Join us at La Flecha House Thursday, March 14, 2024 when author Susan Friedland presents Marguerite, Misty, and Me, 10am-noon.
Susan Friedland, a former California middle school history teacher, will share stories about Marguerite Henry, the author and horsewoman, in her talk “Trotting on the Trail of Misty and Marguerite.” Following the slide presentation, there will be Q & A and an author signing of Marguerite, Misty and Me: a Horse Lover’s Hunt for the Hidden History of Marguerite Henry and Her Chincoteague Pony.
After re-reading Misty of Chincoteague as an adult and falling in love all over again with the pinto pony Misty, Susan Friedland was inspired to hunt for the backstory of author Marguerite Henry. The result of Susan’s investigation is Marguerite, Misty and Me, part Marguerite Henry biography, part travel memoir. In 2021, Susan’s research adventure began at the Rancho Santa Fe Library where she discovered newspaper clippings about the horse book author and a collection of art and artifacts donated to the library by Marguerite Henry, a Rancho Santa Fe resident from 1971 until her death in 1997.
From Wayne, Illinois where the real Misty pony lived in Marguerite’s backyard during the peak of her literary career, all the way to Chincoteague Island, Virginia, Susan tracked down facts, friends and fans of Marguerite Henry. She even held Marguerite’s Newbery Medal for King of the Wind and discovered unpublished manuscripts housed in an underground archive in Minnesota. And from a “front row” kayak seat during the annual wild pony swim from Assateague Island to Chincoteague, Susan explored Chincoteague Pony subculture to understand Marguerite Henry’s legacy.
About the Author: Susan Friedland has written four horse-themed nonfiction books, and has been blogging at her award-winning equestrian lifestyle website, saddleseekshorse.com since 2013. When Susan’s not writing, teaching writing or traveling on equestrian adventures, she’s trotting around on her ex-racehorse, Tiz a Knight. The pair met at a stable in Carmel Valley in 2014. Susan and Knight now reside near Chicago, thirty minutes away from the town where Marguerite Henry and Misty of Chincoteague once lived. Follow Susan and Knight on Facebook @saddleseekshorse.