Letting Go

                I have decided that because I am old, broken and very tired, on Oct. 1, 2015 I will be retiring as “Fearless Leader” of Eye of the Storm. In the next four and a half years most of the horses I have pledged my life to care for, will be taken by their angels. They are all in the twenties. I will have fulfilled my obligation to them. All that will be left of the original group will be most of the ponies, Baby Faith, and hopefully my own horse Fancy, though she will be twenty-eight at that time.

                I will still be an active member of the organization as executive director for a while longer. I will continue to share the things I have learned here as a life-long “horse observer”. But the physical stuff is just getting to be too much.

                I was always afraid to let go. Who would carry on this work? How could EOTS go on without me? I have had many volunteers come and go. Most have gone on to bigger and better things. But one has stayed with me since she was fourteen years old. She is the only one who has absorbed everything I have ever tried to teach. She is my apprentice. She is the only one in all these years that understands the point I have tried to make. She has become an extension of me, though a much nicer person than I am. She is now twenty-one years old. Eye of the Storm will live on.

                And so my friend Jessica M. will be taking over the reins. I am so relieved to know that I have such a one to carry on this precious work, that the circle of EOTS will be safe. Our program will be refined and changed a bit in the hands of modern young people, but only for the better, as I have been left behind in this technical era. So much more will be accomplished without me in charge.

                In the meantime, stalls must be cleaned, horses cared for, and money still needed to buy feed, bedding, vet and hoof trimming.  Our educating horse owners about responsibility to their horses for life continues. This is the “dry period” for us. The only money coming in is from donations from you. We need your help right now. I thank you for all of your past support and I hate begging for money from friends, but the horses must be fed.

                Again thank you so much, Nina


           And so, I introduce to you, Jessica. Please Jess tell a little about yourself.

           Nice to meet you! I’m Jessica M. I’ve been volunteering at Eye of the Storm for the past seven, very eventful years of my life. Though I’ve been to many different barns and have begun working at numerous more, EOTS is where I learned almost everything I know about horses on the ground. When I was a child I made the decision to stop taking riding lessons and start volunteering at a rescue, I never imagined how much more I’d learn just working with horses. Horses have a lot to teach, and Nina has a life full of horse observing to pass on to me.

In the past seven years I’ve seen horses come and go in all ways. I have many a sad story to tell about the horses at EOTS and their sad passing’s, but I’d rather tell you about the joys of new arrivals and breakthroughs in recoveries. I remember holding Czardas’s head through her experimental surgery in her hoof. I remember the first time going out on a trail ride on Solomon (what a thrill!). Oh! And my favorite arrival day was the day Nina greeted me in the driveway and brought me to a stall that was previously empty. She motioned to be quiet as she opened the top door. Out came this beautiful pink Spanish horse who preceded to reach down and drink a gulp of my iced coffee!  

Through my time at EOTS I’ve learned there is so much more to horses than anyone could guess. They are each individual loving creatures. I’ve learned all the basics of daily care for the horses. How to measure feeds, which feeds different horses need including the supplements. I’ve learned how to tell when something is wrong, and then how to translate horse to human what the problem is (though it often takes us silly humans a few guesses while the horse impatiently waits for us to get it right). I’m now going on to learn things about how to write grants and how to fund-raise.  

I’ve been working the past few years driving horse drawn carriage tours and I’ve discovered how much I love teaching people the wonderful things about horses! So I did a 6 month internship and acquired my Mass State Riding instructor’s license, teaching kids who love horses all the interesting, different things about horses is a ton of fun. During this internship the riding school I interned at also offered therapeutic lessons on a different day, I loved this. So I began interning with that group of students. Students with special needs get something more out of riding and working with horses, I think, more than anyone could understand. Horses provide self confidence, physical coordination, they help teach students to focus and think before they act, they help students control impulses and all in a very positive and exciting way! I just love working with these students. I long thought how wonderful it would be to see horses who have come from hard situations helping students who have come from equally difficult situations. This has become my dream.

My dream is to carry on Nina’s work at EOTS where we will continue to take in horses who need rescuing or sanctuary. But I would like to add on to that and help humans who need it as well. I’m currently working on my NARHA therapeutic riding instructor license so I can continue to learn more about different special needs students. In the meantime we have begun the transition of EOTS with our newest rescue. His current name is Mr. Baby Pony, we hope he will tell us his real name as he grows up. He is a one year old Gypsy Vanner/Shetland pony cross, in other words, he’s adorable! Not just that, his conformation and attitude is perfect for a therapy horse.  I’m in the process of making a blog following his progress (link coming soon).

And so I am Jessica, Nina’s friend and apprentice, and I hope to make EOTS even more wonderful than it already is. I want to make EOTS a sanctuary for horses and humans alike.

                Nice talking to you!

                                Jessica