I'm back from my intensive equine therapy experience in the Bob Marshall Wilderness. In summary, it was the most amazing experience of my life.
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| here I am with my trusty horse, Harley |
Everything we needed to live for the week got packed in on the mules. Tents, woodstove, food, supplies, everything...
The first day consisted of a four hour ride to the base camp, sometimes on very scary steep and narrow trails. Remember, this was the first time in my life of ever riding a horse!
We had 31 horses and mules total for the trip. Each night they were set free, they would run out of camp and disappear into the mountains to graze and explore. They loved getting their off time!
The wrangler would get up crazy-early and ride out into the mountains, searching for the horses. Once he finds them, he wrangles them back to camp.
The food! OMG! THE FOOD!! Here I was thinking we would be eating hotdogs and hamburgers, but not even close! We had gourmet food cooked on the woodstove by Karen, our backcountry cook. She's been a backcountry cook for 43 years! And boy did she work magic on this little stove, baking biscuits, cakes, breads... The food was ridiculously incredible.
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| Ron (wrangler) and Karen (cook) |
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| fresh baked biscuits!!! Are you kidding me?? |
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coffee, biscuits and gravy, hash browns and eggs!
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We did a bit of riding each day to a new mountain top meadow where we did our therapy. The views were ridiculously amazing! Everything about this trip was ridiculously amazing!!
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| photo courtesy of L |
My horse, Harley, taught me many truths about myself and about life.
As you can see from the pictures, we had perfect weather! Hot, sunny skies and no rain!
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| our therapy space for the day! Crazy-beautiful! |
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| photo courtesy of E |
Everything about this experience felt like an amazing gift from God. I've never felt more loved by God and more connected to myself and others. The abundant love from the other participants, staff, horses, and God was ever-present, giving me the perfect opportunity to challenge some of my longstanding deeply held fears. I left many of those fears in these mountains and feel so much freer.
As I've said, this trip was the most amazing experience of my life. The therapy that took place was exactly what I needed. I came back feeling completely refreshed and grounded. I'm lighter, yet more solid and way more accepting of myself. I feel amazing both internally and externally.
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| Harley |
I had all sorts of fears before leaving for this trip (e.g. falling off my horse, running out of water, getting mauled by a bear, etc.) and thankfully none of them came true. All in all the trip was perfect. I would not change a thing, even the time Harley bucked me off his back and scared me to death!! Yikes!
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| Me and my boy |
Every day of this experience required me to dig deep and find significant courage, always tenderly wrapped in love. I'm immensely grateful that God called me out to this amazing wilderness so he could immerse me in his love and cast out my fears. I now feel more fully alive than I've ever felt in my life! Life begins now, and I'm ready!
