Open mind, open heart

Sara Cavill began riding at 4 years old, when she and her sister begged their mother for a horse. Hoping to dissuade the girls, their mother put them in horse riding lessons, but they became even more infatuated with the idea of owning their own. 

Sara, 47, runs Twilight Riding School on the farm where she lives with her husband, Greg Cavill, 51, and more than 30 animals, including 14 horses. She cares deeply about her relationships with the animals, her students, and her family. 

Sara has taught riding for 22 years. “Sara’s job is to work with the kids and teach them to open up and communicate,” Greg said. “A lot of the kids come, and they don’t know how to talk or communicate to the horses or to each other in some cases. That’s what she does, and she does it exceptionally well.” 

Sara’s teaching methods are rooted in the complex emotional interactions between the students and horses. “I read my horses to tell me how my kids feel.” Sara said. 

Eva Chapman, 12, has been getting lessons from Sara for seven years, and recently got her own horse, Ralph, who she boards at Sara’s barn. Eva often stops by the farm to help Sara with the horses. Eva said she has learned from Sara to “Be a good rider, and a good pet lover and lover of animals.”

Sara’s oldest child, Zachary Cavill, 20, is a senior at Western Kentucky University. In 2022, Zachary first asked his parents to call him by a different name, and by they/them pronouns. “That did not happen.” said Zachary, who was given a different name at birth.

Twelve days after Zachary’s 18th birthday, he legally changed his name. Sara initially had trouble adapting to her son’s new identity. “Mom was okay about it — ish,” Zachary said. “I’m happy with how it is now, however, it feels like it took so long.” 

Although Zachary said that he and his mother don’t always see eye-to-eye, “whether or not we agree, we can always discuss it.”

As their children are now both in college, Sara and Greg are finding ways to spend more time together. They start their day early in the morning, bringing the horses into the barn for the day and feeding the animals — a dog, cats, goats, chickens and ducks — before Greg goes to work. 

“It’s our time to talk and get ready for the day and work together,” he said, “and then I do the same thing at night, because I like talking to her. I kind of married her for that.”