c h r o n o f h o r s e . c o m w i n t e r 2 014 51
Bibles And A gun: A girl's Best friends
lloyd cherished her year in england, but she came to accept that
the class system there would make it tough for her to rise beyond
the position of groom, so she returned to the states.
"i think grooms are great, but i had other aspirations. i didn't
know what they were," she says, laughing, "but i had other aspi-
rations."
she'd carried one such ambition since childhood: to ride a
horse alone across the united states.
"When i came out of my mother, i had that desire. don't
ask me why. i just knew, even when i was this big," she says, her
hand measuring about a foot off the ground, "i was going to ride
a horse across the united states."
so in 1973, lloyd, then only 23, saddled up her horse and set
off from just outside new york City. she had no plan other than
to ride to san diego. her route undetermined, lloyd traveled on
small country roads and zigzagged herself west, grabbing a new
road map whenever she crossed state line.
"i didn't care if it took me 10 years. i had no time frame at
all," she says.
"I hear a baby crying, and I'm
running the other way," she chuckles,
pausing to light another cigarette.
"I hear those hounds, and I want to
go with them. at was it for me.
I decided I had to hunt."
