Magic Light

I am the luckiest

“I know that all the wrong turns and stumbles and falls brought me here.” - Ben Folds

Just when you think you can’t bear to hear more news about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a photo of a big red horse with a white blaze appears in your Facebook feed. It’s posted by a Ukrainian friend, Tetiana Kopytova, who lives in Kyiv and makes her living illustrating children’s books and doing custom portraits of horses. You can learn more about her in this post - Fire in the Sky

But today, with her one hour of electricity, Tetiana wants to share the story of how she and that big red horse she named Magic Light became best friends. It was just what I needed to brighten my day. I hope it will do the same for you.

Oh, and don’t forget to listen to the song that goes with this post - “I am the Luckiest” by Ben Folds and recorded by VOCE8. It is breathtaking.

Magic Light - A Tale of Love and Redemption
by Tetiana Kopytova

Our big red horse is named Magic Light.
One day I was just scrolling through my Facebook feed and I saw a post about thoroughbred foals that were being sold for meat. The owners were culling their herd. One photo in the post of a small red colt with a white blaze caught my eye. It felt like he was looking right at me. He reminded me of a horse my family had and I just fell in love with his eyes and elegant head.

Very long negotiations with the seller followed. Then, once he was ours, he had to endure a long and difficult transport. When he arrived, I was horrified. He was one and a half years old, but he looked like he was six months old. He was very thin and so scared that when he got out of the trailer he just stood in one place. He was too frightened to move so we had to almost carry him in our arms to the stable.

At first, all he did was eat. He put his head into the hay we gave him and didn’t stop. This went on for several months. He didn’t trust that the hay wouldn’t stop. He also had no idea what oats and apples were. We had to teach him to eat those goodies. The other thing we did was give him a cure for worms. He immediately started growing afterwards!

Time passed, and he turned into a beautiful horse. Now he is eight years old and my favorite. We understand each other and have overcome a lot together. He is sensitive and has many fears that we’ve learned to overcome together.

But the thing that makes him so special is how I see myself in him. In many ways, his fears are a reflection of my own - of my fears in life. I believe that horses are sent to us for a reason - to be our teachers and help us understand and overcome our challenges.

I am happy to have this amazing teacher I call Magic Light.

Tetiana will be doing illustrations for Song Flight. You can support her work there by donating funds for our pilot: https://www.song-flight.com/launch-funding

If you would like to support Tetiana and her work directly, visit the links below.

KopyTovva: https://kopytova.com/

Shop KopyTova: https://shop.kopytova.com/

Thank you again Tetiana for brightening my day!