About Me

My muggle name is Bethany and I am happy to introduce myself as your resident Barn Witch! I love all things equine, magical, and introspective. I have spent my thirty-two years on this earth learning about horses, riding and interacting with horses, and let's face it, basically worshipping horses. Horses have been a central part of my life for as long as I can remember, and so I dedicate this blog to them.

Since completing a couple of Master's Degrees in other fields during the whirlwind that was my twenties, I have had the honor to work in multiple equestrian facilities as a barn assistant and stable hand. This is where I found my passion- at the barn, with the horses. It was not a straight path to get here, though, by any stretch.

I mentioned those multiple Master's Degrees? Yeah, I did my best to fit into a more corporate kind of world. First, I wanted to inspire young humans, so I tried teaching. This, while honorable, was a bit of a disaster. You see, I have been described as everything from "shy" to "timid" ever since Elementary School. These words were used to label me and put me in a convenient little box. Eventually, as an adult, I was able to cross out those pesky words and put my own label on the box- "Introvert." Basically, I now know that I recharge my batteries by spending time alone. I still enjoy interacting with people, but it does drain my energy. Being a teacher drained so much energy out of me, though, that I had none left for anything else. Utterly depleted after maybe two weeks of student teaching, I dragged myself to the finish line by hanging up my teacher's hat and pursuing an independent project in order to finish up my degree.

Well, I graduated. What was I going to do with a teaching degree, though, besides teach? Frustrated, I returned to the internet in search of something I could do that was academic but not necessarily teaching. I found Library Science. I liked books! Heck, I had read voraciously ever since I was a child! It was an appealing idea, but it required a whole other Master's Degree. So, back to school I went.

This Master's Degree had the bad luck of spanning the same time period as the Covid-19 Pandemic. Shut in a tiny dorm room watching my classes on my laptop screen, my mental health plummeted rapidly. I barely moved from my bed. I did not clean up, I did not cook. It was all I could do to feed my cat, my best friend- the literal reason I credit for my eventual survival of my Covid-19 era depression.

All this to say- it was a dark time. I don't know why it surprised me, then, when I went to find a job after graduating and discovered that this experience was miserable, too. After a complete and utter failure that ended in my being "let go" from a small public library in Indiana, I moved back home to Ohio to live with my wonderful and supportive then-boyfriend, now-husband. This was a wonderful decision that I cherish to this day. However, my first instinct on a career level - to search for a library job so I could use the degree I had just suffered so painstakingly to get - led me down a winding road to another rather miserable work experience. I left that job of my own free will, but rather unceremoniously, to say the least.

This made me pause.

Why was I having such a hard time with all of these public-facing, academic jobs? I had spent my whole life in academia! What was the problem? What was wrong with me?

I decided to do some soul searching, which eventually led me back to my cats. I now had five of them, and they were some of my best teachers and healers. I felt truly safe and truly loved when I was around them. How could a job with cats turn out wrong? So, I typed "cat rescue" into Indeed.com, and a bunch of animal-related jobs came up. One of them caught my eye, immediately- it was an ad looking for barn help at a nearby Eventing Complex.

Long story short, I got the job and loved it. It gave me exercise, purpose, and exposure to horses. I had the time of my life leading those fancy warmbloods back and forth from their stalls to the pasture to the paddock. They woke up my soul, reminded me who I was, and taught me that I could do something.

Now, I won't say everything was perfect from that point on. I have turned down a few side roads, made a few u-turns, and so on. But at least now I know what I love, and that is the horse. No matter what I do next, horses will be front and center, I guarantee it.

Thank you for reading my bio! I hope it has helped you learn a little bit about the writer behind the words.