PrintAfter being granted his U.S. citizenship and buying his own home, Benjamin Sanchez believed he knew the meaning of the elusive and idealistic “American Dream.”
But that was before he was diagnosed with cancer.
Since acquiring his citizenship in 1998, Sanchez, caretaker and foreman of Serenity Farm, a hunter/jumper facility in Colorado, has worked diligently to save enough money to buy a home for his wife and three children. That moment finally arrived in December of 2005 in Elizabeth, Colo.
A year later, the perfect world that he’d worked for more than 20 years to create came crashing down on him after medical testing revealed that Sanchez was suffering from the early stages of esophageal cancer. As he broke the news to his family, Sanchez began to wonder how, without health insurance, he was going to pay for the months of treatments that were soon to follow.
While Sanchez has always been focused on providing the best he can for his family, his quest for a new life in the United States wasn’t driven by the “almighty dollar,” but by a sense of dedication to hard work and a love for horses.
“He’s one of the kindest and hardest-working human beings I’ve ever met,” said Sue Bury, who keeps her horse in Sanchez’s care at Serenity Farm. “We call him the horse whisperer because he connects so incredibly with all the horses.”
Cindy Cruciotti, owner of Serenity Farm, agreed. “When I walk into the barn he’s always whistling, and the horses are all watching him. He’s very efficient but also calm and the horses respond to that. When he clips them, he never has to use a twitch or a chain—even on the young ones,” she said.
In an effort to help Sanchez, Cruciotti and the boarders at Serenity Farm have all pitched in to raise the money necessary to pay his medical bills. Benefits, fundraisers, silent auctions and just old-fashioned good will are a few of the efforts the people at Serenity have put forth to aid their beloved foreman.
Sanchez, 51, prides himself in never leaving the stable until each horse is properly put away, a habit that grew out of his work on the Sanchez family farm in Zacatecaz, Mexico.
“It was a lot different there,” said Sanchez about the way his family utilized horses as a labor source. “We used the horses to harvest the fields and to get back and forth to work, not for pleasure. I remember when we got home late at night from the fields I would feed and put them away. We didn’t have running water either so I had to take buckets to the river and fill them up.”
The long days in Zacatecaz, carrying buckets back from the river, water sloshing from side to side spilling out onto his shoes and leaving a trail behind him, are not all that different from the seemingly never-ending days he puts in at the horse shows.
From the HITS Desert Circuit (Calif.) to the High Prairie Horse Shows (Colo.) to the Capital Challenge (Md.), Sanchez exemplifies the same unflagging work ethic everywhere he goes.
“He’s the first one at the barn in the morning and the last one to go home at night,” said Cruciotti. “And he does it because he wants to.”
A Tireless Teacher
The work ethic that Sanchez developed while working alongside his father, Angel Sanchez, is something that he tries to instill in other grooms that he meets on the circuit and at Serenity Farm.
After working with horses for almost 50 years, 28 of those in the United States, Sanchez has taught innumerable other men who work with horses not only how to be good grooms but also how to be good horsemen.
“We get a lot of young Thoroughbred horses off the track, and before I sit on them Benjamin works with them for two or three weeks teaching them how to longe, how to go forward, how to halt, so that it’s safe when I get on them,” explained Cruciotti, who won the 2005 Ariat Adult Medal Finals aboard Q, a horse Sanchez cared for.
“He’s a tireless teacher and often tells his younger co-workers that the farm isn’t an 8-5 job,” added Jennifer Wallen, an adult amateur competitor who boards her horse, Otis, at Serenity Farm.
Recalling how diligently Sanchez cared for Otis when he injured himself jumping out of the paddock, Wallen said, “Benjamin took care of him like he was gold. He called me right after it happened, and when I arrived at the barn 15 minutes later Benjamin had already stopped the bleeding, cleaned the wound and called the vet.
“It’s hard to describe the relationship he has with the horses,” continued Wallen. “Mine can be difficult, and just watching the way he interacts with the animals—never saying a harsh word, never using force—I don’t know exactly what it is, but they just seem to melt in his care.”
When Cruciotti decided to open her own business three years ago she knew that finding knowledgeable and dependable help was crucial to her success. Sanchez flew with his family to Colorado from California to meet Cruciotti. “They are a big part of my life, and I wanted them to be there and see where we might be living,” said Sanchez of his decision.
Similar to laying eyes on a horse for the first time and knowing it’s “the one,” Cruciotti knew right away that Sanchez was the missing puzzle piece.
But that was before he was diagnosed with cancer.
Since acquiring his citizenship in 1998, Sanchez, caretaker and foreman of Serenity Farm, a hunter/jumper facility in Colorado, has worked diligently to save enough money to buy a home for his wife and three children. That moment finally arrived in December of 2005 in Elizabeth, Colo.
A year later, the perfect world that he’d worked for more than 20 years to create came crashing down on him after medical testing revealed that Sanchez was suffering from the early stages of esophageal cancer. As he broke the news to his family, Sanchez began to wonder how, without health insurance, he was going to pay for the months of treatments that were soon to follow.
While Sanchez has always been focused on providing the best he can for his family, his quest for a new life in the United States wasn’t driven by the “almighty dollar,” but by a sense of dedication to hard work and a love for horses.
“He’s one of the kindest and hardest-working human beings I’ve ever met,” said Sue Bury, who keeps her horse in Sanchez’s care at Serenity Farm. “We call him the horse whisperer because he connects so incredibly with all the horses.”
Cindy Cruciotti, owner of Serenity Farm, agreed. “When I walk into the barn he’s always whistling, and the horses are all watching him. He’s very efficient but also calm and the horses respond to that. When he clips them, he never has to use a twitch or a chain—even on the young ones,” she said.
In an effort to help Sanchez, Cruciotti and the boarders at Serenity Farm have all pitched in to raise the money necessary to pay his medical bills. Benefits, fundraisers, silent auctions and just old-fashioned good will are a few of the efforts the people at Serenity have put forth to aid their beloved foreman.
Sanchez, 51, prides himself in never leaving the stable until each horse is properly put away, a habit that grew out of his work on the Sanchez family farm in Zacatecaz, Mexico.
“It was a lot different there,” said Sanchez about the way his family utilized horses as a labor source. “We used the horses to harvest the fields and to get back and forth to work, not for pleasure. I remember when we got home late at night from the fields I would feed and put them away. We didn’t have running water either so I had to take buckets to the river and fill them up.”
The long days in Zacatecaz, carrying buckets back from the river, water sloshing from side to side spilling out onto his shoes and leaving a trail behind him, are not all that different from the seemingly never-ending days he puts in at the horse shows.
From the HITS Desert Circuit (Calif.) to the High Prairie Horse Shows (Colo.) to the Capital Challenge (Md.), Sanchez exemplifies the same unflagging work ethic everywhere he goes.
“He’s the first one at the barn in the morning and the last one to go home at night,” said Cruciotti. “And he does it because he wants to.”
A Tireless Teacher
The work ethic that Sanchez developed while working alongside his father, Angel Sanchez, is something that he tries to instill in other grooms that he meets on the circuit and at Serenity Farm.
After working with horses for almost 50 years, 28 of those in the United States, Sanchez has taught innumerable other men who work with horses not only how to be good grooms but also how to be good horsemen.
“We get a lot of young Thoroughbred horses off the track, and before I sit on them Benjamin works with them for two or three weeks teaching them how to longe, how to go forward, how to halt, so that it’s safe when I get on them,” explained Cruciotti, who won the 2005 Ariat Adult Medal Finals aboard Q, a horse Sanchez cared for.
“He’s a tireless teacher and often tells his younger co-workers that the farm isn’t an 8-5 job,” added Jennifer Wallen, an adult amateur competitor who boards her horse, Otis, at Serenity Farm.
Recalling how diligently Sanchez cared for Otis when he injured himself jumping out of the paddock, Wallen said, “Benjamin took care of him like he was gold. He called me right after it happened, and when I arrived at the barn 15 minutes later Benjamin had already stopped the bleeding, cleaned the wound and called the vet.
“It’s hard to describe the relationship he has with the horses,” continued Wallen. “Mine can be difficult, and just watching the way he interacts with the animals—never saying a harsh word, never using force—I don’t know exactly what it is, but they just seem to melt in his care.”
When Cruciotti decided to open her own business three years ago she knew that finding knowledgeable and dependable help was crucial to her success. Sanchez flew with his family to Colorado from California to meet Cruciotti. “They are a big part of my life, and I wanted them to be there and see where we might be living,” said Sanchez of his decision.
Similar to laying eyes on a horse for the first time and knowing it’s “the one,” Cruciotti knew right away that Sanchez was the missing puzzle piece.
