WHAT IS YOUR LIFE JOURNEY?

A good friend told me today about an equine assisted organization's website at http://www.unbridledchange.org/. In it I read some of the founder's "Life Journey" and it got me to thinking ... we ALL have a life journey, don't we? And wouldn't it be great if we could all share the twists and turns and outcomes with others in a way that would help and encourage them?

I'm just focusing on my life journey today as it relates to my life with horses. One of my earliest memories is riding the donkeys at the sea-side in England and how much I loved it! Nobody in my whole family were 'horse people'. I remember sitting on the back of the sofa pretending I was riding a horse. And I remember wanting to hang out with the local girls who had horses. Then there was the time in my young teenage life when I would ride my bike to the next village to clean stalls at a stable so that I could ride a horse in exchange. This must have been a complete mystery to my family that I would go to such extremes to be around a horse. But it was never mentioned ... I think they thought it was a 'whim' and would eventually pass. After all .... don't ALL little girls love horses?

Well, it never passed. Except for a brief time when I thought dating should take the place of horses!!! (age 16-21) I have loved and been involved with horses for all my life. It's been such a part of my life that it hasn't seemed special or important ... it's only now at the age of 61 that I am starting to realize what a WONDERFUL element this is in my life. I'm completely amazed ... Wow ... where did it come from?

I spent several years raising my two children on a small horse farm where we lived and breathed horses from breeding to training to showing. We only showed our own horses, never did it for a business, but it was a total committment and I loved it. When I thought I had to give it up due to a divorce I went back to college and got a degree and spent the next 20 plus years working in an office environment ... but the desire to be outside with my horses never left me.

It was late in the Fall of 2008 that circumstances led me to a local Therapeutic Riding Center where I began volunteering ... and I found the love of my life! Helping children with disabilities through the use of horses. This led to being a part of a pilot program in our area with an organization for mentally ill adults utilizing Equine Assisted Therapy. Wow ... my eyes (and my heart) were opened up in a way I had never experienced.

Now I see my 'journey'. I see how things came together through the years to bring me here. And I see that my journey is an ongoing, living thing that will continue until I breath my last breath. And I hope that my journey with equine assisted services will lead me to places where I can be a part of the amazing world of helping people ... with the assistance of a horse!

God Bless.
Kathleen.