Susan Richards has a BA in English from the University of Colorado and a Master of Social Work degree from Adelphi University. She lives in Olivebridge, New York, with three dogs, two cats, and four horses, and teaches writing at SUNY Ulster and Marist College. Her first book to be published in the UK is the poignant memoir Chosen by a Horse, due out in 2008 from Constable & Robinson.

When she agrees to take on the care of one of the abused horses just rescued by the local SPCA, a new chapter opens in Susan Richards’s difficult life. She lost her mother at the age of five and was raised by uncaring relatives; married unhappily and divorced; and suffered from alcoholism. While trying to capture another horse assigned to her, Lay Me Down, a skeletal mare, walks into Susan’s horse 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, this is a book for anyone who has ever loved a horse, and for everyone who has ever lost a loved one.