How the Pleasant Street Stables helped me grow.

Horses have always been my favorite animal, so it was a dream come true when Teri Botfield called to arrange an internship/volunteer deal with her business, Pleasant Street Stables. When I first joined to volunteer, I had only medical experience behind working with horses. I was completely inexperienced and thought all there was to horses was horseback riding. I was unaware of the fact that they came with their own personalities. I can definitely tell you now I was utterly wrong. Over the past year, Teri and her horses have increased my knowledge and changed my life for the better by helping me evolve into a sophisticated being. The experiences I have had through volunteering under her have helped me grow into a stronger, confident, and happier being, while contributing to the development of my leadership skills I had seemed to be missing in my life.

It is safe to say I am not the same person I was on the first day of volunteering. I was shy, and lacked self-confidence. I was always the kid who was told to speak up or questioned about why I never spoke. Truth is, the world had been cruel to me in my past and I expected just as much judgement at the stables. I know I said I loved horses, but when Teri gave me a horse to groom for the first time in my life, I was terrified. Other than horseback riding or practicing physical exams in Vet Tech school, I had never been that close to a horse. The horse Teri gave me was really stubborn. I ended up grooming him as slowly and softly as possible to prevent from upsetting him. When I was done, I realized it wasn’t so bad. I couldn’t comprehend why I was even terrified. I guess I just doubted myself and didn’t think I was even good enough to groom a horse. How silly is that? Over the next few weeks of successfully grooming multiple horses, I began to question why I thought it would be impossible for me to do. And now, I’ve gone from self-loathing to thinking I am a professional horse groomer. I’ve realized self-apprehension won’t get me anywhere. How can I know I am bad at something, if I’ve never tried it? Grooming horses has taught me to believe in myself, rather than automatically assuming I will fail. I have also learned that if I do fail, I just need to get up and try again. Like when it took being wacked in the face by English saddle stirrups to finally start securing them when pulling the saddle off the horse. In the beginning when I would fail, I would think to myself, “I am never going to get this right. I am not cut out for this. I am just a disappointment.” Now when Teri teaches me something new and I fail, I get back up and tell myself, “I can do this. It may take 3 more weeks to get the hang of it, but I can perfect this.” Grooming her horses has taught me to believe in myself and to accept my mistakes just as they are; lessons towards perfecting a skill.

Many of you may already know “Heads up” is a term commonly used around the stables. The phrase “Heads up” has two meanings in my life, thanks to Teri and her horses. The universal connotation means to look up and get out of the way because a horse Is coming through. You also want to keep your head up when leading a horse around because the horse is looking to you for guidance. If you aren’t paying attention or giving appropriate direction, the horse is not going to listen to you. A leader does not walk with their head down. A leader is confident with their stride and prideful with their head held high. This is where the value comes in. Learning to hold my head up and correcting my posture has boosted my confidence. I feel prideful, happy and like I can do anything that is asked of me. There is something about holding your head up that boosts positive energy throughout your body and your surroundings. Another thing I have learned while leading horses around is that you must take control by demanding what you want and speaking loudly. Teri uses the word “whoa” to stop her horses. I used to say “whoa” as quietly as possible. When I did that, the horses didn’t listen. I am unsure of whether it was because they didn’t hear me or because I sounded weak to them. But when I started being louder and demanding what I wanted through repetition and ques, I began to see a change. The horses finally started to listen to me. I realized that speaking louder actually gave me a voice in and outside of the horse world. Nobody is going to listen if they can’t hear you or feel as if you aren’t confident in the words you speak. If you show confidence with keeping your head held high and being louder with your voice, people and horses will follow.

Throughout my beginning experiences of volunteering, I was always afraid of a horse freaking out while I was leading them because I was unsure of how to react in the given situation. A few months into learning how to lead horses, I was walking one of Teri’s majestic, and trust me he knows it, horses back to his stall and he became spooked over a plastic bag. He started running circles around me, which scared me half to death. Luckily, with quick thinking, I just went with the flow. I stepped back to make sure he did not end up running into me and I positioned my body to where I was standing next to him at a safe distance. I just circled with him while letting out powerful “whoas” and pulling the lead rope into his chest to get him to stop. Once we made it into the barn aisle next to his stall, he finally began to calm down. I gave him a pat on the neck and told him it was ok, then let him loose in his stall. Teri immediately came to check on me and asked if I was ok. I just started laughing and said, “That was so fun.” Can you imagine that? After me sharing with you about how nervous I was to be around horses on my first day? I couldn’t believe I actually said that. I attained so much information that day. First off, in the moment that the horse started to freak out, it was only me and him and I had to take control of the situation or I could’ve been seriously hurt. I didn’t let go of the horse or freeze up. I instantly tried to calm him down, as a leader would do. In that moment, my confidence had shined the brightest. Second, there is no way to teach someone how to react when disaster strikes. I just had to go through it myself to know what to do and what not to do. I learned a lot in that moment about body positioning and horse handling that Teri had been instructing me about since the first month of volunteering. I honestly believe after that incident I had made a transition from beginner to skilled horse leader. Lastly, I am a goody-two-shoes, so this is hard for me to say, but you are going to have to break the rules sometimes to get what you need out of a situation. How did I break the rules? Well the horse was charging into the barn and I was unable to stop him to make sure nobody was coming out. However, there was no way I could have stopped him without being dragged to his stall. Luckily nobody was in the barn at the time or things could have ended badly. Although this experience did leave me shaking at the end of the day, I still think it was worth it just for the lessons and skills I had obtained.

Over the past year I have learned to trust all of Teri’s horses, even the one that left me trembling from freaking out over a plastic bag. All the times I had to go into their stalls to halter them, lead them around the stables, pick their back feet, and the few times I had ridden them have eased my fear of getting hurt and ensured me of their love. There is one particular horse that has taught me the most about endearment because of how docile she is. Teri has taught me to do horse exercises with her. At first, it was really intimidating because it put me in dangerous positions, but out of all the times I have exercised her, she hasn’t done anything to try to hurt me. Seeing how patient she is when teaching new people how to lead has made me realize horses are not aggressive animals. Like Teri has told me, “they are people pleasers. They may become frightened because they’re ancestors were prey animals, but they aren’t trying to harm us.” And when I think about it, I am handling an animal that weighs over a thousand pounds and could seriously injure me or get loose at any moment if it wanted to, but instead it allows me to groom, lead, and ride it without much hesitation. These ginormous animals can get their way at any moment in time, but have that much trust in me to let me care for them. I think they deserve the same amount of trust and love back, if not more. This is honestly why my love for horses has grown to new heights.

Like her horses, Teri has also contributed to my success through the amount of trust she has put into me by letting me work with her horses. She even trusts me enough to watch over/teach new comers. I was so nervous the first time Teri asked me to instruct and assist one of her new clients, because I was used to following instructions, not giving them. I was extremely hesitant. However, Teri refused to let me back out of the situation because she strongly believed I was capable. She ensured me I could do it, which gave me the confidence to step up and share my knowledge. I was surprised by how much information I shared. I helped someone learn something new and actually enjoyed it when I thought I was going to end up being annoyed. When Teri asked me to help her during Horse Camp, I almost backed out because I was not comfortable watching over a bunch of kids around huge horses. However, she again convinced me to go through with it. I ended the summer wishing it was a permanent thing. I loved teaching children how to take care of horses. Seeing the smiles on all of their faces brought joy to my inner child. I absolutely adored when they would ask for help because it was a dream come true to be someone else’s horse mentor. It felt good to help others how Teri helped me. And once more, I felt like a leader in a whole new light. It made me feel needed and like I belonged. I am so grateful for Teri always encouraging me to leave my comfort zone to try new things because I always come out with stronger attributes. She has pushed me to come out of my shell more than anyone else outside of my family has. It means so much to always hear her say thank you at the end of the day because the appreciation makes me feel as if I am a valued member of her business. I have found what I’ve been longing for; A place where I can continue to prosper while feeling needed in the field I love. I always leave the stables with a smile on my face and optimistic feelings about my next volunteer day.

This is how Pleasant Street Stables has contributed to my personal growing and maturing. I learned to believe in myself by realizing my potential of succeeding even if I fail. I learned confidence by always keeping my head up and being a leader. I learned how to step up and take control of a bad situation for a better outcome. Lastly, I learned to trust and love those who do the same for me.