After teaching kindergarten for thirty years, Susan Patrick retired. Starting with a Shetland pony at the age of twelve, shes owned four horses since and has always loved horses.
...view moreAfter teaching kindergarten for thirty years, Susan Patrick retired. Starting with a Shetland pony at the age of twelve, shes owned four horses since and has always loved horses.
She rescued Nellie shortly after she retired. In hindsight it was good timing because it ended up being a full-time job. Her friend Cindy actually did all the footwork. She wrote up a bill of sale and got the owner to sign over the extremely neglected horse to Cindy and Susan.
Cindy soon gave up her share in the partnership when she contracted skin problems from Nellie. Susan had the finances and the time to help the horse to recover. All the events in the story really, truly happened to Susan.
Susan lost her mother when she was seven. Her father remarried when she was thirteen. She knows that being a step-child and having a step-mother can be very difficult on a family. She has two step-children of her own and tries to give them twice as much love than one would give their own natural born children. Thats the reason she chose step-mothers and foster children to be the characters in her novel.
Susan had two thirteen year olds act as Susi and Cindy in her photo shoot. She also used her seventeen year old grandson to be the character Kerry. She uses factual events but changes the age of the characters in hopes of attracting young readers.
Susan desires that her readers will be inspired by the teens in her book, who trusting the faith they have in God through Jesus, accomplish great things.view less