Running in My Dreams

Running in My Dreams…

By: Shawnee McAninch

I have been horse crazy since I got my first pony at age 8 and immediately dreamed of my first horse. Growing up on a small farm in Ohio… dreams were not something to indulge in. But looking back today on that life, I’ve realized that my childhood made me the person I am today and over the years my dreams have come to pass.

All I ever wanted to do was raise horses and have a small farm. However, life did not go as planned. I’ve had many a therapy appointment in my quest to over-come what I went through in my younger years. It was during this time-period that my vision began to take shape. I wanted to use my background to help others like me to get through life. I became aware of equine assisted education after doing some research and realized I could combine my love of horses with my desire to help people. It has been many years since that idea took shape and there have been many times I nearly gave up.

The horse industry is hard and knowing who to trust is a challenge. It does not replace a salary and is hard and sometimes all-consuming work. My ventures into this career cost me friends and nearly my marriage… and it seemed like the person that needed help the most was me! Recently I had an encounter with God, and He brought me a wonderful trainer who quickly became like a mom to me. She has been instrumental in guiding me down a different path… one that lets go some of the stress and control I’ve been holding onto and that encourages me to look at things differently. Through her guidance my business has begun to grow and expand.

We officially became a non-profit at the end of 2020 and just completed our first start up year as an Equine Assisted Education program. Our current development goals include getting our facility certified and our staff the appropriate training to begin offering Equine Therapy and other classes for special needs. Our instructor is certified, and we have the infrastructure and staff in place to move forward in this direction. We are also starting a gardening and poultry co-op for homeschool families and local community families that want to learn about growing their own food and raising poultry… including learning about business plans and how to start their own gardens and poultry operations.

Our programs have been established for the primary purpose of providing social and educational opportunities to people in our community. Our intent is to provide equine assisted lessons and skill building, access to internship programs to stimulate learning of job skills and personal development, access to outdoor activities and support of core learning, and assisting parents who have been affected by the current COVID crisis to have access to the program regardless of their ability to pay. Our future mission includes offering our programs to military families, students with special needs and families that have been affected by domestic violence… Equine Assisted Therapy and education is a proven method of reaching clients suffering from PTSD or violation of trust. It reaches across barriers to students with autism and learning disabilities. It brings families and friends together! It teaches responsibility. Our motto has been and probably always will be “helping people helping animals” and along the course of that mission it ends up being the horse that speaks to the person.

The other day I saw a post on Facebook that really made me stop and think. It was all about not giving up and going for your dreams. As I was pondering that, I realized that I’m living my dream. Small farm in rural small-town America; husband, family and children; animals and gardens; good friends; and a business involved with horses and helping people. No, it has not been easy in fact, it has been extremely difficult. Do I think it’s all going to turn as I expect – NO! But I am grateful for what is going on in my life right now. And as for my dreams – I say dream big because you don’t know what the future holds. But you had better be willing to work hard to achieve that dream, because every vision requires someone to accomplish it. I don’t know if I’ll achieve everything on my “Mission” list, but every child and family we help and every smile we see is another goal met - and that is what it’s all about.