Remembered as a "phenomenon; a charming, intelligent, adventurous, American woman", she married a Persian prince from the Qajar dynasty and together they ran a horse breeding programme and riding school and raised a family through revolution, war and intrigue.
That the horse now exists in sustainable numbers in several countries worldwide (including Australia, America, New Zealand and Britain) is considered largely due to her efforts.
She moved on to a private school in nearby Peterborough but still had to drive her mare Rhoda to Hancock, put her in the church stable and take a taxi for the next 12 miles, repeating the process each evening.
With no responsibility to study for the rest of the year, she took a job at Khayats bookstore, editing in their publishing business and also retraining horses at the Beirut race track.
Before returning to Cornell to finish her degree,[4] she took a brief trip to Tehran where she and her brother were met by a friend who introduced them to Narcy Firouz, a Yale-trained civil engineer and 'prince' descended from the Qajar dynasty that ruled Iran from 1779 to 1925.
During this first trip Firouz rescued 3 such horses, initially malnourished and covered with ticks, whose former owners had misused and over-worked them having no idea of the ancient breeds' near extinction.
Firouz had to sell her silver and jewels to feed her family during this time, but she gradually rebuilt her life, and was eventually able to establish a new herd of Caspian and Turkoman horses.