Hello and welcome to my first blog post!
I guess I’d best start with a bit about myself - I promise to keep it short...
I was born in Lincoln and, like most children born to unmarried mothers in 1963, I was adopted. I found my birth mother in 2000 - for those interested in the nature/nurture debate I can confirm that in my case nature is most definitely the answer!
I discovered a love of horses at an early age which has remained to this day; it took me 48 years to finally have a horse of my own, now I have five ‘oldies’ who live with my partner and I on our quinta (small farm) in the gorgeous countryside of central Portugal. We also have six dogs, two cats, two pygmy goats, several chickens and a rooster. Not bad for someone who grew up in rural farming Lincolnshire and hated it!
My first career choice was nursing but the realities of dealing with bodily fluids hit home while working as a chambermaid in the summer holidays quickly put paid to that. Instead I worked in catering in Nottingham for several years before a chance encounter led to a new career as a mortgage broker in London.
After eight successful years I took another leap of faith and moved to Dublin - I’d visited Ireland some years earlier and felt a strong affinity with the people and the country. It wasn’t until I had lived there for five years that I found out that I had Irish heritage; that made a lot of sense to me.
My life took another turn in 2008 when I decided to up sticks (again!) and move to Portugal. Apart from a brief holiday in the Algarve - which I won in a radio competition - I’d never visited the country, but it seemed to tick all the boxes; warm, low cost of living and within easy reach of both the UK and Ireland. What I didn’t expect to find was the kindness, gentleness and welcoming nature of the Portuguese people, which is why I’m still here some 15 years later.
As well as being a remedial hypnotist (more of that in the next episode!) I run Equine Assisted Training - communication, leadership, team building and management courses with a difference; the trainers are our wonderful herd of horses - their non verbal and body language skills are second to none. If you have the ability to get a 500kg animal, which doesn’t speak your language, to follow you willingly you can do the same with people…
