Meeting Tango

I would like you all to meet someone. His name is Tango and he is my horse. Tango is one of the biggest factors in my healing process. Working with animals in general I find to be so therapeutic, they force you to become present in the moment, animals are honest in a way I find human's aren't.

Besides riding a horse, ground work is such a powerful modality. The idea that I can get a 1,000 pound animal to move around and do what I am asking of him is so empowering. That many years ago a 200 pound man overpowered me, but I have control over my space of an animal that is 5x that is just amazing.

Tango and I found each other 3 years ago, when his previous owner brought him out of the pasture he looked directly at me, walked to me and put his head against my stomach. I wrapped my arms around him and hugged his head and I knew he would be mine.

Today he has helped build my self-esteem and self-worth up more than any human could. He mirrors how I am feeling in the moment and that gives me the opportunity to pause and reflect that is going on with me. When he closes his eyes and we are forehead to forehead, I am truly 100% present and it is an amazing feeling.

Here is my Tango.

Healing Horses

When I was little I rode horses all the time. I became completely addicted to them and every time my parents and I went on a drive they would always shout out, "Horse!” when they saw a farm and I went on a trail ride every time we traveled. Horses are so powerful, strong and magical. I was never afraid of them until one time, due to an unfortunate set of circumstances, I was thrown off. I was bedridden and in the worst pain I had ever been in due to a back injury, I even had to drop college classes because of it. The one thing I loved so much, had hurt me and I became afraid and it was heartbreaking. They became scary and unpredictable and my childlike wonder completely vanished and a harsh reality of these beautiful animals set in, that working with them could harm me. Then in 2008 when I was working on my BA in psychology we had several personal topics come up and I recall talking about how much I missed horses. My instructor encouraged me to face my fears and find again what my soul used to enjoy. So I did. I found a barn and started taking lessons. But my fear was still there; it even got to the point that I would have panic attacks and such extreme anxiety I could not even physically get on the horse. But I continued to push through, knowing that the fear I felt was a small price to pay for the joy and extreme exhilaration I felt after working with a horse. In 2009 I decided I wanted my own horse and I got Tango.  I loved him and the two of us got along perfectly, but then out of nowhere my anxiety, fear and panic attacks came back and for a while even just being near a horse would give me a panic attack. I couldn't ride him any longer. But I didn't give up. I started taking natural horsemanship lessons and working on groundwork and taking more lessons and this year I can finally walk, trot, lope on a horse without having a panic attack! I did my senior project in school on Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and spoke about the healing power of horses as facilitators into our own insight and healing process and I have experienced first hand. Being a survivor of sexual assault it was so emotionally healing to know that I could control a 1200 pound animal, that I could tell him what to do and he would listen, that I too was powerful, could be the alpha and be strong and confident. When I work with horses I walk away feeling as if I could do anything in the world and being able to experience that feeling after feeling completely powerless during an assault has been incredibly healing and I highly recommend survivors to look into therapeutic horse centers. Contact me if you have any questions and I would be happy to help!

My Story of Healing and Strength: Intro

It has been 11 years since my sexual assault and 11 years since I started my path on learning how to heal and gather my strength to become the person I was meant to be, despite the fact I was raped at 14. I would like to begin posting frequently under "My Story of Healing and Strength" in hope others walking down the same path can gather hope from my posts. You will also see posts under "Healing Power of Horses" and "Phototherapy" as these are two of the things that have helped me immensely on my journey. Good luck on your journey, I look forward to sharing mine with you.