What do we offer?

1. Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP)

Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is a form of experiential therapy that uses horses for growth, learning, and healing. It is facilitated by a licensed therapist and a horse professional who work together with the participant and the horses to achieve therapeutic goals. The participants learn about themselves and others by taking part in structured activities with the horses and then processing or discussing feelings, behaviors, observations, patterns and thoughts. The focus is not on riding or horsemanship. Participants learn and practice verbal and non-verbal communication, assertiveness, creative thinking, problem-solving skills, leadership, responsibility, and teamwork. EAP is an innovative and effective therapeutic approach that has a powerful impact on individuals, families, and groups. EAP can address a variety of mental health and human development needs including behavioral issues, attention problems, substance abuse, eating disorders, abuse issues, trauma, depression, anxiety, anger issues, poor impulse control, relationship problems and communication difficulties. We offer outpatient therapy and have contracts with all major local insurance companies.

2. Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) - Programs for Schools and Boarding Schools

Cliques? Bickering? Bullying? Aggression? Lack of respect? No longer making progress in your therapy? Stuck in a rut? We offer workshops for school classes, teams, and groups of 4-25 students. We will work with teachers, counselors and therapists to define specific goals and design activities to achieve these goals. Depending on your needs, workshops can last a few hours or several days. Through structured activities with horses and each other, students will become aware of their body language, practice healthy communication skills, work together in teams, support each other, and get to know each other in a new light.

The horse has an uncanny ability to reflect the inner workings of a person and thus offers students an honest mirror. The horse is a guide and teacher who offers new perspectives on life's dilemmas and opportunities. Equine Assisted Learning is not about riding, horsemanship or controlling the horse. Whether students are afraid of horses or have been around horses their entire lives, they will all learn something new about themselves through their interactions with the horses.

3. Workshops and Staff Development

Business teams, non-profit organizations, boards of directors, special interest groups, corporate groups, educators, administrators, teachers, church groups, medical and mental health professionals. Is your team struggling with motivation or ongoing conflict? A lack of communication? A lack of creativity?

Create a stronger, more cohesive team by utilizing the power of the horse to generate opportunities for significant change in team performance, cooperation, communication, and leadership. Offer your group a unique learning experience to address the topics you are already working on. We provide a non-threatening environment where people can try out new behaviors and receive instant feedback. Equine Assisted Learning moves beyond intellectual awareness and allows people to experience in a tangible way how their attitudes, behaviors and beliefs impact themselves and others. Through reflection, discussions and journaling, people have the opportunity to identify patterns, examine their usefulness, and move toward change.

Structured activities with horses are created to guide your group’s process of discovery and learning, of identifying obstacles and developing new patterns of interaction, of growth and development. All activities take place on the ground. Riding experience or horsemanship are not necessary.

“Like human beings, horses are all individuals with singular personalities, their own virtues and their own faults. We become bound to them for their beauty, their eccentricities, their heart and the love they so often return to us.” (Lana Slaton)

4. Metaphors

The use of metaphor is recognized by many therapeutic approaches as an effective way to teach and learn new concepts by bypassing a participant’s natural resistance and defenses. Working with horses provides ample opportunity for staff and participants to develop metaphors that relate to the participant’s experience outside of the arena. Depending on the participant’s willingness and ability to “translate” these lessons and experiences so they make practical sense, staff will use more and more complex metaphors. These stories and metaphors are often some of the most powerful memories the participants take home with them and continue to draw on when things get tough.

5. Safety

Safety – both physical and emotional - is paramount. We recognize the need for confidentiality in all our interactions with clients. Our staff are trained in First Aid and CPR. All staff are also familiar with emergency response procedures in case of fire, lightning storms, inclement weather, earthquakes, high winds, or accidents.