Pierre Wilhelm van Rooyen was born on 7 March 1978 in Vryburg.

His childhood was spent as a happy carefree farm boy amongst cattle and horses. He started riding almost at the time he started walking. He learned early that every fall merely meant getting back on and trying again. He remembers his childhood fondly – good times, happy times in a secure Christian family environment.

From an early age Pierre showed an exceptional talent for long distance running and at school he broke one athletics record after the other. At the age of 9 – however - he started to experience extreme pain in his ankles while running. After months of doctors and tests he was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, which basically meant that his running days were over.

This was devastating to a young, active boy. As a teenager the constant pain, medication and unfairness of it all started taking its toll, and Pierre started suffering from bouts of depression. The frustration and inactivity finally manifested in acts of self mutilation as well.

In 1997 he enrolled at the University of Pretoria to do an agricultural degree. This, however, did not feel right and Pierre decided to pursue his belief that he was called to the ministry and changed over to theology. But he still had a lot of unresolved issues around his illness and pain and in 1999 he dropped out of this as well.

Pierre went back to his parents’ farm and his love for the horses sent him to the Tswane University of Technology, where he enrolled for the diploma in Equine Studies in 2000. This also did not last and he dropped out in 2001. After several months of working on one horse farm after the other he finally ended up on a Nooitgedachter stud farm in Limpopo. An elderly lady gave him three cassettes to listen to: Barrie Burger’s inspirational stories about emotionally damaged horses and the work he did with them.

The stories spoke to Pierre’s soul and he could identify immediately. He experienced some inner healing himself and headed back to Pretoria to complete his studies. During the practical part of his diploma he met up with Tornado, a young Arab stallion with self mutilation syndrome. Pierre identified with this tormented horse and gained permission from the owner and the lecturers to include Tornado’s emotional therapy in his studies.

In August 2003 Pierre and Tornado arrived in Noenieput and – under Barrie’s supervision – Tornado and Pierre both experienced life changing healing.

Tornado was sold to a new owner during this time and Pierre took him straight to his new ‘family’. Tornado is still the prize Arab breeding stallion of Karel van der Merwe and currently resides just outside Pretoria. Pierre completed his diploma in Equine Studies and also completed a course in Youth Ministry in 2006. He is currently working as a youth minister in Paarl.

Pierre started running again in 2005 and has completed several half marathons without any pain. Doctors confirmed that the arthritis left some damage but seems to have been healed.

Pierre was married to Meretha in December 2007, by Barrie Burger, on a dune in the Kalahari desert. They are planning to move to the Noenieput area in 2009, where Meretha’s dad has two farms. They dream of building up a youth ministry there… involving horses and emotional therapy