as a new opportunity filled with hope and happiness. Richards writes about her issues and problems with a forgiving heart. She confesses about how her life with horses has kept her going year after year. She even realizes how strong those relationships had been from the very beginning, stating: “There seemed to be no connection between my former life and my new life, except for horses. Horses were the thread that had been there from the beginning, through the pain of childhood and the drinking and the marriage, the thread that seemed to keep me stitched together” (87). This story makes readers aware of how strong a bond with another animal can be. It makes readers thankful for any loving and trusting relationship. Most people find inspiration through other human beings, but Richards has proven that even the simplest of bonds, as one with a horse, can be a life changing experience no matter where one finds oneself in life.