Why We Are Thankful for Horses
By Terri Haynie

Virginia is graced with a cornucopia of equine-related blessings, from custom-made fox-hunting terrain, temperate climate, seemingly endless trails and great show facilities, to the thousands of horse people whose passion has elevated the state’s equine industry to fifth in the nation. Virginians love their horses in all their colorful diversity—breeds, sizes, disciplines, and pursuits—and are thankful for them. This year, the Virginia Horse Journal asked a cross section of horse enthusiasts how their lives are enriched through their involvement with horses and why they are thankful to be "horse people." With the eloquence typical of Virginians and horse lovers, here is what they said:

Rita Mae Brown, best selling author and MFH Oak Ridge Hunt Club:

Since I find the human animal greatly overrated, I prefer time with my horses.
 

Trainer Kenny Harlow, “Training With Trust”:

Having been a horse trainer for over 10 years now, I have come in contact with thousands of horses. I have been thankful for each and every one of them because they all taught me something. Obviously, I have been more thankful for some than others; to be honest, there were some that I was thankful to even be alive after working with them. But, they have been the source of my livelihood and each horse played a part in helping me to become the trainer I am today.

But even more than the horses, I am grateful for their owners. My specialty has always been “problem horses” and it has brought me great pleasure over the years to take a horse that “no one else could fix” or that a person has had trouble with and make it safe for them to handle and ride. There is nothing that compares to the smile on a horse owner’s face when they see their beloved equine transform from a thousand pound mass of rude and dangerous attitude into a half ton of manners and willingness to perform.

I am thankful that I seem to have been given a gift that enables me to read a horse and know how best to approach the lesson it needs to learn. I have also been fortunate to be able to find ways to help the horse owners themselves learn how to solve problems. This leads to a lasting relationship of trust between the horse and the owner. The horses have better lives...the people that use them have better lives. I am thankful to be able to be a part of that. It’s not always an easy job, but it is always rewarding.
 

Sylvia Scott, founder Virginia Natural Horsemanship Training Center:

The beauty of horses, to me, is the fact that they ground us so well. So much of our modern lives are spent running businesses, working at a job, making a living, raising children, going to school, or whatever it is that consumes our individual life directions. Chores are never really done. However, when we are with our horses, they pull us strongly into “the moment.” Horses live in the “now” only. They magnetically draw us to the present and insist that we just be in the moment along with them, experiencing life alongside them for the simple sake of being. Horses also make us better people in general as we have to learn to tune into them deeply, empathetically, in order to develop smooth, mutual partnership communication, a gained skill that translates outwardly and positively in our other life directions.

Horses have taught me so much along that journey that I am forever grateful for. They have taught me infinite patience as a teacher and as a human in general. They have taught me to accept the honest try wholeheartedly, blessing the try with love and affection, the rest unfolds naturally from there. From each rewarded try, permanent growth is positively facilitated. They have taught me to love unconditionally and that through love, permanent healing occurs. They have taught me the extreme power of love in all endeavors. They have taught me not to be too goal-focused, but to be positive-progression focused only. They have taught me that time really has no significance and that the now is all we really need to focus on. Horses have taught me how to be a good, loving, kind and humane, yet directive leader.

As a natural horsemanship trainer and clinician, and founder of the Virginia Natural Horsemanship Training Center in Blacksburg, Virginia, and someone who is strongly committed to spreading the good word of natural horsemanship worldwide, I am forever grateful for what every horse that has crossed my path has taught me. Each horse I am asked to work with has a unique lesson to teach and I embrace the learning journey with an open heart. In the end, they ultimately teach us that we are all connected in life, and in order to keep those connections intact and positive, and the world a better place to live, we have to give of ourselves lovingly and unconditionally. It is through giving that we receive. This is what horses have taught me the most and it’s why I am eternally grateful to have horses to mentor, and to mentor me in my life journey.
 

Georgia Fischel—breeder, rider, judge, foxhunter, Virginia Horse Shows Assoc. board member:

I am glad to convey a few words about my lifelong love affair with horses. They have touched my heart since I was a little girl taking western riding lessons in Long Beach, California. It may sound corny, but when I am around horses my heart sings. They touch my soul. I don’t come from a family of horsemen. The connection to horses has just always been there. Horses have sustained me through the ups and downs of life. They have pulled me to keep going when life threw curve balls at me. They make me feel free and whole when I am around them. For 30 years I have been involved in the hunter industry in Virginia, at various times judging, breeding, showing, managing sales barns and foxhunting. I have been fortunate to be an “r” rated Hunter/Hunter Equitation Judge, to serve on the Board of the VHSA, to be appointed by Governors Allen and Gilmore to serve on the Virginia Equine Center Foundation Board at the Virginia Horse Center, to be elected its chairman for seven years and to be Honorary Secretary to the Casanova Hunt for many years. I have met incredible people through the horse industry. I have learned and accomplished things I never would have dreamed of because of my love for these animals.

My horses have given me great joy and I would not be the person I am today without each of them who has passed my way. I am grateful for what they have taught me and how they enrich my life.

I currently have a Thoroughbred Trakehner cross that I ride every day cross-country or take a lesson on. There is always something to learn. What could be better than being out in the beautiful Virginia countryside on a lovely horse, with wonderful friends having a great time!!

Candy Rickey: (Due to an accident, Candy is in a wheelchair. She loves riding horses and usually rides four times a week.)

I love horses because they do not judge or have an opinion about people until they have been around you and take the time to figure you out; people tend to normally not do that. You can discipline horses the right way for mistakes made and they will listen, unlike people who normally will not. I happen to be a disabled person who can’t walk, but communicating with horses improves my will to want to get better. By communicating, I mean petting, grooming, hand feeding, and much more. By riding them, they have strongly improved my balance, strength, and coordination. A person could not have improved my balance the way riding a horse has—even therapists agree that riding a horse is great and improves many things.
 

Debby Michelson, Virginia Horse Journal columnist, “A” circuit hunter/jumper, VHSA special committee member:

I have loved horses since I was four years old. I have a distinct memory of my father taking me to a horse show when we lived in Nashville, Tennessee.

Walking horses were the featured breed (after all, we were in Tennessee).

That was it. I was SMITTEN. My mother was very supportive, and so I began a love affair which has carried me from childhood through my adult years.

One Thanksgiving holiday my mother had come up for a visit. I remember taking her with me to a group lesson. Another one of my friends had brought her mother to watch. There sat our two mothers watching us negotiate a series of exercises over fences. My friend said,” I bet we are the only women in our 40’s who still have their mothers coming to watch their riding lessons!”

My mother always came up to Virginia to watch me when I competed at The Middleburg Classic. Two years in a row I won the Ariat Medal class and had the joy of running over to hand her my blue ribbon. The third year, the Ariat was cancelled and my mother had passed away. There would have been such an empty place at the horse show for me that year. That cancellation was a blessing.

Horses have always brought me great peace. When I go for a trail ride I have a sense of how we can slow down our world and really see the landscape at a much slower pace. Being with my horse forces me to slow myself and to tune into his conversation. Being with my horse transports me to another place.

My horse for me now is a part of the connection I maintain to my deceased parents who so lovingly encouraged my interest in a sport that has served me so well my whole life and provided me so many wonderful life lessons. I will forever be thankful.
 

Sandy Monolo, President, Old Dominion Morgan Horse Association:

I am a 60-year-old retiree, and I own 3 Morgan mares. Two are bred and due to foal in the spring. I enjoy trail riding, competitive trail classes, and dressage. I cannot imagine life without horses. From the time that I was a small child, I wanted a horse. At the age of 14, my parents fulfilled that dream. Each day I feel so thankful to be able to go riding and enjoy a sunrise or a sunset or reach some goal in training.

My horses have taught me to be a better person, and it is difficult to explain to a non-horse person the special bond that you can have with your horse. I am most fortunate to have owned two Morgans with which I felt that magical connection. In addition, through my horses I have made many friends and have met some very interesting people. Also I have been very fortunate to have a very wonderful, supportive non-horse person husband, who says that he is glad to have finally made it to number two on my priority list since the children left home. My goal today is to still be riding at 90.
 

Melyni Worth, Ph.D., Equine Nutritionist, Knabstrupper breeder:

Tell us why you are grateful to have horses and be a horse owner they said, just a few paragraphs. So I sat down at my computer. I planned to write about the joy of  riding out on the trails on a lovely day, the birds singing, and the air crisp and cold. Or expound on the feeling of communication and oneness you get when you and a horse perform a dressage pattern in harmony and complete understanding. I thought I might write about the exhilaration and sheer joy of galloping cross-country and sailing over the fences by the power and willingness of my horse, the wind in my face blowing away the tears. I thought of the miracle of a newborn foal struggling to his feet to get that vital first drink, his mama nickering gentle encouragement. The joy on the face of the little girl who can’t walk, when she rides out in the field for the first time on the back of the kind, gentle horse in a therapeutic program.

Then I realized that all of the pleasure and joy I get from horses and my life with horses only comes to me because I have the incredible luck to live where I do. I am secure and free, in a part of the world where I have the luxury of being allowed to do what I love best and to have the freedom to choose my life. So, as grateful as I am to the horses that enrich my life, I am even more grateful to those who gave us this freedom and who work to maintain it.

I give thanks daily that I live here in the Western World in freedom and security and for the luxury of knowing that I have the right of free speech. That I can work every day in my feed business and not have to worry about kidnap, rape, war, or violent protest, and that my horses will not be taken from me and used for food. For all this I am truly grateful.
 

Pam Umberger, Copper Crest Farm —instructor, rider, carriage driver:

For me, a life without horses would be unimaginable. My experience with horses began before I could walk, as my father and grandfather carefully held me on a horse and led it around. At age four, I got my first pony and, at age six, entered the show ring. Until I went away to college, I spent long hours either astride a horse or driving in a cart. Turning professional and teaching riding lessons soon followed. Later, as driving horses became my passion, I was driving various combinations of multiple horses up through six horse hitches.

I feel a deep sense of gratitude for the way horses have enriched my life. Horses enable me to earn a living teaching riding, driving, and training techniques. How many people are fortunate enough to work each day doing their hobbies? I am so blessed. Horses transform people’s lives. I have experienced it in my own life and have seen it happen in the lives of so many others. Horses build confidence. (Working with horses changed me from a shy child, who was terrified of speaking to a crowd, into an instructor who can speak with confidence before hundreds of people.) I have watched the lonely find companionship, the fearful develop courage, the depressed be lifted up, the sad find joy, the socially isolated feel accepted, and the physically challenged gain strength, all from being involved with horses. Horses are a most glorious gift. I am so thankful to have the opportunity to blend my life with horses and to see their many valuable contributions to our lives.
 

R. Reynolds Cowles, DVM—equine practitioner at Blue Ridge Equine Clinic, Thoroughbred breeder, foxhunter:

Every day we are blessed by these great animals that we live with. As an equine practitioner I get to witness the incredible variety of horses that we deal with and the great ones come in all shapes and types. Whether it is a good race horse straining to beat another or a good jumper soaring over big fences, a western pleasure horse loping with marvelous balance or a gaited horse that can rack all day—these animals are spectacular athletes and are inspiring. As a veterinarian, I get great pleasure in seeing a horse with a disease process, fighting that process, and coming out a winner; that often expresses a lot of courage on the animal’s part. As a horseman, I marvel at the newborn foal as well as being a partner with my foxhunter and the great pleasure that we all get with those interactions. Churchill said it accurately: "Nothing is as good for the inside of a man as the outside of a horse."
 

Jan Snodgrass, Light Heart Farm—TTEAM/TTouch Practitioner 1:

The world as we know it today was built on the back of a horse. My life and nearly every person’s life around the world is fuller and richer because of what horses have done for us. Thousands of years ago, perfect in the wildness of their original environment, we began to ask horses to adapt to ours. Since then, horses have enabled people to move great distances, settle lands, and fight wars. They have fed, clothed and sheltered people. They have plowed fields, blazed trails, pulled fire wagons, participated in funerals, helped to heal the disabled, provided entertainment and recreation. Through these many years, some people have looked upon horses as merely property, others as treasured companions and still others, simply, as a means to an end. But however people have thought of them, horses have always been, and still remain, fellow travelers on the human journey through life on this earth - A kind of brethren to human development.

I was captured by the beauty and spirit of horses as a young child and drawn into their world and their plight. Though many people tried to tell me that horses were stupid, had no ability to reason, were lazy and didn’t have emotions, I was drawn so deeply into their world that I found otherwise. I have found them to be more intelligent than most people allow. In fact, their adaptability to what humans have asked them to do is a testament to their intelligence. I have found them to be exceptionally willing once the obstacles in their way are removed. With senses far beyond the reach of ours I learned they are much more aware and sensitive in their interactions with people. They can easily sense human emotions because they are much like their own emotions. Horses do all these things in a world where their everyday lives are generally out of their control, where humans hold the key to their ultimate fate. And still, they continue to give to us every day.

Did you know that in some parts of the world today, a family’s entire income is dependent upon its horse, donkey or mule? On our southern border horses are used every day, not to keep out illegal aliens but to battle a type of tick that causes a high mortality rate among our cattle. I am thankful for my horses because of this legacy and for their big hearts, their exceptional intelligence, their sense of fun and adventure, but most of all, for allowing me into their world!