Why work with horses?

The Healing Power of Horses

If you know me a little, you will know that horses are very special to me and that they have a very important place in my life. Since I was little I have dreamed of having a horse, I asked for it every year in the letter to the Wise Men or Three Kings. (In Spain back then, we did not use the tradition of Santa Claus but we have always had the Three Kings from the East who come on the night of the 5th of January).

I asked for it every year but it never came, although one year they did bring me a wooden horse! And I thought that I had not made it completely clear and that next year I would explain it better. Every morning of January 6th I would wake up thinking that the Kings would have left a horse for me at the entrance of our apartment (where no large animal fits very clearly!) and somehow the horse would have been silent without making noise so that I could rest during the night. I laugh thinking about this now and so appreciate the magical thinking of childhood.

When I was 8 years old I started horseback riding, with a teacher at school who had one at home and from there I gradually improved, but I never competed, and I never got to have one of my own. My parents took me to class but my mother didn’t usually come because she was afraid something would happen to me, it caused too much worry for her! Adolescence arrived, my focus shifted, and I stopped attending the classes. I remember feeling so sad and envious when I saw one of the girls get her own horse, so I decided to move onto other things.

Years passed until I signed up again, I felt something was missing and knew that this was it. I was 17 years old at the time, and continued horseback riding for another year or so, until leaving once again to pursue my medical degree. After completing my studies, I returned to my home town and started once again. I have not stopped since.

As a Doctor, it can be so challenging to find Peace.

When I came back it was for a reason. Horseback riding was a source of joy and healing for me. The sport forces me to be in the present, to not think about anything else, it brings me happiness and peace. Working as a physician is a stressful and at times all confusing profession, and horseback riding is one of the only things that really takes my mind away from my patients, the anxiety and the stress that faces medical professionals.This is what happens to me when I go horseback riding, it’s the ONLY thing in my life that makes me stop thinking about my job or the things that worry me.