Saddled
How a Spirited Horse Reined Me In and Set Me Free
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- ¥1,600
発行者による作品情報
The New York Times bestselling author of Chosen by a Horse explains how caring for an animal taught her to care for herself.
One day, at the age of thirty-one, Susan Richards realized that she was an alcoholic. She wrote it down in her journal, struck by the fact that it had taken nine years of waking up hung-over to name her illness. What had changed?
Susan had a new horse, a spirited Morgan named Georgia, and, as she says: "It had something to do with Georgia. It had something to do with making a commitment as enormous as caring for a horse that might live as my companion for the next forty years. It had something to do with love." Every day begins with a morning ride.
Every day Susan lives a little more and thinks about her mistakes a little less. Every day she learns a little more from Georgia, the kind of horse who doesn't go in for indecision, who doesn't apologize for her opinions, and who isn't afraid to be herself. In Georgia, Susan finds something to draw her back to herself, but also something to keep her steady and focused, to teach her about stepping carefully in unknown territory, to help her learn again about balance.
This is a memoir about the power of animals to carry us through the toughest times of our lives—about the importance of constancy, the beauty of quiet, steadfast love, the way loving a good (and sometimes bad!) animal can keep you going. It's a wonderful story for Susan's (and Georgia's) fans, and for anyone who has ever loved an animal enough to keep on living.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Designed as a prequel to her memoir, Chosen by a Horse, Richards begins with the adoption of Georgia, the difficult Morgan mare who left such a stamp on the author s previous heart-warmer, and explores the deep, rehabilitative bond the two have forged. Georgia proves to be a feisty yet steady savior, giving Richards the courage to flee a bad marriage and beat an addiction. The responsibility she feels for her companion compels her to think beyond her own suffering and begin a new life devoid of old habits. Richards explores her transient childhood and unhealthy adult relationships, but these narrative threads tend to run wild, detracting from her main tale. However, a section on the death of her father is particularly affecting, when she shares her realization that she might face a similar untimely, solitary death. The word that kept coming to mind was waste. Readers seeking the vicarious thrills they found with Georgia in Richard s earlier work might regret the back seat Georgia often takes here, longing for her storied personality to break in more often. Georgia may not be everywhere in Saddled, but she s never far away.
