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| sara and laydee lucille la don |
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My life with horses.
I have to say having horses is a privilege and honor. They have taught me much and because of them I believe I have grown to be a better person.
Horses love to communicate, they want you to listen to them. I find when I listen to my horses our relationship gets deeper. By listening I mean listening to everything, rhythm, energy, expression, movement and so on. If I pace my rhythm to theirs, a resonance occurs, to me this is what it feels like to be part of something larger, the herd.
I have studied many different horse people and their teachings, I finally came to the realization that the best teacher is the horse itself. Not only can the horse teach me the best way in which to work with them, they also teach me about myself.
Having six horses, each one holds up a mirror that reflects a part of me. Sometimes it is hard to face, other times I find things in myself that I like. Laydee Lucille La Don, taught me how to be patient and kind and to use my creativity so I could teach her how to lift up her feet.
Hank has taught me to trust, his transformation from a crippled ex jumper school horse, to a sensitive happy playful therapy horse is a miracle in itself.
I believe that each horse has a spirit guide or angel, and when these angels get together anything can happen.
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| Jeremy, Sylvia, Stephanie and Sara |
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| As a young child, growing up in a small village in South East England, I was obsessed with ‘Westerns’. I watched every cowboy movie that was shown on British television. Afterwards, I would dress up and fantasize that I was either a cowboy or Native American Indian. Almost always I identified with the male characters. I used to draw cowboys and Native American Indians on horses, set against a hilly canyon setting. Ironically this is where I ended up settling down, Topanga canyon, Southern California. Back then, it was my dream to have my very own horse. I entered a ‘Win a Shetland pony’ competition in the national English newspaper, only to find the envelope, still intact in my mothers handbag weeks after the final entry date had passed. My mother was scared I would win, I had won newspaper competitions before. She appeased me by taking me to the local stables to get horse riding lessons. I’d ride up and down the country lane on an old worn out horse, that had seen better days.
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When I was twelve years old I experienced a disturbing incident that happen on the back of a friends horse.
The truth, was that I didn't have a clue about horses or the horse I was riding and it quite simply ran off with me. I got dragged through some bushes. Aside from minor scrathes and bruises I came out OK.
From that point on I lost all interest in horses, as far as I was concerned they were dangerous and not to be reckoned with.
It wasn't until thrity years later that I became interested in horses again. I moved to Topanga Canyon and took some horse riding lessons from a neighbor. Within no time I was riding in the hills, opening up my world.
I got a job looking after several horses at a therapeutic ranch located in my neighborhood. I stayed at this job for six years, becoming the ranch manager and lead teacher.
The first horse I adopted was Silver, an anxious and insecure gray Arabian gelding.
My first encounter with Silver happened prior to my meeting him on the physical plane. He came to me in a metaphoric dream.
The nature in how we met, unexpected, intense and liberating describes the beginning of our relationship. In the dream there followed a scene inside a Swiss bank. Silver was introducing me to his friends, other horses who I would end up adopting. The richness that has come into my life because of my relationship with horses is symbolized by the bank.
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