Suzy was the second child of her parents. Her father, a concert pianist, suffered from mental problems, probably manic depression. Her mother was a pretty girl spoiled by parents with lots of money. Suzy closely resembled her father. Her older sister had her mother’s good looks. When her husband’s mental issues became more evident to his young wife, she grew angrier and angrier. She finally tossed him to the curb and filed for divorce. The divorce was a protracted, hateful one with much angst between the two. Mom didn’t bother to shield her daughters, then aged two and four, from that. The court awarded her full custody of both children and most of the assets. Unfortunately for Suzy, every time Mom looked at her and saw the resemblance to her hated ex-husband, she flew into rages. She became abusive to Suzy, both physically and mentally. Suzy was too young to understand and crawled into herself to hide.
When the sisters were five and seven, Suzy’s mom remarried. The man she married wasn’t happy supporting two children he didn’t father himself. He also had a problem with alcohol. The abuse got worse, especially for Suzy, because she looked so much like her dad.
The family moved into a house in the country. One property close to their back yard belonged to a family that raised Arabian horses. When the abuse overwhelmed the five-year-old Suzy, she went to a room in the house with a window overlooking a pasture. That pasture was the turn-out for Shy, a beautiful blood-bay stallion. His family of mares and babies were turned out in a field separated from him. He could see them and spent his time walking back and forth along the fence line, occasionally calling out to his mares.
Suzy dropped her chin on crossed arms on the window sill. Watching the stallion transported Suzy to a peaceful place without screaming, cursing, or hatred. His long flowing mane and forelock blew in the breeze, thick and inky black. His tail dragged the ground. In her mind, she left her sad situation to ride on the wings of Princes and Kings. Shy galloped across the pasture under blue, sunny skies. She rode on his back, feeling the wind on her face and in her hair. She held onto his mane and felt the power of the horse beneath her. She imagined them walking between the trees on long walks through the woods and riding in the sand on the beach. Her time in the window watching Shy calmed her and gave her solace in her tragic young life. Shy helped heal her broken heart.
As she grew older, when the alcohol-fired abuse became more than she could take, she went to the window. She slipped away from her reality to gallop on the blood bay stallion. Sometimes they ran through shallow surf as it swirled around his ankles. It splashed on her bare feet and legs, and she laughed in the wind. Sometimes she took long, meandering walks through the woods on her Shy. They galloped across green pastures. The time she spent watching him through the window was her only escape and comfort as she grew up.
Suzy married at nineteen, partially to get away from home. Within a year, she realized what she missed was her passion. Suzy saved her money and bought her first Arabian horse at the age of twenty from Pico Creek Ranch near the Hearst Castle in San Simeon, California. She loved that horse like no other in her life. She got to ride on the Hearst Ranch a few times, including one unplanned dismount. Suzy laughed when she told me about that. “It happened in the shadow of the Hearst Castle, so it wasn’t so bad after all.” She spent as much time as possible with the horse, grooming and brushing, bathing, and riding. She told me, “It took me a while to realize I had not just bought a horse. I bought a life, a lifestyle, experiences, friends, pride, and joy.” Suzy has owned Arabian horses now for fifty years. They still give her great joy.
