Marilyn D. Anderson Biography

I was born in Stillwater, Minnesota, about 5 1/2 years before my brother came along to crash the party. Because I was an only child for all those years and because we lived with my grandma, I got away with murder. But when I was 4, we moved to this crummy old farm house in the middle of nowhere. Then I spent so much time alone that I started making up stories and thinking about being an author when I grew up.

Of course, I thought about becoming lots of other things, too, like a jockey, an opera singer, a cowgirl, a spy, a movie star, etc. etc. etc. I'm about 8 in this picture.

After high school I went off to college and got a piece of paper that said I could teach music. It was a lie, but I spent the next part of my life teaching bands, choirs, orchestras, elementary music, and piano in Minnesota, Vermont, and Indiana. My favorite part of the whole deal was leading my 100+ member marching band in parades.

In 1982 my cousin Diana got a book published, so I decided to give it a try too. The horse novel I wrote never made it into print, but it opened the door to an assignment to write a nonfiction book on horse care called The Horse Lover's Handbook.

I still love horses and did a lot of riding, including training and showing Morgan dressage horses, for most of my life.

This little Morgan named "Lark," was my last successful project. I taught him the basics of being a riding horse. He is now the partner of a little girl who loves to jump.

But I should have quit while I was ahead. In the summer of 2005, I was training another young gelding who threw me. I got an ambulance ride to the hospital, 38 days of bed rest, and back surgery out of that experience. The horse has since found a new home, and I've done a bunch of therapy. Most days I do pretty well, but I'm not quite as lively as I was before the accident.