Meet Holly, the latest addition to my herd. Holly, a 21 year old Welsh Pony mare, is a been-there-done-that horse, and has taught many children to ride, taken numerous children into the ribbons at horse shows, in addition to having four foals along the way. I fell in love with her immediately when I went to look at her because she was so gentle, kind and interested in me. Within 30 seconds, she was following me around at liberty in the round pen and I just knew that she would make a fabulous EFL horse. Because of her sensitive nature, she reminds me of a miniature version of Ella.
I was looking for a pony or a small horse to use in the facilitations for people who were not comfortable with Ella’s size. (The bonus of getting a pony would be that it could be my granddaughter’s horse in a year or two!) But anyone who has ever looked for a kid’s pony knows how hard it is to find a good one. They aren’t advertised for sale as they are either kept for life, or sold privately. It was my great good fortune that my friend Suzanne Flett, owner of Stone Country Welsh, offered Holly to me. Suzanne is very interested in the EFL work and thought that Holly would make a great facilitation horse because of her sensitive and kind nature.
Holly has just started doing facilitations with clients and I am confident that she will be great at this work, especially with people who are unfamiliar with horses, or who carry a lot of anxiety. Holly’s calm and kind demeanor will put people at ease, and creating an atmosphere of safety is the first step to accessing the inner wisdom of the client’s body in the EFL work. Unfortunately, it is almost the end of my season for outdoor facilitations, so she will have to wait until next spring to really go to work!