Second Chance and the Face of Peaceful Pastures Ranch
As I sit here and admire the picture my dad snuck of my sweet boy (Second Chance) and I, I can’t help but reflect on the crazy roller coaster this past year has been. I carry many titles just like many other people in this world. I am a mother, a daughter, a sister, a trauma therapist, a girlfriend, an entrepreneur and a horse rescuer (“hoarder” what’s the difference, am I right??)....the list goes on.
Yet, every time I receive a plea for help I struggle to say no or not my problem. Because what’s one more pound on the weight of the world. My heart is sometimes metaphorically too large for me to carry. Over the years, I have placed myself in very difficult and/or dangerous situations to help others, taken them in and fed, clothed and housed them.
As a trauma therapist, I get the privilege of being an ear, a comforting presence and occasionally the voice of reason as someone processes through their trauma and learns to love themselves and move forward with a new found strength. In the past year, I have found my dream job and it has provided the opportunity to grow my passion for helping horses and giving others the opportunity to feel the healing power they possess and grow as a therapist. At PPR, we are more than just a rescue. I founded Peaceful Pastures Ranch to have the ability to increase my reach of helping horses and people together. I am frequently caught off guard by surprised “you are PPR??” comments I receive from family and friends that follow our facebook page. I choose not to be the face of PPR and here is why...
When I received a request to go pick up this beautiful boy because the people who owned him couldn’t afford him any longer, I had no idea what I was stepping into. Information was minimal, very little communication and a whole lot of shady details. My family made the faces at me they usually do when I should say no. I wanted to walk away and say not my problem...but I couldn’t. So I organized, planned and got my partner in crime, best friend and founder of Honey's Mini Therapy Adventures involved and off we drove 3 hours with a horse trailer and 3 kids. We are coming into a little over 2 months since the day we drove up to a sketchy situation to pick up a horse that no one wanted. Animal control had been involved for months but everyone had basically said, he’s not my problem. No one wanted to take responsibility for this starving blind horse, so they put him in a garbage lot, leaving him to fend for himself and washed their hands of him while feeding all their other animals around him leaving him to starve. We were infuriated and could not leave him at this point...
2 months later...Chance is the epitome of resilience, love and proof that you can grow through anything. This horse is my soul, my passion and my reason for putting all of my heart, spare time and energy into PPR. Because he deserves it. So many people turned a blind eye and said not my problem. Anyone who knows me, knows I don’t talk a whole lot, small talk is very difficult and uncomfortable for me. But I love to listen, I very deeply feel the emotions of others and I never turn away when someone needs to be heard. But this guy, I can tell him all my worries, sing to him and just be with him and it washes away any stressors I carry for the day. He is strength I don’t even think he knows he carries. I want others to be able to experience that for themselves and find their healing through him and the others. He is the face of PPR and will continue to live his life happy, loved and helping humans to overcome their own struggles by seeing the incredible soul that he is. While I love every single one of my 12 horses in all their own special ways...this guy not so secretly holds the most special place in my heart. I would not change anything about my choices to save him or my struggles with saying no to those who need me. Regardless of financial stressors that rescuing each horse takes on PPR.
If you read this far, welcome to the labyrinth that runs through my brain and thank you for all who support and make PPR a possibility! I can’t express how blessed I feel that this is my life and all that horses have brought into it.