Finding Pegasus

by Terry Church

Pegasus, the magical winged horse, has inspired human imagination for centuries. Finding Pegasus is the rich and inspiring story of Tara Beacon, an equestrian athlete consumed by her ambition to compete at the Olympic Games, yet all the while struggling to escape the pain of an abusive childhood. Mirroring her angst is her talented and sensitive thoroughbred who, after years of intensive training with internationally renowned professionals, refuses to submit to human coercion. Finally awakening to the fact that she is reenacting her oppressive upbringing by attempting to dominate her horse, Tara enters into an apprenticeship with an eighty-year-old cowboy with mysterious abilities. Similar to a Zen master, Tom Dorrance never calls himself a teacher or explains what he does, continually perplexing Tara and those who work with him. Yet his wisdom is reflected in his ability to use horses (and anything else available to him) as a means of helping humans learn about themselves and their relationship to the natural world. With him Tara begins the long and arduous journey to self-awareness, and a resolution to her secretive past. About the Terry Church has been a professional horse trainer, dressage instructor and competitor for the past 34 years. Although "classically trained" through the FEI (international) levels in the United States and Germany, she came to understand that the current methods of training horses predominantly reflect the human quest for dominance and control, rather than a recognition of how animals can benefit from and enhance the human experience through respectful partnerships. Synchronicity lead her to a meeting with the great master horseman, Tom Dorrance, with whom she spent the next seven years relearning everything she thought she knew about horses - and about herself. Ms. Church currently travels extensively throughout the United States where she uses horses to facilitate a person's process of self-discovery, thereby broadening their awareness and sensitivity to themselves and the natural world. In addition to her lifelong passion for horses, Ms. Church has had an interest in writing since early childhood. As an adult she studied writing for five years in Santa Barbara with author Bill Richardson, who became a primary influence in helping her face the truth about her life - and how to express that in words. She has published a number of articles in magazines and trade journals, some of which can be found on her website

Genres: Horses

268 pages, Print on Demand (Hardcover)

First published March 1, 2007

Reviews

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminiscent of Sara Gruen's duet Riding Lessons and Flying Changes, this is a story of redemption through self via animal. I, personally, am a big believer in the philosophy that animals (and in my case dogs and horses) act as a mirror. They show you, in a way that you can never accept from another human, what you truly are in this world.

That being said, the foundation of this book is just such a thought. It is less about horses, and more about how a woman finds she is able to finally clearly see herself through her horse. Such a reminder that the path we walk, while difficult and hard to understand, is often only one moment of understanding away from being something else altogether.

I was able to love the characters because I loved what the story was trying to teach. That's not to say it's poorly written, but that I can not separate my own dogma from my opinion (or rather, that I find such a division moot) and therefore would encourage anyone to read this book.

[Janaarlite · Rating 4 out of 5]

While this story does involve horses it is not a horse story.
This is a story of one womans journey out of darkness and tragedy into lightness and self discovery.