Greetings From Kel!

Hay there Friends! I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce myself and how my life and service has become centered around horses.

I personally did not grow up with horses, and although I had brief moments with them throughout my life and knew something was there, it did not start to manifest until I was working at a Residential Treatment program and would spend my lunch breaks out on a hillside that overlooked the pasture where Terry Kozak (the equine director) was also often enjoying her lunch, with a herd of rescue horses. I was in the educational department so we didn't have too much interaction with the equine therapy process, but I knew I was witnessing the deeper parts of the horse-human connection and came to understand that the horses were the heart and soul of that program even if it was often under the radar.

After about 25 years working in the fields of education and mental health, I ended up completely crashing out with chronic illness from Lyme Disease, mycotoxins, parasites, and more. As Dr. Gabor Mate would say, "my body finally said NO!" During this time I had two friends who decided to put their equine therapy business on hold and serve in other ways. They shared that the four horses would love some company and thus began my official partnership with The Horse Nation. Each day I could get myself out of bed and drive down the road, I would be out to pasture fully experiencing a unique healing Medicine in which I will talk more about in other articles.

As the years have gone by, and I have been walking a great Initiation with chronic illness, horses have quickly become a critical anchor for my life and my work and I am so grateful for partnerships and friendships that have been a part (and continue to be a part) of this journey. I have gotten an amazing opportunity to spend A LOT of time out to pasture, learning directly from horses. I haven't had the money or the physical ability to travel around doing much learning from other humans (although there have been some pretty cool folks I've gotten to grab some nuggets from) and I haven't had the mental functioning to be able to read a lot of books. So, in a world where we place a value on letters behind names, certifications, and name dropping of teachers...this might put me at a disadvantage. However, I understand the value of a more indigenous style of learning and know that this is the path that was chosen for me. I believe there is value in re-membering the inner wisdom that exists within each of us and understand this to be a critical Medicine the Horse Nation has to give. There are many great teachers out there and a lot of great resources to connect to and seek inspiration from, but the core of my learning is directly from the source. I am honored to serve as a bridge of connection in this way for whoever is willing to show up and let themselves be seen.

After all those years ago, when I used to sit up on that hillside and wish I could be like Terry Kozak, The Great Mystery has brought us (and many others) together sitting out to pasture contemplating and conspiring about how we can help make our little corner of the Universe a little better by connecting horses and humans (or often just figuring out how to keep all the horses alive!). We share a deep passion, commitment, and calling to horses and truly understand how they can help us be in good relationship with ourselves, others, and the planet. I am constantly learning and growing and hope you will join me/us on this awesome journey!