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Anyone who questions the intelligence of horses needs to watch the video above. After training this horse for weeks, the horse's trainer, Boriana, cranks up the music and shows how the horse can dance and move to the song Hokey Pokey at a recent training session.
Boriana is a junior majoring in Elementary Education at Moody Bible Institute. She trains horses at two private horse barns in Barrington Hills and Barrington, suburbs of Chicago. She trains the horse featured in the video at Tom and Caprice Townes' private stable. Boriana also teaches riding lessons and is an equine therapist in training working under the tutelage of Stacy Brass and the Townes.
Boriana's love for horses first took root in high school while growing up in Sofia, Bulgaria. Boriana began learning how to ride a horse at age 16 in exchange for volunteering at a horse stable near Sofia. She now travels by train each day to Barrington Hills and neighboring Barrington to work with horses and learn the ins and outs of equine therapy. She is an equine therapy instructor for foster children struggling with issues of trauma and abuse.
“Boriana is amazing,” Stacy said. “She’s been such a blessing to have as a part of the program we are starting here in Barrington.”
Jeff Smith is editorial manager of Marketing Communications with Moody Bible Institute. After earning a BA in Journalism from Eastern Illinois University, Jeff worked for 11 years in the newspaper industry as a news reporter, sportswriter, and sports editor before serving for eight years as editorial manager of Marketing and Corporate Communications with Awana Clubs International.