JOHNSON, Vt. (WCAX) – Pictures often tell a lot about a person. For Tim Hayes, growing up the son of an advertising executive in Manhattan, a childhood picture of himself in a cowboy outfit may have foretold his future.
After graduating from the University of Vermont, Hayes headed home to New York and started a successful television commercial company. Every Baby Boomer knows his work. There was the Alka Seltzer ad. “I did a commercial called, ‘I can’t believe I ate the whole thing,’ Hayes said.
And then there was d-Con cockroach ad with boxing legend Muhammad Ali. “I can whoop anything on two legs, but even me, the greatest, needs help beating things with six legs…” Ali proclaimed.
“He was just so magnificent as a human,” Hayes recalled. “Plus, he was the world champion, very exciting.”
Hayes’ work was a knockout. But far from the glitz and glamour, he traveled to Idaho where he took a leap of faith. “I had never been on a horse before. I was 47 years old,” he said. “Before I got on the horse, I thought the person had to know everything, the horse was like a motorcycle… When I got off the horse, I realized the horse was a being with emotions and thoughts and feelings… There was something — I didn’t know it — inside me that registered, and it changed my life.”
It was a gradual transition from making commercials to equine adventures. “I started teaching and I was fascinated between what happened with a person and his horse,” Hayes said.
Now, less than a week from 80, Hayes is dealing with Parkinson’s disease. He does lectures but no longer rides because of his symptoms. “In the last two years, they’ve gotten a little bit more noticeable,” he said.
But his fingers have gotten a workout, tapping away on his latest book, “Horses, Humans and Love.” He writes about what horses can teach us — kindness, understanding, and trust, among other qualities.
Reporter Joe Carroll: What did the people out in Idaho think of this city slicker coming there?
Tim Hayes: They thought I was a hoot.
He has the deepest respect for the cowboy life, and his wife Stephanie, to whom the book is dedicated. “I have looked for you my whole life — that’s a long time — but I would do it again to be with you, ” Hayes said, reading the dedication.
Stephanie runs a rare breed horse preservation program. She agrees Hayes’ story could make it on the silver screen. “Absolutely, it would be a great movie,” she said.
Tim Hayes: And who would play me?
Stephanie Hayes: I was just going to say, who would play you?
Tim Hayes: Well, if it was 25 years ago…
Stephanie Hayes: Kevin Costner.
For now, life is more like a trot than a gallop, and that’s just fine with Hayes. “I believe that when I look at my life, that everything happened for a reason,” he said.