From Sparky to Leo: A Story About Trusting Life’s Timing

Losing a heart horse is something I think only horse people truly understand.

When my horse Sparky passed away, I never imagined the strange and beautiful path that would eventually lead another horse, Leo, into my life almost two years later.

This is a story about grief, trust, timing, and the unexpected ways horses sometimes find their way to us.

When Sparky Passed Away

Two years ago from the day I am writing this, my heart horse Sparky passed away.

Anyone who has had a once-in-a-lifetime horse understands the kind of loss that leaves a hollow space you cannot quite explain. These animals are not just part of our lives. They shape who we become.

After Sparky died, I often felt him near. He would show up in dreams, quiet moments, or those strange flashes of knowing that are difficult to explain out loud.

But like many people, I doubted myself.

So I reached out to a friend of mine who works with animal communication. I was simply looking for help making sense of what I had been feeling.

Her response surprised me.

She told me Sparky was showing her a male horse galloping toward me. An Appaloosa. And a blue line coming from the East.

At the time, I did not know what to do with that information.

Sparky himself was an Appaloosa, so it felt easy to dismiss the message as a reflection of him. And the idea of a horse coming from the East made absolutely no sense in my world at the time.

So I let it go.

But over the following year, the same message kept resurfacing.

“The horse that is choosing you is coming from the East.”

Each time it came up, I brushed it aside. I simply was not ready to hear it.

The Message I Wasn't Ready to Hear

Then last December, nearly two years after Sparky had passed, something shifted.

I felt an unexplainable pull to reconnect with my friend again. I cannot say exactly why. It was simply one of those quiet instincts that you either follow or ignore.

This time her message came with urgency.

“He’s very close now.”

For the first time, I allowed myself to listen.

I opened myself to the possibility of welcoming another horse. I even placed ads for a free lease, hoping something might unfold naturally.

That is when Levi entered the picture.

When Levi Entered the Story

At first, I believed Levi was the answer.

But it quickly became clear that he was not the right fit. I remember feeling deeply disappointed, almost like I had somehow misunderstood the entire process.

What I did not realize at the time was that Levi was not the destination.

Levi was the next puzzle piece.

When Levi did not work out, an old friend stepped in to help. She offered to take Levi and lend me her pony in the meantime to fill the spot in the herd. In doing so, she re-entered my life at exactly the right moment.

Not long after that conversation, she casually mentioned that her partner had picked up a horse at auction and asked if I might help assess him.

Meeting Leo

That horse was an Appaloosa.

From Eastern Canada.

And he had just arrived and was staying around the corner from me.

When I first saw him, my entire body reacted. I had chills, goosebumps, and tears in my eyes before I even understood why.

It was not logical.

But I knew.

This was the horse that had been shown to my communicator all along.

The male Appaloosa.

The horse coming from the East.

When I later asked when they had acquired him, the answer stopped me in my tracks.

December.

The exact same month I had felt the sudden pull to reconnect.

When Life Finally Made Sense

Suddenly the entire story made sense.

Levi had led me back to my old friend.

My friend had led me to her partner.

And her partner had led me to Leo.

Leo did not arrive through a carefully planned search or a deliberate decision.

He appeared through a chain of events that, at the time, felt confusing and even disappointing.

But looking back, every step was part of the path.

Almost two years to the day after Sparky passed, Leo came into my life.

So what is the takeaway from this story?

Do not force life to make sense.

Stay open, even when things appear to be going wrong.

Especially then.

Sometimes the detours are the very things guiding us exactly where we are meant to go.

The truth is, this lesson is not just about horses.

It is about how life unfolds in general.

The most meaningful things rarely arrive in straight lines. They appear through unexpected connections, quiet nudges, and moments that only make sense when you look back.

All we can really do is remain open enough to recognize them.

Thank you for being part of this journey with me.

And if you are standing at your own crossroads right now, waiting for a sign, perhaps this story is one.

A Final Reflection

Horses have a way of shaping our lives in ways we rarely understand in the moment.

Sometimes they stay for decades. Sometimes they leave and make space for something new. And sometimes, if we stay open long enough, another horse finds their way to us exactly when we need them.

A Natural Extension of This Work

What I did not fully understand at the time was how much this experience would shape the way I see and work with horses.

It deepened my awareness that there is often more present than what we can measure physically. That a horse’s experience, perception, and internal world may not always be visible through structure and movement alone.

This is something I have spent years trying to understand from a clinical perspective.

And more recently, it is something I have chosen to explore more openly.

That same friend I mention in this story, the one who helped me make sense of what I was feeling, is now someone I have the privilege of working alongside.

Together, we have created a space where these different ways of understanding the horse can exist side by side. Not to replace objective assessment, but to expand it.

If this story resonated with you, if you have ever felt that there is more going on with your horse than what can be explained physically, this is something you now have the opportunity to experience for yourself.

We have created a live, in-person experience, but it is only offered in a very limited capacity.

The next clinic will be held this July, and it is the only one currently scheduled for 2026.

If you feel called to explore this work more deeply, you can learn more about the clinic here.

PS: The photo below on the left is Sparky and the photo on the right is Leo. Both were taken at the same farm, just a few years apart. They never met, obviously. But the resemblance is otherworldly. Especially considering I did not go out searching for another Appaloosa. This is simply the horse that was brought to me.