We asked Alex from @alex_agnifilo to share her story of her & her horse, Journey! Here is her heartwarming story!

The Journey Begins

My horse is a three year old warmblood named Journey, and boy has she had quite the journey! I owned and bred her mother, Tang, who I have owned since 2014. Journey was born full term but only weighed 30 lbs due to a placenta infection while in-utero. She was unable to stand-up or nurse so we rushed her to the vet. She had to be tube fed and given many liquids due to her weakness. A couple days in, she was starting to grow stronger and gain independence, when the worst happened.

While she was sleeping, her mother spooked and stepped on her face and broke her skull. She needed blood transfusions and needed to have the tube removed. It was time for her to eat on her own since she could no longer be tube fed. She stepped up to the plate, and started nursing a day later. She has since grown as a normal filly would with the exception of a continuation of medication for a few months after the hospital.

A New Obstacle

Four months after she came home from the hospital, she was finally starting to be a “normal” horse, when I got in a car accident. I broke my spine and was told I would never walk again, let alone ride. I did regain limited mobility, but unfortunately I will never be at the same level as I was before.

I felt so defeated and fell into a very intense and debilitating depressive episode. I essentially gave up. I would periodically visit the barn and over time, I found my love for horses again because of Journey. Every human being around me treated me like I was broken. They pitied me and tiptoed around me. Journey didn’t. She was not extra careful around me, even if she probably should have been. She treated me like she treated everyone else, plus a little sass.

A New Beginning

Journey made me feel normal when I was with her. I felt like I never got in the accident when I hung out with Journey and because of that, I am now riding again. I am not riding Journey yet because she is only 3, but I am riding other horses in order to get strong for when it is time for me to ride her. I am so proud of her and how strong she is. I am also proud of how much strength she has given to me. She is the reason I am still riding horses and she is the reason I pushed through the adversity I faced just a few months after she was born, and for that I am grateful.