After 9 years of leading HOPE Equestrian Center, I resigned, skating on the edge of burnout from the 60 hour work schedule. Newly available time opened for me to write the book that had been on my mind. When I would present the summer program I had developed for at-risk teens at national conferences, people […]
Listen to this moving testimonial by one of Riding Beyond’s first participants. Her experiences opened possibilities to us that have guided our programs since our beginnings in 2013. Our programs enriched Jan’s imaginal body so that, following her experience with our horses and people, Mystic became a permanent companion to her. This is a primary […]
Mystic blisses out as Ann-Marie reads this poem to her: Oh splendid beast,Oh mystic giant,Means freedom to my heart,A calming to my soul. Gratitude flows in rhythm to the beat of your steps,My heart against your body,Holding me up, holding me up. Dark eyes of mirroring glass draw me in,down, down, down into the […]
Thanks to Michelle Hobson and the Southern Oregon Hope Chest, their silent auction yesterday netted close to $2000 for Riding Beyond at the Pink Ribbon of Hope Gala. Hurray! People participated in the celebration at the end of the event, claiming promises for next year’s program, after making wish beads for a necklace for Mystic […]
Mystic — as your name implies . . . a seer, a sage, an oracle — You have been all of these to me in our brief sessions. As the seer — you taught me that real strength comes not from our bodies, but from our hearts, of which yours is very large! and from […]
You are an awesome animal created by God above. He designed you with your patient personality and very gentle spirit. It appears you have a special calling by helping befriend each new woman who meets you at Riding Beyond. I so appreciated our first meeting session. As I was learning how to connect with you […]
This past week I had a revelatory experience, recasting my past in a way that is still reverberating through me. Sunday, for the Summer Solstice, I found a few hours in an unusually busy week to go up to Howard Prairie for the 20th Annual World Peace and Prayer Day sponsored by Red Earth Descendants […]
Last Sunday afternoon, just following a rain that lured Mystic into a refreshing roll in the mud, Robin Miller, MD, spent a little over a half hour at Royal Crest Ranch having her first taste of Riding Beyond. She wrote me today about her experience, from the airport as she travels to New York for […]
Great group of 16 nursing students from Southern Oregon University’s program under the Oregon Health Sciences University joined us today to taste Riding Beyond. Surprisingly, we had more men in this group of nurses than we’ve ever had in our previous events. Such a varied group of students, all in their second of five terms […]