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M/CLOUDY Temp: 78 °F Wind: N at 3 mph Saturday, October 4, 2003 SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion - Politics AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map EXTRA HomeLife Magazine Joy Magazine Tempo A & E RogueValleyAutoFinder RogueValleyHomeFinder Real Estate Showcase Wellness Connection Newspaper in Education Prime Times Outdoor Journal Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People CLASSIFIEDS Find a Car Find a Home Find a Job Find Everything E SOUTHERN OREGON Automotive Communities Entertainment Publications Recreation Calendar ABOUT US FAQ What's New Advertise Home Delivery Classified Ad Employment Contact Us Media Kit Email Story to a Friend September 24, 2003 Horse trainer Diane Tharp shares a moment with her stallion, North Tex Twister, at her ranch in rural Eagle Point. Mail Tribune / Jim Craven Blind devotion Having been blinded by a horse as a child hasn’t diminished this trainer’s love of the noble animals By PAUL FATTIG Mail Tribune EAGLE POINT — When it comes to training horses, Diane Tharp sees things a little differently than most. "I believe in a real hands-on approach," says the veteran horse trainer. "I touch them. It’s kind of like I crawl into their brains. "People say my horses are different than other people’s horses." As she speaks, Sucha, her 5-year-old registered paint, nuzzles her like a 1,000-pound puppy. Advertisement "Yeah, she’s just a big dog, a real sweetheart," Tharp says as she caresses the horse’s neck. Yet Tharp, 60, has never seen Sucha: The horse trainer has been blind since she was 11 years old. "I got blinded by a horse," she explains. "A neighbor dog ran up and bit him on the hind leg. He kicked and I happened to be right behind him." That was in 1954 in Happy Camp, Calif., a once-thriving logging hamlet along the Klamath River where her father worked in the woods. The accident may have corralled her for a while, but it didn’t change her love for all things equine. "They are a very giving animal if you treat them right," she says. Nor did the accident stop her from working. "No, it didn’t slow me down any," she says. She still trains horses, albeit she now largely sticks to her own horses or those of friends at the rural ranch near Eagle Point. She designed their big barn by using Legos, observed her husband, Randy Tharp. "I got it the way I wanted it, then just told them how big it needed to be," she says. Back in the 1970s, she was a guest on the "To Tell the Truth" television show in the Big Apple. "I stumped two of them," she says of the show that featured a panel of celebrities trying to determine who was the real blind trainer of horses among the three contestants. Diane Tharp is one to ride the trail with, says cross-country riding companion Valerie Burns, a local resident. "We do trail rides and brush popping together," Burns says. "We just go, sometimes where there is no trail. She handles everything we come to." That includes training horses, she says. "Horses seem to know she is not a danger to them," Burns says. "She can do something with them with no problem, and when I try the same thing they act a whole lot differently." How does Tharp work with a horse she cannot see? "Sensitivity," Tharp replies. "I touch them. I can put my hand on a horse’s neck and tell whether it’s going to be a snot or a giving animal." Most are not snots once Tharp lays her hands on them. "You need to work with them instead of at them," she says. "You try to establish a mental relationship before you go asking them to do stuff for you. "These are my friends, not my tools," she adds. Being blind means she approaches her chores a bit differently, from hanging halters and other tack in specific places to hanging bells on her horses. "If I hear bells in the wrong place, I go looking," she says. After taking Sucha back into her stall, Tharp steps into an adjoining stall to bring out a stallion. "This is an 8-year-old that I raised as a baby," she says. "He’s a nice boy." Called North Tex Twister, the impressive horse is white and black with a gray halo bordering his black patches. "I don’t let anybody handle him but me," she says. "He respects me. I’ve spanked him a few times when he gets out of hand. But not very often. He’s very, very good." The breeding horse paws the ground impatiently. "He’s trying to get me to take him somewhere," she says. He apparently has been somewhere. He sired the black and white filly Tharp calls Fantasy being brushed down on the other side of the barn. "She’s the one I’m training now for myself, my forever horse," Tharp says. "She is so gentle, so good, so smart," she says. "I used to ride anything with hair on it but I got knocked down by a Brahma heifer a few years ago and got a herniated disk in my back." Now she rides horses she has gently trained by touch on mountain trails or along the Oregon beach. "I’m addicted to that," she says. "I love the feel of the salt air in my face." Reach reporter Paul Fattig at 776-4496 or e-mail him at [email protected] Printer Friendly Version Email Story to a Friend Subscribe Archive: Click to Search Mail Tribune Home Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life Opinion - Politics | AP News | Archives | Site Map E Southern Oregon | Classified Copyright © 1997-2003 Mail Tribune. All rights reserved. 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