Susan Kayne

Care of Racehorses Important Even Long After Season Ends 
By Susan Kayne | October 30, 2017 READ MORE ...

MY WRITING
The Who-ness of Horses

I write with horses, not merely about them.
What lives in my prose is witness. Not content, but communion.

My writing emerges from a lifetime spent in the company of horses. From the intimacy of their trust to the brutal realities of their exploitation, and the extraordinary enduring spirit of those who survive.

Through my essays and reflections on Substack, and my weekly column in The Greenville Pioneer, I explore the questions that have come to define my life's work: Who are horses beyond what we ask of them? What do they know, remember, desire, and grieve? And what becomes of us when we finally recognize the fullness of their being?

I call this the who-ness of horses.

For more than two decades, I have worked at the intersection of animal ethics, advocacy, and lived experience. My published writing includes more than 100 newspaper columns, alongside poetry, essays, and literary works in development.

Some stories are tender. Others are searing. All arise from lives that matter to those living them.

In 2025, two of my stories received top honors from American Horse Publications:

Mabel's Tale: A Journey Through Darkness Into Light

The Silent Language of Grief: Velvet's Profound Impact

Mabel and Velvet were elder mares whose lives might have ended in obscurity. Instead, their final chapters unfolded in Sanctuary, where they were known, loved, and afforded the dignity of being themselves.

Their stories are an invitation to look beyond rescue and recognize the individuals whose lives we have been entrusted to protect. Every word is an act of witness. Every story, an invitation to see differently.

Because love never flinches. And neither will I. — Susan Kayne