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TWO
Raya
“Easy does it. There you go!”I clapped my hands together as Kylie rode her horse. I had just given her a series of directions to follow, and not only did she do well in asking the horse to do those things for her, but I was happy with Dusty for his progress as well.
Not all horses were cut out for equine therapy, and I was always glad to find one that seemed especially good at it. We’d just gotten Dusty a couple months before, and I was happy to see how fast he was coming along with his training. The fact was that we’d gotten him from a butcher who let us know Dusty was set to be slaughtered.
He was retired from being a companion to a racehorse, and instead of simply passing him to another pasture, his family was done with him and wanted to get rid of him, eager to start fresh with something younger and more agile – something that would keep up with the horses they had now.
I was so moved with the story for Dusty, I welcomed him aboard immediately. And, after getting to know him for a few days, I couldn’t believe there were people out there who were cruel enough to butcher an animal simply because they thought it was too old.
There were countless rescues and sanctuaries out there that would be happy to take on an animal like Dusty, yet, here we were. But, I was also grateful that we had gotten Dusty the way we did. We didn’t have a ton of money, and we were getting more and more clients all the time. That would help in the financing department, but that was only if we had the horses here for those who were coming to my facility now.
The fact that we had more horses coming in was great, but I had to make sure things were still coming along as they should be considering our growth. I had recently come back to my little job out here on the equine therapy line, but I was glad that I had.
The place was growing faster than ever, and now that my best friend, Harper, was with someone, I had more free time than ever to do what I wanted. I dated around well enough, but I was getting sick of that. I wanted what Harper had. Not that I was jealous of my friend by any means. Quite the opposite, in fact.
I was happier for her than I thought I could be for someone else getting something I wanted for myself. But, I knew there was someone out there for me, too, and it was just a matter of finding him when the time was right. I didn’t know when that would be, but then, who did? There was no way to ask fate. Like Harper, I would just have to sit back and live life, waiting for fate to find the right moment to bring someone special to me.
And in the meantime, I was going to dedicate my time to the animals and the people who came through the therapeutic facility we had here.
It had been a few months since I started working here again. I had been so engulfed in my life in New York City that I hadn’t really thought about slowing down. It wasn’t until my best friend found someone to rock her world that I really thought about what I was doing with my own life.
And I found it time to get out of the city and head back to my roots. At least to an extent.
I wasn’t moving away from the City. No. I was too in love with it to move away. But, I did want to open my schedule a bit more. Not just for work I liked more than what I was doing in the city, but for doing things for myself. Time to myself.
And there were few things I enjoyed more than horses.
I loved the animals. And I loved helping people. Working with horses to help people with issues seemed like a match made in heaven for me. And in a way, it was. I loved this little girl I had been working with all morning, and she seemed thrilled with the progress she’d made today.
Kylie was only eleven years old, and her parents had gone through a nasty divorce. While both parents had done their best to keep Kylie herself out of the drama, she did feel the massive trauma in her life in more ways than one, and her mother felt it was the best thing to do to bring her to therapy as soon as she could.
She wanted to give Kylie the best chance possible to come through her childhood and not wind up with all the anxiety and depression she herself had. And, with the way Kylie seemed to be responding to the horses, I felt it was a good move.
Kylie had been a quiet, easily upset girl when she first came to the facility to start working with us, but with time, she was blossoming. I couldn’t believe how fast she had adapted to the horses, and how well the horses responded to her. It was a miracle, in a way, because I could use it to remind Kylie that the divorce had nothing to do with her, and she was someone everyone loved – human or not – and to work through the pain of it but not blame herself.
“Mom says if we move back home with Grandma and Grandpa she’s going to let me get a horse,” Kylie told me with a smile. “That would be great, right?”
“It would be. If there’s anyone out there who knows how to handle a horse, it’s you,” I told her. “And you might make a lifelong friend with one, too.”
“It would be nice to have something that doesn’t have the option to run away from me,” she said. “Like Dad.”
“Oh, honey, you have to remember. It had nothing to do with you. I know it’s hard when parents don’t love each other anymore. My mom and dad got divorced about the time I was your age, and you know what? My mom also put me in to work with horses around that time, too. It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” I told her.
“Really?” she asked.
“Really,” I said. “You can be sad about your dad leaving and your mom and you having to move, but that doesn’t at all mean that anyone wants to run away from you. I think you are pretty special, you know that?”
She smiled, and though I could see the pain in the smile, it was still progress. There was a time not too long ago when I would work with her all day and not get anything even remotely close to a smile. To see it meant that she was working through emotions, and she was processing.
There were some who would say that it was a cover, but I knew a genuine smile when I saw one, and that most certainly was one. She looked at home on the back of a horse, and I had high hopes for her.
I continued to take my time with her, though I was relieved when the session was over and it was time to give her back to her mom.
“Kylie did great!” I said as her mother helped Kylie into the car. “If you want to step over this way with me, I’ll let you know what we talked about and how it went.”
Being a therapist, I walked a fine line with kids. I knew they had to be able to trust me and feel safe to tell me anything, and there were times when we discussed things I knew Kylie didn’t want me to share with her mother. But, there were also things I had to keep her mother in the loop over, and I knew she would be happy to hear how well Kylie was doing with the animals. It was the entire reason she was being brought here, after all, and I knew just how important it was for her mother to hear she was doing well.
