Today we’d like to introduce you to Kathryn King.
Hi Kathryn, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I believe the inspiration for a story could be one of history, experience, faith… one in which those details are of great importance but do not officially set the stage to be inspired. You see I was an odd child with a great fascination for the “why” of things. I wanted to see and do and learn stuff not taught in school. All those questions I’d think of, growing up, I knew were annoying and seemed irrelevant to most. With a vivid imagination, my head in the clouds, and my feet bare on the ground, I was completely alive, head to toe. I had a good childhood full of opportunities to explore the world around me. I was the youngest of 4 and the only girl. We lived in a rural area that would later become a growing neighborhood within the Welsh Hills of Ohio. Big, beautiful woods with streams, ponds, hills, and what seemed to be paths that went on for miles. One of those paths took me to a barn that was probably no more than a 3-minute, winding drive from our house to where my dad kept his horses… It was there that I knew that I could hear the whispers and the conversations going on energetically within the barn with the animals. The behaviors of the animals solidified to me that I knew that they knew that I knew what was going on… This knowledge, so young, would become something that was embarrassing to tell anyone yet difficult to hide because I was different, and I thought that was not a good thing to be. I grew up with horses, and most of our family gatherings evolved around the horses. Both my parents are from West Virginia, and my mom’s father was one of 16. Family brought us together as often as possible over the years. Yet still, what has remained a constant with my aunts, uncles, cousins, and me… Has been horses in our lives. To say that I was connected even while in my mother’s tummy is truth.
I would watch how the horses used their eyes, and like myself, they didn’t miss much. As I could read their eyes, the flick of their ears, swish of their tails, cock of their hip, the shifting of their weight to move, and what all that meant…Well… this set forth the next 50 years of “Me and Horses” navigating life together. The amount of time I have spent educating, researching, studying, examining, taking in for process or change, releasing and feeling… I’m thrice a Ph.D. LOL. Here is when it changed. When I realized that the biggest of all my behaviors was dangerous…it consisted of doing things because I was supposed to or thought I was supposed to… Yes, as unfortunate as it is, no matter the goodness of a great childhood, there are certain things that are spoken around us that we, as kids, internalize. These are such formative years as we look to our family and others to guide us through the experiences of childhood; we are also trying to figure out who we are… these beliefs follow us into adulthood making life not as easy for some…
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I am a continual student of spiritual transformation (I have studied formational prayer, healing care, and intense study of God’s Word.) I was wonderfully made by a Father that loves me and who sent His Son Jesus to show me the way and the light. I commune with the Holy Spirit who protects and guides my inner voice. My spirit. While the Lord is why I do what I do, one of my highest hurdles has been how to reach those that could benefit from the horses and programs here at Valhalla Hill Farm but are weary of anything Christian or faith-based for I am the Lords to use as is our property. What is expected here for anyone that comes to The Preservation is to just be. Do you know how hard that is for some?
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I have also been a lifelong student of the horse and having studies with some of the Masters of horsemanship as well as intuitive animal communicating, equine therapy modalities for the horse and with the horse, equine assisted psychotherapy, natural remedies, holistic medicine and naturopathy, energy healing, animal reiki and biomechanics of horse and rider. For many years, I took the horses that were misunderstood, broken down emotionally, mentally, and physically, unwanted, or mistreated. This led into an opportunity to work with at risk youth and juveniles within the court system, locally coupling them with horses they could identify with at the farm.
Many years later, I sit as a guardian of Valhalla Hill Farm where the residents are a small herd of horses. Healing, medicine horses. With approximately 1,000 worldwide, they are called Nokotas. Said to have come with the Norse people to what is now the Northern Plains in the 1140s. This mix of horses from Europe and Central Asia were traded with the Indians and French fur trappers and would later become the horses of Sitting Bull and the Hunkpapa Lakota people. The Nokota has a great story in History and has served the Lakota people as a watchdog, companion, a means of travel and hunting, and a fierce warrior able to navigate the landscape of the west. Leo L Kuntz, a rancher from North Dakota, introduced me to the Nokota horses. I am always willing to talk about Leo and his horses and why I do what I do because of him… It was his wish, later in his life before he passed, to breed his horses for temperament and personality instead of genetics, so they can be utilized in the entire spectrum of equine therapy. Through the years, the road I have traveled has been difficult, as many people are. I have been constantly developing the herd that lives with me for the purpose of enlightenment, understanding, becoming a better communicator and human. They have taught me how to live and to see dying in a different way. The horses have shown me what it means to get along, how to be clear yet kind and how to have confidence in what I know to be true. What they have given me is a solid place where I can feel safe enough to open up. A place with no judgement. A platform for change as they mirror, so to speak, the very things about me that are in need of that change in order to be free of whatever binds me, and it is OK to be who and what I am. They can do that. All in a compassionate, love-filled way. This is the heart of The Medicine Horse Preservation at Valhalla Hill Farm… to present opportunities for change through the programs we offer which are all steeped in learning about oneself, observation, communication, language, awareness, intuitiveness…The horses and I have done the work and are setting the footing of what we call the O.K. corral this summer. A place for Observation and Opportunities. Knowledge and know-how.
Where we are in life is often partly because of others. Who/what else deserves credit for how your story turned out?
It is because of God’s blessings that has put me exactly where he can use me. I credit my family, friends, and the animals that have carried me through with their patience, advice, support, faith, and love. There are volumes of accounts that have risen from what has been created here at Valhalla. Stories of freedom and fear, tales of tragedy and triumph, moments of mystery and magic, longing and love, hope and healing… These are the stories of inspiration that need to be told and experienced. Horses are Masters of Communication. Humans were designed for Masterful Communication. We were also designed to heal… I’d also like to mention a film called “Adeline” Co-written and director by Greg James. He gave the healers here at Valhalla Hill Farm the spotlight to be seen for what they are and can do. Based on true events.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.medicinehorsepreservation.love
- Instagram: vhfequine
- Facebook: The Medicine Horse Preservation at Valhalla hill farm
