Once upon a time there was a girl who wanted a horse. What girl DIDN'T want a horse, the reader may be wondering? Little girls, especially about age 10 ALWAYS have a pony fixation. This particular girl dreamt of a horse that she could ride right out of her childish desperation. Her father had always been "mean". He yelled a lot and hit her mom and her. She didn't have any siblings to confide in, but she was always good about making chosen family, even at this age.

This year was particularly strange. She had experienced sexual abuse from the man married to her grandma, though she wouldn't know that's what happened for another 10 years. Nevertheless, it changed things. I the midst of this slippery atmosphere, her father, who despite all his human imperfections, bought her a horse! He came home from his construction job one day and said "look what I got you" and the horse was being brought by a man he worked with. It was a small, buckskin gelding, half Quarter Horse, half Welsh Pony.

Though this horse didn't make the bad things go away, it helped her spirit run free across the prairie. It helped her learn to trust herself, to have the courage to leap, to stand up on a horse's back, to walk and then to run bareback. She could explore with a friend, even when her human friends were unavailable. It connected her to the earth in a new way. A way that let her know that even in the darkest hours, the sacred earth would be there, beneath her feet, steadfast, and willing to channel the healing energy of the universe in her behalf.

This may have been one of the first times animals saved her life, but it wasn't be the last.

Laura Law
1999
Thanks, Epona, Goddess of the Equine.