Many people have asked what made me decide to open Equine Empowerment Solutions. There isn’t a simple, definitive answer….I have always known that horses have an innate ability to heal, and that the lessons they have for us cannot be simulated in any other setting. My horses remind me of that on a daily basis! The challenges and blessings that have been part of my life experience fueled my internal passion to help others who are lost and having difficulty navigating their way around the obstacles in their path. Equine Empowerment Solutions has been a dream of mine for decades…but there was a specific incident that motivated me to make this dream come true, that it was a necessity to do so…perhaps even, my God-given purpose. That incident was the death of my Aunt, Dr. Susan Hashway. She was a vibrant, brilliant, passionate, giving woman. She was a retired professor of mathematics at Grambling State in Louisiana, the past President of the National Association of Developmental Education, and hosts of other organizations. She had no biological children, but she was the most amazing Aunt and Godmother. Always filled with compassion and advice, and a kick in the pants if one was necessary. She worked tirelessly to motivate everyone she encountered to follow their dreams, and to use obstacles in your path as stepping-stones to a better life. My Aunt did not have it easy…she was faced with more than her share of adversity, but she never let that define her. She was a benevolent soul who chose to never view life through any lens other than that of being a survivor. She was beloved by family and friends, and by the countless number of graduate and undergraduate students she helped along the way. She was gifted at making people find the best in themselves. Her genuine altruistic personality made the manner in which she died even more unconscionable. Her life was cut short by a convicted felon who broke into her home and brutally and savagely attacked and tormented her before killing her. The phone call I received telling me of these horrific events is permanently etched into my mind…..though even today, over a year later, I still find it difficult to believe that she’s gone. For months I felt angry and core depth sadness. Watching my Mother and my children grieve……realizing that if it had happened just 2 weeks earlier, my Mother may have been among his victims….so many “what if’s” played constantly in my mind. The resent and bitterness was consuming me. I had written and read a eulogy for my Aunt Sue’s funeral. And in that memoire, I recounted much of what I have here, along with anecdotal stories of the joy that my Aunt brought to us and how very blessed we all were to have had her in our lives. I found that eulogy folded up in my purse one day….and I reread it. In reading those words again, I realized what a disservice I was doing to my Aunt by wallowing in anger, fear, and revenge. What a far cry from the message she had taught to me and to so many others! An amazing woman like that deserves to be remembered for how she lived, not how she died. I decided on that day that I needed to carry on where my Aunt had left off. I took out a journal and began writing my biggest dreams, goals, and how I could make an impact like my Aunt had…..what would my legacy look like? What were the common threads? Within the pages of that journal, the frameworks for Equine Empowerment Solutions began to take place. I have dedicated Equine Empowerment Solutions to my Aunt, an inspiring woman in life, and even in her parting….if I can have even a small percentage of the positive impact on people’s lives that Dr. Susan Hashway did……..that’s a goal worth pursuing. In Peace and Love, Kristy
Posted on: Tue, 22 Oct 2013 14:55:12 +0000
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