The Year From Hell – Kari’s Story

It’s been seven years since mom passed away.

When 2011 hit and Buddy (my horse) died that morning. Then my mom died that night. And then I had three more horses die in eight weeks. I was numb.

That was when I changed for a while. I was heartbroken. Faye (my mom) was phenomenal. She was one of the most amazing women I've ever met. She found her way through everything and it didn't matter what it was.

From my horse passing away or my mother passing away, you know, it was a struggle. I still think about that day but I have faith. I have the discipline to carry on and I just keep on trucking.

I got an email from a lady, so I sat down and then oh my goodness. In this letter I discovered this horse's name is Faye, like my mom's name is Faye and spelt just like my mom's name. Well, that just opened everything up again. Okay, I thought. I am supposed to have this horse. I don't know why.

I was really excited because it actually happened two weeks after my mom passed away. And of course, the first day we get Faye (the horse) here, what does she do? She gets caught in the barbed wire fence. I have to call the vet in. You know, that was so typical of my mom though, to be like that when she went into something. It was full blast. She often got hurt.

Any human being who met my mom was blessed. Even though she was always poor and we were always poor all of our lives, I loved it. I loved that we came from nothing but came from everything because of all of the values that she always taught us to have.

What she did do was she bought me a book from a garage sale that was $0.25. I still have this book to this day. This book, which was about looking after horses, must have been read every single day. To me there was so much power in it. I would delve into the book that my mom gave me (because she couldn't give me the real thing, a horse). But by giving me this little 25 cent book it inspired me to always want to be with horses, want to work with horses. However, I never knew what that was ever going to look like. I just always wanted it. It was a progression.

I loved horses. I always had from day one. Even when I met my partner my prior history was that I had been in love with horses. It's a passion. It's my life. I live for it.

I love my horses. I love what the horses do for my clients. When they come out and they take the programs, the changes in people's attitudes are uplifting. When I go home from a course or a program at the end of the day, that's all I talk about.

Anybody that knows me knows I’m a very bubbly person and I love what I’m doing. It's not just clients that are affected by me following my dreams. It's every single person that comes through my door. Anybody that spends 3 or 4 days with a horse taking a program ends up a changed person when they walk out of here, even for the people who come in to be certified, it's that same thing.

When they come to learn how to do this. The biggest piece that they learn first, because it's life changing. It's a life changing course, is their story. I was never sure of my story before. And, you know, it's through each and every one of us and what we have experienced that helps us connect.

We all have a story. I think that's the most exciting piece. We have a story, we have a connection to each other, and we have a gift. Through those pieces, that's what makes us and helps us to move towards the dream that we're called to do and destined to do. We know it.

Either move forward or you don't. The don't, makes me cringe inside because if you don't. You don't see. You don't hear. You don't feel anymore. So that's never a choice. Never was a choice for me.

I love moving forward. I love that even through pain, through agony, through tears, through frustrations, through if you want to call them challenges and obstacles (I call them opportunities). I hope that by telling our stories and connecting to others, we can help more people to understand it. It just is what it is. Don't overthink it. Don't live in the past. Don't live too much in the future. When you live in your now, you can be present in your now and then, that’s when you appreciate those moments.