what’s YOUR horse story?
Me adoring Fame. That’s pretty much how it goes.
It was done.
Decided.
Seeing the Lipizzaner stallions perform at the famed Spanish Riding School in Vienna, Austria, sealed the deal for me. I needed a horse when I got home. It was 2008 and I hadn’t been on a horse in over a decade but I knew this was my path.
Within a month, I had scoured Craigslist ads and found an experienced gelding that would become my first horse teacher and trail partner. Jake gave me the freedom to enjoy horses without worries or anxiety.
Flash forward to 2014 and I’m purchasing my dream horse, a Drum gelding named Fame. I thought I knew enough to figure things out at this point and boy did I learn the hard way! It would be six years, two concussions and fair amount of trauma to work through before we would be living my dream of hitting the trails again.
Why does this matter to you?
Well, if you’re like I was - wanting, no, needing something as fascinating as a horse in your life, you’ve probably gathered that horses take a lot. A lot of time, money and savvy. Perhaps at this point in your research you’re trying to figure out how to make this obsession of yours possible.
But, gah! There’s so much to learn! And established horse people seem to be operating on a completely different wavelength…
…Or maybe you feel like a bit of an outsider to the ‘horse world’…Nobody else seems to be struggling this much! It’s hard finding folks who can relate.
Believe me, I get it. I have felt the same way! There’s so much to know with horses. But it IS possible to get to a place of confidence. And it’s life-changing, no joke. Horses have helped me become an entirely different person, a person I like MORE than who I am without them. I’m braver, more balanced, more in tune. And I believe that anyone who feels that internal pull toward these magnificent creatures can experience a MORE version of themselves. That inner voice beckons you for a reason.
I hope you’ll take advantage of the Happier on a Horse community. I try my best to put out helpful content that reflects my actual, lived experience with horses. My YouTube, Instagram, blog - it’s all the stuff I wish I’d had when I got started years ago just trying to figure things out…and sometimes the encouragement I still need, today! I’m not a trainer, I’m not an expert, and I’m not trying to be. I’m a regular gal who believes that life is better on a horse.
I hope one day we can connect and you’ll be telling me YOUR horse story!
Happy Trails, Stephanie