| On Thursday afternoons, you can find the Joy House girls at Sweet Dreams Farm (SDF). They’ll be hanging out with the Herd: Angel, Scarlett, Zee, Grace, Ember, Pete, Billie, Baby & maybe more. You’re probably picturing them in the saddle, trotting along or maybe mucking out stalls --but, actually, you’re more likely to find the girls on the ground talking with the horses. Perhaps you’re curious what they’re talking about, or maybe you’re thinking this is just fun nonsense. In reality, it’s much more than that. The girls (and the horses) are participants in the Visionary Journey (VJ), a class specially designed to teach communication skills and grow leaders. Each class includes 1) a communication lesson with book work and 2) application time where the lesson is put into practice using various natural horsemanship games. Horses are surprisingly good partners to practice communication skills with. This is especially true, if Rachel Norris, the genius behind VJ and a long-time natural horsemanship practitioner, is your guide. Recently, I asked the girls what they think about the horses, VJ, and SDF. Here’s what they told me.
About the Horses-
Ember, a fifteen year old buckskin with beautiful ombre coloring in his mane and tail, is “sweet and affectionate. He’ll play you.” Zee, a glossy bay who was born at SDF, can be “sassy, and eats wood.” The girls know he will roll his eyes to let you know he’s not happy, just like people do.
Angel, a matron at 20+ years old, is new to the farm and the natural horsemanship practiced at SDF. Faith says, “She is slow-learning, but tries and does it.” A key word with Angel is “Patience.”
Grace is a golden palomino, who acts like “a typical teenage girl.”
Pete, a previous hippotherapy horse, is “huge, gentle, lazy, sweet, and stubborn.”
About the Farm-
“It's a therapeutic, safe place.”
“You can’t help but smile when you’re there.” “Be ready for the horses to kiss all over you.” The girls note that you will come home from a visit to the farm covered in horse hair and, possibly, slobber. About the Visionary Journey Class-
The girls say class is “like therapy, where you learn how to play [horse] games: circling, yo-yo, driving game, and find me.” They recommend SDF to anyone who’d like to learn to talk with horses, and, maybe, even to talk better with humans.
A Note of Thanks: The horses mentioned above-- the ones the girls usually work with --are just a part of the larger SDF herd. Many of the horses and ponies at SDF are rescued and adopted; each one is uniquely special and has found a home at SDF. Victory’s Gait, a 501c3 non-profit organization associated with SDF and run by farm owner Vicki Craig, offers natural horsemanship and small farm management instruction with a focus on faith, leadership, responsibility, and horsemanship. All is taught under the banner of Micah 6:8 “He has shown you, O’man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”
Thank you, Miss Vicki, Miss Rachel, and Miss Anna for all your time and care - sharing your love of the Lord, the herd, and your skills with us on Thursday afternoons.
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