In an enclosed arena, a client walks up to a horse
and under the observation of a professional facilitation team,
a transformation takes root.
Our professional team members step back
and allow the client to project and analyze their situation,
make a connection and find their own solution.
This experiential process allows personal solutions to form,
which tend to be deeper more profound and longer-lasting.
This is equine-facilitated psychotherapy and equine-facilitated learning.
This is what H.O.R.S.E. does and our commitment to our community.
H.O.R.S.E. actually has two acronyms to it,
the first one is Helping Our Riders Succeed in Education,
the second one is Helping Oneself be Resilient finding Serenity and Empowerment.
Some of the work that's required to keep our programs running is,
one, we have to keep our horses fat and happy and healthy
and two, depending on what program we're running up that day
requires a little bit of setup to do.
Having owned nothing but Fords all my life.
My current Ford truck makes it, life, a whole lot easier for our program.
From anything from hauling hay to hauling feed to hauling horses,
it's made a big difference in our program.
A typical day at this facility means getting up,
getting everybody fed, making sure nobody's injured themselves overnight,
setting up for whatever sessions we have that morning
and then bringing those horses in
so that they have time to settle in our arena.
So H.O.R.S.E. has several different programs that we offer,
our riding program is different in that,
we're focusing on the middle health aspect of your life
so self-regulation, learning confidence, building those instead of doing
and a modified riding lesson for whatever you may need.
My grandson LJ is autistic and my granddaughter is ADHD
and she has severe sensory issues.
We started therapy about two years ago
and there's been such a change in their dealings with others,
their social skills, it's just, it's been life-saving.
It's not just about riding a horse, it's about developing a relationship with that horse
and it's about learning how to get along with other people.
Autistic kids have a difficulty with getting along
with people that can be standoffish, well there's horses that are standoffish
and they kind of connect to each other it's just a really cool thing.
There's, you know, different games, they try with the kids.
She teaches them Tai Chi on the horses,
cool thing about that is it my grandson goes to school
and he practices that at school, so they've just learned so much from the program.
Your PTSD clients that's important for them to learn where their triggers are
and how to function in the daily society.
You don't get to practice that in talk therapy,
you get to practice at an arena with them.
I'm expecting the equine therapy to be a very miracle cure
for a lot of our clients for the PTSD.
Knowing that something that hands-on will help them out more than anything.
Well, being able to witness this for over 15 years,
there's quite a few experiences that really stood out.
One of the most unique experiences I've seen is with the PTSD client
and he was able to work through the trauma that he's faced
and he's able to move forward in his life and work with those issues
that he's had to deal with.
