In 2018, I was in a serious wreck with a horse I had owned for five years. I broke my collarbone, six ribs, fractured my pelvis in two places, broke the top of my hip bone, and suffered significant muscle and nerve injuries. To put it mildly, I got pretty banged up.
I healed—but I never really felt healed. For the next three years, I lived with a lot of pain. Like most horse people, I just kept pushing through it. Then one day, an FFA bake sale changed everything.
I had enlisted the help of Nikki Preston Wiley, owner of Wiley Wave Therapy. While we were together, Nikki noticed that I kept lifting one foot and then the other, trying to take pressure off my hips because they were hurting. She looked at me and asked, “When were you in an accident?”
I remember thinking, how in the world did she know that? She asked how long ago it had happened and told me that she practiced craniosacral therapy.
Naturally, my next question was, “What in the heck is craniosacral therapy?” Nikki explained that it’s a gentle, biodynamic, hands-on approach that works with the craniosacral system and the body’s natural rhythms, helping release restrictions and supporting the body’s own ability to regulate and restore balance.
She probably explained it much better than that—but at the time, most of it was WAY over my head. I basically thought, “Okay… I have no idea what you just said, but if you think this might help me, I’m in.”
She told me she would get me in if she had a cancellation. Well…she had a cancellation, so I went. And that appointment changed the direction of my life.
After one session, I walked out feeling about 95% better. After three years of hurting, compensating, and trying to find relief, I was stunned. And because even when I’m trying to fix myself, my brain is still thinking about horses, one of my first questions was: “Can you do this on a horse?” Her answer? “Absolutely.” And that one little word planted a very big seed.
Two years later, I enrolled in school to study craniosacral therapy myself. After graduating, I began applying what I had learned to the animals that have always held such an important place in my life—horses. And that is ultimately how Diamond L Craniosacral & Bodywork came to be.
I didn’t discover craniosacral therapy because I was searching for a new career. I discovered it because I needed it. I know firsthand what it feels like when your body has been through trauma, and I know what it feels like when it finally begins to soften and let go. That experience changed the way I look at horses, too.
Horses can’t point to where it hurts. They compensate, protect, and adjust the way they move. Sometimes the little things we notice—a shortened stride, a guarded neck, a change in attitude, or simply a horse that just seems off—are their way of communicating with us.
My job is to listen.
To listen with my eyes, my hands, and everything the horse is telling me. Every story is different. And every session begins with the horse standing in front of me that day.
And every time I put my hands on a horse, I’m reminded of the very unexpected journey that brought me here. A horse wreck. Three years of pain. A chance meeting with Nikki Preston Wiley…and an FFA bake sale. Funny how life works sometimes. ♡
