Horsemanship for Health

Horses first welcomed me into their world a long time ago. I was a dreamy child of ten in need of true connection and I found horses, or maybe they found me?

I have cared for my own horses now for more than two decades, an astonishing span of time. One of our younger volunteers who has known and loved our horses for a couple of years remarked this week. ‘I find it hard to get my head around the fact these horses are older than me.’

More than twenty years ago I had an ache to connect with horses again. I didn’t know why. I just needed to be with them. Maybe some part of me knew I would need them to save my life. As I shared in a TEDx talk, educating my horses gave me a way through the pain of losing my closest friend to suicide. They showed me that it was possible to find joy in the midst of heartbreak. They showed me how to live well and taught me startling lessons of recovery, resilience and now relinquishment.

Since we incorporated Horsemanship for Health as a Community Interest Company more than nine years ago, we have worked with a range of people from young people who struggled to attend school, to women experiencing severe trauma after domestic violence to Royal Marines and senior Navy personnel who experienced catastrophic breakdown after tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq. From long-term psychiatric patients sectioned under the mental health act to children who needed loving parenting – often seeing both disparate groups on the same day another volunteer wryly reminded me this week – the horses have met every person with compassion, courage and curiosity.

In the early days of building our enterprise, I worried that there would come a point when the horses would say ‘enough’ and would refuse to engage or make it clear they needed time off from spending time with traumatised people. Instead, something more remarkable has happened. Every single one of our team of nine people has experienced trauma and intense pain. Every one of us has undergone terrific life challenge and every single one of us knows the agony of not wanting to live. The horses have accepted every single one of without judgement. Far from saying enough is enough, as our team has grown and is still growing, the horses have embraced us all as if we are life-long friends.

Witnessing Sheranni lift his head from the grass and stride over to the gate to wicker a greeting to our youngest volunteer who he had not seen in weeks melted our hearts this week. Horses don’t forget true connection. They value it. They understand it. They live it.

And their value system of unconditional acceptance combined with a way of life that gives them the freedom to make choices, is why they remain open to whoever steps through the gate. Nearly ten years in, I am reminded by my master teachers to keep looking with fresh eyes.