Stridewright
I was first introduced to horses at Trails End Ranch, when I attended summer camp there, at the age of 12. We got to ride horses every day, except Sunday. As a new rider, I was put on the "bomb-proof" horse the first day and then the instructors began to let me ride horses that were more of a challenge. When I got home, I begged my parents to buy a horse from Helen Shank, named Trojan. I don't remember how tall he was, but he was the biggest horse she had for us campers to ride, and it was said "he can be a handful sometimes". I never had that experience with Trojan, myself.
My next experience with horses was when I was 18, and a girl friend, had horses, and I began riding again. One of her horses was a "difficult horse to ride", he did try a few tricks, but, I just seemed to know what he was going to do, just before he tried one of his tricks. Since I was able to ride Tom-Tom, the folks at the stable began to put me on other horses with "issues". None of the horses did anything "bad", and the stable folks were surprised. Then they began to try and find horses that "Daniel" couldn't ride, a game of sorts. This was not a riding barn with an covered arena, just a boarding barn, with a round pen, and mostly trail riding.
Looking back, I never was around a qualified trainer or someone who might noticed my ability/gift with horses, and as life moved me along, horses got left behind.
I started to loose my vision at the age of 21, and over the next 8 years, I lost 95 percent of my optic nerve, and the little vision I have left, is like looking through an ice cube.
Fast forward to 2007, and I was at a friend's home for a potluck dinner, and one of young folks there, was telling everyone about her new horse. This conversation sparked my memories of riding, and I asked if she would allow me to try riding her horse, (a pony-ride). She agreed, and I found out how much I had missed horses in my life, and that I could still ride, even though I'm mostly blind.
In 2008 I got my own horse, and he and I worked through my riding blind, and he has become quite a great "guide horse". I ride all over the island I live on, using a talking GPS, so I know where I am. Over the next few years, I knew I wanted to do something more with horses, other than just riding, and I was looking for a new career.
My investigations, of what a blind person could do with horses, led me to Joseph Freeman of "The Equine Natural Movement" school. Joseph said that, I was a natural at the work and that I would be a good Equine Body-Worker.
I graduated from the school in 2112, and have been doing body-work on horses ever since.
Daniel
Helping Horses, 'best as I can.