THE HORSES OF A PRISONER’S DAUGHTER

Claire Dorotik M.A.     

     The Horses of A Prisoner’s Daughter is the story of a 24 year old girl whose life is suddenly ripped apart, and then exposed publicly, leaving her with nowhere, and nobody, to turn to, except for her horses.  The story gives a unique look into the unique ability horses have to sense people’s emotions and experience them with people, providing an incredibly healing experience.  As the author of this story is also a clinical therapist, it is told from the position of someone who is both experiencing the emotions of loss, abandonment, terror, and dissociation, while at the same time, understanding the profound effect of trauma, from a clinical perspective.  As the story unfolds, what is revealed is the horses erudite capacity for empathy in the face of human trauma, and the almost psychic ability to provide the author with what has been taken from her.  Through this relationship with her horses, the author discovers not just an incredible understanding of the way horses respond to trauma, but of herself as well.