Inspired by adversity

Click on pictures to enlarge and view captions. This story was published in the Dec. 2, 2009, issue of The Almanac. About the author: Maggie Mah Johnson lives and rides horses in Woodside.

By Maggie Mah Johnson

Nancy Hey’s voice is sweet and cheerful with a musical lilt. Her walk is strong and determined. A few weeks ago, after 38 years of riding and training at Stanford’s Red Barn, she was told she would have to be out before the end of the year.

Citing an increasing need for high-level training, the university announced its decision to bring in a new trainer, former Olympian Buddy Brown. Immediately after Ms. Hey was told that there would not be room for both trainers, Stanford issued an e-mail to Red Barn boarders and students informing them of the change.

In the midst of the uproar from the horse community, and in particular, her clients, Ms. Hey, a resident of Portola Valley, has calmly gone about finding a new base of operations and home for 26 horses and ponies. She says all of her clients are making the move with her to new quarters at Rancho Viejo, a private boarding and training facility at 2710 Alpine Road in Portola Valley, near Webb Ranch and next to the Portola Valley Training Stable.

Where others might feel victimized, Nancy Hey says simply: “I have always felt that when you are faced with adversity, rather than be frightened or defeated, be inspired. I’m inspired to make a better situation for my clients.”

With many people up in arms and plenty of mud being slung, she has refused to lay blame on the institution and has only positive things to say about her long association at the historic barn. “Of course, it was very hard at first and I will cry when I leave,” she says. “My children literally grew up here.”

Support has poured in from the horse community, including offers of help from other trainers. “When this is all over, I’m going to write a thank you to all of them,” she says. “We’re competitive but everyone has really rallied around.”

In a pursuit driven by passion, it’s not unusual for riders to change trainers at the drop of a rail. Nancy Hey, on the other hand, has an unusually devoted following.

She teaches beginners, advanced riders, children and adults, and even has parents and kids from the same family taking lessons. Many of her students start as young as age 4 and continue through high school. Some return after college and later bring their own children.

What inspires such loyalty? “I guess it’s because they know I really care,” she says. “Parents feel safe having their kids ride with me.”

She also says she views her clients as friends and that together they form a community.

She credits her perseverance to a series of challenges she faced early on in life. At 13, she was diagnosed with uveitis, an autoimmune disorder of the eyes. Ironically, a similar ailment, commonly known as “moon blindness,” afflicts horses. Although the disease was treated successfully, it caused damage to the retina and left her legally blind.

Just after she recovered and returned to school, her parents divorced.

“It was a double whammy,” she recalls. “It was very hard but I found something inside myself. I realized nobody was going to do this for me. From that point on, I decided to view adverse situations as obstacles to get over. This is one of those situations.”

Despite her visual impairment, she soldiered on in school, taping lectures and using audio books to study. She went on to earn a teaching credential and a master’s degree in speech pathology, and taught in Southern California while her husband, Randy Hey, attended law school.

She also paints and writes poetry. “I can do everything except get a driver’s license,” she says with a laugh.

Nancy’s love of riding began with pony rides in Griffith Park in Los Angeles when she was a tiny girl back in the 1950s. “We were tied on to the saddle and went once around in a circle,” she says. “I was so sad when we came to the end of the circle.”

Later on, she spent summers at the family cabin in the Sierra and roamed the trails and back woods on packhorses that her grandmother had rented.

Back home, she saved money to rent horses in Griffith Park. “I remember wishing that I could afford to ride for more than an hour!”

Kit Stebbins, a fine rider and college sorority sister, encouraged her to take English riding lessons. “For a graduation present, she found me a horse I could lease for $45 a month,” she says. “Zorro and I would just run at the jumps.”

Marriage did not dampen Nancy’s enthusiasm for horses and riding. While she and her husband worked for Ralph Nader in Washington, D.C., during the summer of 1968, their apartment was burglarized. A small insurance policy covered their losses and upon their return to Southern California, her husband offered her a choice. “You can use the money to get new clothes or you can buy a horse.”

No surprises here. A green 4-year-old named “Galley” was soon ensconced in the paddock behind the rented house.

After moving to Menlo Park in 1971 (they moved to Portola Valley in 1978), Nancy continued to teach, working with developmentally disabled students. It was after her own children were born that she started to teach riding. “My daughter and her friends were my first students,” she recalls.

The overall philosophy of Nancy Hey’s teaching goes beyond such mechanical aspects as posting on the correct diagonal and picking up the right lead.

While her students learn the basics of riding and good horsemanship, they are also being taught other valuable lessons. “Consideration for others is a big one,” she says. “They learn to be aware of their hands and how keeping them low is being considerate of the horse’s mouth. If they can become mindful of a horse’s well-being, they can be mindful of someone else’s well-being.”

One of her clients, Jill Layman, whose daughter also takes lessons from Ms. Hey, says: “I’m not sure how she does it, but Nancy has a gentle and direct way of working with the kids. She is passionate about riding, sets high expectations and encourages the kids every step of the way.”

Ms. Layman’s daughter, Makena Layman, picked Ms. Hey as the subject of a school essay on a person who has had a strong influence on her. Makena wrote: “She has taught me not only how to be a good horseback rider but also to use patience in my own life.”

Ms. Hey encourages all of the kids to support each other and considers the constant routines associated with horses such as grooming and picking out hooves as a way to instill discipline. Even the simple act of checking a horse turned out in the field works to foster a sense of dedication to others.

The atmosphere of respect for the horses and for each other is evidenced by something that lately seems to be in short supply — manners! She says her students always thank her at the end of a lesson. “I never have to ask.”

While new quarters are being readied at Rancho Viejo, she is busy packing up 38 years’ worth of paraphernalia — tack, horse blankets, “lending libraries” of show clothing, and myriad types and sizes of Ariat boots.

About the place where she has spent over half of her life, she says she holds fond memories of the barn and its former dilapidated condition.

“I loved it when it was old and shabby. Some of the things I will miss the most are the owls that live in the trees near the barn.”

Looking ahead, her positive attitude shines through any momentary clouds that might gather about leaving. “I feel like the luckiest person in the world. So many people have been kind to me.” And as she is inspired by adversity, so she, herself, is an inspiration.

For more information about Nancy Hey’s new stables, call 650-854-5211. Go to rvstables.com for more information about Rancho Viejo stables.

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