About the Author
Mary Benson was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. While growing up in the Canadian Maritime Provinces, she was introduced to horseback riding by a retired Royal Canadian Mounted Police officer. As a small child, Mary remembers being enthralled as her Mountie guide led her over the rugged spruce-laden New Brunswick landscape.
This love for horses continued to flourish and after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in physical and health education at the University of Toronto and doing a teaching stint, she and her husband, Barry, immigrated to the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York. Here she returned to her passion for horses, allowing it to branch out in many directions.
Her horse activities included working as a United States Pony Club sponsor, entering competitive trail rides, attending several A-rated shows, and sometimes competing in local shows and county fairs in Western pleasure, barrel racing, reining, and dressage.
Added to this are the many hours spent on numerous racetracks and watching her daughter, Karen, exercising the young Thoroughbreds.
Professionally, Mary has owned and operated a small riding stable in Lake Placid, New York. At that time she appeared on the ABC show Good Morning America using her horse and antique sleigh to drive the TV commentators around during the 1980 Winter Olympic Games.
Returning to her trail-riding beginnings, Mary worked summers as a wrangler for the Cold River Ranch in Tupper Lake, New York.
Now retired, she is enjoying quality time painting, writing, and exploring the mountain trails both in the Adirondacks and Vermont with her Tennessee Walking horse partner, Raven.
Hedy Strauss was born in Queens, New York. She was introduced to the world of horses at the tender age of two by her mother Dorothy Strauss who taught her how to ride English style. By the time Hedy was ten she was riding back up at a large riding stable giving helpful hints to novices on how to control their horses so that they would safely enjoy their ride.
By age seventeen, Hedy was hired at Belmont racetrack in Elmont, Long Island, New York. After several years of training, she became one of the first women outriders in the nation, escorting jockeys mounted on racehorses to their morning workouts.
In 1975, Hedy graduated from the City University of New York, Queens College, at nineteen with a degree in animal behavior and anthropology.
In June 1977, Hedy was featured in People Magazine with actor Leonard Nimoy, helping him gain knowledge about horses, which helped him play the part of a psychiatrist in the play Equis on Broadway, New York City. In the same year, Hedy moved to the Adirondacks where she worked as a wrangler leading people into the remote Cold River trail system. A move to Lake Placid, New York, followed. Here she opened a horseback riding academy along with her partner Floyd Wood.
In 1990, Hedy established a wild-horse preserve in the Adirondacks. Then in 1992, Hedy was honored with an Explorers Club flag for her efforts to help find a solution for the unwanted horses in America today. Her dream was to establish a wild herd of Western Mustangs on the East Coast. A pivotal role in helping to establish the Wild Horse Preserve was played by Sir George Threshman who then, impressed with Hedy’s knowledge of horses, nominated her to become an honoree and someday be inducted into the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, for her pioneer work with wild horses and lifetime work paving new roads for women in the world of horses.
Hedy has written articles about her adventures on horseback for the Trail Rider Magazine. Aside from being gifted in writing poetry, Hedy also composes music and lyrics to the songs she has written including the song “Blue Mountain Rider.” In this book, Hedy has combined her passion and love for horses with her poetic talent. It is her hope that this book serves as an inspiration to all who wish to take part in the world of horses.