Therapeutic Testimonial
My Story by Danielle Bojczak,
"Growing up, I never had a desire or care to even meet a horse. I was a city girl. Horses looked nice from a far and I didn't know anyone that had a horse. Then things changed. I married into a family and my new cousin had horses.
She thought it might be a nice idea to take a ride out to the farm to meet her horses. She didn't know I was recovering from cancer. Physically, I was healing on the outside but mentally I felt a big hole inside of me. I had to have a full hysterectomy and I no longer felt complete anymore as a woman.
So, one day I took her up on it and took a nice 40 minute ride to see the horses. She introduced me to a mother of her young mare (female horse) she had bred. Immediately, I took a look at her horse Mystic and just thought it would be nice to share some treats with. She was sweet, gentle and I felt that I knew her a lot longer than 10 minutes. I then found myself going to visit her more frequently, to pet her, maybe take her out of her stall alone to groom her but my big achievement was taking her for a walk to enjoy some grass.
I didn't realize in the beginning that she was helping me fill the void and sadness in my life. I felt that we became more sensitive to each other's feelings. I found it finally "ok" to just be me for once and not worry about someone else. She looked at me as if she knew that I was hurting and wanted to make a connection to her. My heart began to open to her, and I found myself emotional, letting go of the pain inside as I would brush her mane and groom her. As weeks turned into months, now years, I began to trust her and become more confident with her. I found a peace that I couldn't explain to my family or friends. I began to heal from the inside out. I felt she always had her eye over me.
Then the biggest change in our relationship was when she allowed me to ride her. It was a pleasure, a joy, and a true feeling of acceptance by Mystic to allow me to climb on her back and ride off on a trail. It took courage for both of us to trust but we overcame it together. I share this story of mine for others to find the same connection to a horse. There truly are no words to explain it and to this day, we have a strong bond that I could never imagine with an animal, especially a horse."
