The Gift

After three years of a sluggish economy and little action in the real estate market, Ken and I needed to rethink how we spend our days. Yes, we are still Realtors. We LOVE real estate! But, it's not the ONLY thing we love to do, and until the market improves, we need to find, as they say, 'other streams of revenue'.

My passion for years has been training horses, gentling wild mustangs, riding dressage. Folks frequently asked, "Do you teach?"  For years I said, "No". Then people seemed to just come by and need horse time, The Little Wrangler's for example. They so much wanted to learn about horses and horsemanship and so... I began.

This summer I decided to take myself more seriously and advertise 'Horsemanship for Horse-Lover's of all Ages."  The students began to call, and sign up and then one lesson a week turned into two, and sometimes week long intensives. I love it! It is making me think and evaluate what works for each person and each horse.

 Then I got a call from a woman over in Whatcom County - we talked about my philosophy and methods and she asked me if I would come work with her two Halflinger/Quarter Horse mares. It's a long haul to her place, "The River Farm" but I said yes. After four hours with Holly,  her daughter and the two horses, the horses were truely listening, leading well and were relaxed and calm.  In Holly's words, "It was awesome!"

She also told me, "You have a Gift". I have been told I am a good teacher, but somehow this 'you have a gift' really got to me. Gift, I thought... well the gift is I get to do what I LOVE yet again! Yes, how lucky is that! What a gift I have been given. And in the process I get to teach people to understand, bond, communicate and train horses. This work is heart opening and healing. It teaches love and mutual respect and demands focus. It teaches boundaries and limit setting and how the relationship has to take priority over the immediate goal. It's for the good of the horse, and in the end, it's what is best for the people as well.