"All great things begin with a vision...a dream..." - Estee Lauder -
A BRIEF HISTORY
That is exactly where Wilde Child began...with a vision that took on a life of its own. I started on this amazing journey, with a simple idea and it became so much more...A place where I have grown and been challenged to dream bigger than I imagined possible. Where I hope to continue to inspire, enlighten and unite those who are also seeking to follow their own dreams and find purpose within themselves.
Like a lot of horse crazy girls, I loved horses from before I could walk. I could not get enough, and grew up spending my summers as close and as often as possible to my four legged passion. Instead of outgrowing it as some do, my passion just kept getting bigger. I had dreams of being a vet, a jockey, a trainer, a barrel racer...anything to do with horses. I loved the competitive world, and started to compete in gymkhana and barrel racing as soon as I was old enough to ride my horse to town.
Without a lot of support from family, this left me having to dig deep to find a way to believe in myself and my passions. And, without a way to transport my horses, I got to places the only way I knew how and that was on horseback.
During these years, I competed in various equine disciplines. Everything from halter classes, and western pleasure to team penning, barrel racing and roping were on my agenda. I spent many summer days riding in the mountains, and was fortunate enough to get to experience ranch work as well.
For much of my life, I have also been a passionate entrepreneur, and started my very first business breaking colts and working with problem horses at the age of 15. From that point on, I never looked back and went through the school of hard knocks as a business owner in numerous industries, gaining experience and life lessons on the way, but always coming back to horses.
Later on in life I settled down, and due to moving for work and raising a young family, I put the competitive part on hold...until recently.
Like everyone though, life does not unfold without some struggles, and set backs. When I was finally able to come back into the competitive side of the equine industry, I realized things had changed. But more importantly I had changed. The belief and confidence I once had, seemed to have been stifled overnight. With just what felt like a few short years of not being actively competitive and involved, I felt like I had lost a part of myself.
It took some really deep soul searching for me to realize, it hadn't been lost just that I had changed and evolved. I had become more humble, a bit wiser, and maybe a bit less confident because of, well just life....
I began to realize I needed to begin to believe in myself again. I needed to allow myself to DREAM like I did in my younger years, that it was OK to evolve. Once I began to do that, not only did I start feeling more confident competing, but my creative ideas really started to flow. During my eye opening experience, I also began to realize I wasn't the only one that had experienced this evolving....
Struggles help shape a person, and show you how strong you really are. Through these struggles, I have learned much about overcoming adversity and personal growth. When things got especially rough, I was drawn to the power of healing work for myself. This has been a cornerstone to overcoming many challenges in my life, and I continue to build on it and am now beginning to share my knowledge and abilities with others.
"We all have that little part of us that needs encouragement, and sometimes suffers from self doubt...we aren't alone out there in the arena, in the industry, in the life...I hope to encourage you to believe in yourself, know that you are good enough, and you WILL succeed because you are made of great things. You deserve for your dreams to come true. After all...You are Cowgirl Fierce!"
Shilah Harmer