What do you believe drove Emilie to work in the stables as a child despite social disapproval and her mother’s insistence that she give up horses for embroidery?
I feel Emilie felt a connection to Miss Cleda but most of all she “realized that training horses” satisfied her heart and soul.
After answering another question I realized Emile could talk to the horses and they understood each other! They needed each other.
The horses did offer her a respite from her mother. Emilie’s affinity for animals was part of her personality. She discovered she really loved horses and that they responded to her. They fed her soul. Very little in Emilie’s early life had been traditional, including the presence of Owl. In fact, the traditionally oriented girls largely rejected her. Emilie had her own mind.
Horses can help people heal. I think she was looking for a connection that was missing from her life with her mother’s indifference and spite. Unconditional love on a grand scale!
She needed something in her life to take away the pain of her mother hating her, and treating her badly. It was also something that her mother did not like so Emilie felt she needed to do it as nothing she would do would make her mother love her, do why not!
Emilie “understands” things that most people do not. She felt a kindred spirit to the horses. Emilie was not really concerned about having her mother’s approval because she knew that ultimately it was unattainable. The horses were her refuge.