"Turning the Ashes of My Life into Living My Dream"
Missy Wryn’s Personal Story Surviving a Fatal Car Crash
 “It’s Finally Time to Share – I Hope to Inspire”
 

Mine is the typical story of a middle class family that could not afford to buy their child a horse.  But my parents did the next best thing by putting me into horse riding lessons at the age of 6.  My earliest memory of being horse crazy is when I was 3 years old playing with my Breyer horses along with Jose and Jay cowboy and cowgirl action figures.  I began riding lessons, learning dressage with my instructor Nancy Knapp who placed playing cards between my knees and demanded I post without stirrups.  I was always the youngest in my dressage classes competing with grown-ups – I was expected to meet adult standards. 

Two step-dads and three high schools later I quit dressage lessons to live on my own two months after turning 18.  I went to high school part-time leaving at 11:00 a.m. and worked two jobs while maintaining a 4.0 GPA and graduating top 10 of my class.

Resuming horses in my life had to wait a couple years until I bought Mazda a Welsh/Arab cross that I kept in the backyard of the house I rented in SE Portland unbeknownst to my landlord.  I lived within the city limits so I obtained a livestock permit and had a lean-to built on the side of the garage for Mazda.  My neighbors complained so the local animal control officer would stop by every couple weeks to make an appearance while he enjoyed a beer at my kitchen table.  Eventually my landlord found out about Mazda so I had to move him to the countryside where I spent evenings and weekends riding and hanging out. 

That winter I started skiing at Mount Hood Meadows.  One fateful Friday night driving home from skiing I lost control of my car and crossed into oncoming traffic.  A  Suburban pulling a helicopter trailer hit my passenger side killing my boyfriend sending us off a cliff.  When the paramedics arrived I had no signs of life and was pinned under the dashboard with the gear shift stuck in my ribs.  An hour and a half later I awoke with the lights on in the cab as Rod, my boyfriend, lay in the snow out the passenger side (in fatal car crashes bodies cannot be moved until the accident photographer arrives).  I tried calling out to him, but I had no breath.  I told myself not to panic, that I simply had the wind knocked out of me, but the paramedics heard my weak voice and clamored down the hillside.  The Jaws of Life peeled back the cab.  The rescue team pulled me through the rear window of my pick-up.  I was placed on Life-Flight with a 70 systolic and zero diastolic blood pressure, collapsed lung, lacerated liver, broken ribs, pelvis and back. 

I survived, but didn’t "live" for many years grieving my loss and blaming myself for killing my beloved friend.  After the accident I had to sell Mazda since I was now disabled and unable to stand up straight.  i used a cane to walk.  Mazda went to a wonderful grandfather who bought him for his grandsons. 

Years went by as I climbed the corporate ladder, giving birth to two beautiful boys and juggling life.  I finally moved to the country where I met my husband Ken.  He is a gifted artist and craftsman who devoted every day to realizing my dreams by putting in fences and building me a barn and arena.  Finally, I was able to bring my horse’s home….. 

I spent the first year riding my horses with bits in their mouths and English saddles.  I soon discovered that I could ride dressage with just a rope halter and lead rope which made my horses so much happier and deeply responsive.   I still ride in my Wintec all-purpose English saddle tearing up the hills and swimming the creek with my horses. 

After 20 years in the corporate world, earning Vice President titles at two Oregon corporations, I finally quit to train horses full time.  My good friend and mentor, Frank Bell, presided over the grand opening of my barn, the Natural Horsemanship Center of Oregon, and I’ve had a waiting list ever since.  The realization that there is a source to the behavior and training problems became the foundation of my WHolistic Horsemanship Training the Whole Horse® program.  Starting horses under saddle to ride without a bit inspired my IRON FREE Riding DVD and the subsequent Training the Whole Horse® DVD Series. 

Many people know me as the CEO of Nature's Balance Care™, a manufacture of organic approved fly control and skin care products for horses, dogs and livestock which I started as a hobby business in 1994.  Now the two businesses go hand in hand providing compassion, healing and justice for horses, dogs and their people.  Out of the ashes of my earlier life I now live my dreams.