My Horse, My Healer

This is a story about my horse, Sheka, and the healing she has brought to me and many other women who wanted a way to reclaim their personal power, their voices. It is also a story about me, a psychologist, and how I finally began to find my own voice after spending most of my life making sure other people feel happy, pleased, and comfortable in my presence (even when it  has required me to shove down my own feelings and needs). It is thanks to my relationship with horses that I have learned to be assertive, to see myself as valuable for more than just my aggreableness, and to say no to what I do not want. As a therapist, I specialize in working with women who have experienced trauma and abuse. Over the past two years, I have been bringing people to the barn for equine-facilitated learning and therapy so they can experience the healing and transformation I did when I began earning the trust and respect of a thousand pound animal.

Sheka has touched so many women's lives through her sensitive nature and her honest, nonjudgmental feedback. It has been breathtaking to witness women move from paralyzing timidity, fear, and self-doubt to open, self-assured, and purposeful movement in the course of a 30-minute interaction with Sheka. And the smiles on their faces! Sheka has a way of showing people who they really are. 

Here is where the rough patch comes in. I do not own Sheka. She is owned by my father-in-law and he has her up for sale for $5,000. In order for me to continue the work I want to do, I have to find a way to purchase her before she goes somewhere else. I need to raise the funds for my beloved co-therapist (she is my co-therapist and my best friend) as soon as I possibly can because I am going through a divorce and am at a very real risk of losing her in the process. 

Sheka is the reason I have the strength to survive a divorce and stand on my own two feet. I desperately want her to stay with me so I can continue my own personal growth, and continue my mission of bringing the incredible healing energy of this horse to other women who are searching for their own strength and power. 

Your support will change many lives, not just mine. I have a vision for my therapy practice that has survivors of trauma and abuse coming out to work with Sheka to learn how to differentiate between power and aggression, to learn how to set boundaries and trust their intuition and their bodies again. Words cannot begin to express how grateful I will be for your help.