Gift From God: The Horse Who Changed Everything

My first article here marked the beginning of a journey to find myself through horses. I retell what I’ve learned by simply observing the herd and I often place my own feelings onto what I’m seeing. Ultimately, I believe this is what equine therapy is; people will watch a behavior and interpret it through their own lens. What we see is a direct reflection of our views. The one thing I could never get out of my mind was the thought of being put ‘out to pasture’ and so that was the title of my first article. Over the year I noticed I focused on being grounded, change, facing fears and this space became a diary of sorts. I’m publicly working through what it means to be in your late 50s wondering what life has in store. Wondering where I fit in now. Letting go of dreams of the corner office, title, and climbing that corporate ladder.

As I write this, I’m closing the door on a 25-year career with the same company. I am blessed to say I made this choice alone, they did not make it for me. As you read this, I will be a few weeks into ‘retirement’ probably at the barn cleaning a stall, grooming a horse and well, worrying. I have an advanced degree in worrying, though I am truly trying to work through that with my faith. What led to this decision was a series of uncomfortable truths. I really wasn’t getting anywhere, in fact, I was not getting anywhere for years. The company never really finished anything it started. Big ideas, turned into big reorgs, turned into churn and then before we had the opportunity to land on our feet it would start all over again. I was never really heard which results in not feeling valued. How long can you keep showing up, trying your best, and feeling ignored? How long can you watch a shift in direction which leads you back to the same place you started? How long can you feel like an outsider on your own team? That is where my current herd helped me grow. Theo, Moon, Scout, Mae, Sissy and visits from Houston- they were teaching me without me knowing. I began to recognize my peace came from seeing a cleaned stall- something was finished. Would I have to do it again? Sure, but I left knowing it’s complete and I served the horses. I watched each of them fuss with each other (well not Moon, he lives somewhere else) when they met, but I also watched them work it out. Quickly. I wrote about this months ago when I correlated team dynamics at work, Storming, Norming and Forming, to a new horse being introduced to the herd. I was beginning to see, and did note, that horses do this much quicker than people and they do not leave you guessing. I noticed I needed to be a bit more on their time. Theo will eat at his pace, and I will wait. This is vastly different than having every minute scheduled. I realized waiting was causing me great anxiety because I always felt like I needed to be doing something else. Theo was reminding me he is my priority and I need to enjoy the gift God bestowed upon me.

My articles focused on being present, finding purpose, facing the fears of change with the understanding that I have survived change before. One of my favorite articles was when it dawned on me that moving Theo from one ranch to another drew out the same exact fear in me that leaving home for college did many years prior. He was fine, he adjusted, made friends and became familiar with his new space. I cried leading into all of it because I projected my own fear of change onto him, thinking he would be unhappy. He wasn’t. And I wasn’t unhappy once I got to college either, but those weeks leading up to it were wrought with fear and sadness. Theo reminded me, change is ok, I will adapt and overcome; I have done it before.

The biggest ‘uncomfortable truth’ centered on purpose. The hardest pill to swallow was how unnecessary I became at work. At one time I was called ‘a rock star’. I liked that, I did. I liked being the ‘go to girl’ for stuff. I liked feeling important. I did. We all do and we all need that; it gives us purpose. But what my herd was teaching me was my purpose was shifting and I was fighting it. I would be at work thinking I should be doing something at the barn. People are off trail riding and I’m doing some reports no one will read but it needs to be done by the end of day. It was becoming clear my focus needed to shift, my desires were elsewhere and my time in the corporate world was ending. It hurt; I can’t lie. I never achieved what I set out to achieve 30 years ago. I never quite ‘made it’. But God gave me the gift of employment. God walked me through some dark moments in the Corp world. He also made it quite clear over the past 5 years that I was going to be transitioning into His calling. Each year things got a bit tougher to swallow. I cried more than I celebrated. I felt isolated and insignificant and then He gave me a horse. Suddenly I awakened a part of me that was dormant for decades. And when Theo came into my life I prayed saying- You know I’m new at this and yet You are bringing him to me. I trust You, that You will give me the confidence and surround me with people who will teach me and I will care for this boy. It’s coming on 3 years since Theo came into my life. All this time I thought it was so I could care for him but now I see, he was sent to me by God to reveal my true purpose. I named him Theo because the name means ‘gift from God’ and now we will walk together into what God is calling me to do.

---

Kimberlee & Theo

Written by Kimberlee Delany

Life begins after 50, or when you decide to learn about horses! With a passion for animals and a quest for learning, it’s not surprising I began lessons after I turned 50.

With a BS in Psychology, I spent my career in technology, starting at the help desk and landing as a technical business advisor; doing all the techie steps that are needed in-between to cross that bridge.

Continuous improvement is the name of the game.

While growing in my career, I also started a fitness journey. Over the past twenty years, I have explored a variety of sports, from triathlons to Olympic weightlifting. I have competed in local events up and down the East Coast and, most recently, the Texas State Weightlifting Championship.

It all leads to this!

When you are around horses, you notice something, something within you is awakened. It doesn’t matter how old you are, there is something to uncover. In a quest for knowledge, and the sheer experience of discovering the mystery of ‘why I feel so at peace with horses’, I became certified in Equine Assisted Learning (EAL). Now, with a desire to share this amazing journey on how horses heal, I began journaling my experiences with horses and how they teach us about life.

This article is from the April 2026 issue of Equine Business Magazine