Healing Through Horses
Innovative equine programs restore minds, bodies and spirits
Susan Nance always loved riding horses and at one time even worked as a mare midwife on a breeding farm.
Though she lost her vision in the mid 1990s, the Henderson native’s love of horses didn’t wane and she continued riding horses in Texas, where she lived with her husband before he passed away.
“For me, it’s just a huge sanity thing,” she says.
But when she moved back to Henderson, Nance grew discouraged when, despite her experience, some stables were hesitant to accommodate a blind rider. That is, until 2008 when she contacted Blue Moon Stables, an operation in Corydon, owned by Chad and Stacy Denton.
“(Stacy) was a little reluctant at first,” Nance says. “You can imagine the astonishment at someone who says, ‘I’m totally blind and I’d like to ride.’”
Sir Dorset, a retired racehorse with a trustworthy temperament, was found for Nance, who rode him until his 2012 passing. She was unable to ride regularly until Blue Moon acquired another horse who was a good match in 2015. Nance was thrilled to be invited back to ride.
By then, Blue Moon was transitioning into a nonprofit therapeutic riding program called Healing Reins in partnership with Rolling Hills Equestrian Center in Henderson to serve people with a variety of physical and mental challenges.
Healing Reins Therapeutic Riding Program Director Monica Fella says trained instructors and volunteers assist participants in weekly sessions for a six-week period, tailored to their needs and abilities. Fifteen horses are involved, and activities can include grooming, saddling and riding a horse, and leading it through obstacles designed to build participants’ strength, balance, confidence and coordination.
The $25 sessions are offered at a discount or through sponsorships made possible by fundraisers, grants and donations, she says.
Like Nance, some participants are visually impaired, while others have conditions like Down syndrome, cerebral palsy or autism. There also is a free program to help military veterans who are coping with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
“They get up on a horse and they smile and laugh and they hug the horse,” Fella says. “It’s just incredible to see them escape their condition for a while, escape their limitation, because they’re told that they can’t do things over and over and over. At Healing Reins that’s not what we look at; we look at what they can do—and they can do a lot, no matter what the challenge is or the special need is.”
These days, Nance enjoys weekly horseback rides.
“I was just over the moon when I started riding again (with Healing Reins),” she says.
Riding for mind and body
On a 575-acre farm in Versailles, Life Adventure Center has an indoor arena with obstacles for riders and their horses to navigate during equine assisted learning and equine assisted psychotherapy sessions.
There are programs for veterans, at-risk youth and those in trauma recovery, Executive Director Tim Magill says. The center also offers vaulting, a form of gymnastics on horseback.
Program services come free or at reduced cost through grants, fundraising and donations.
About 17 horses have been tapped for the program, with instructors aiding about 800 people annually. Focusing largely on trauma recovery for youth, equine assisted psychotherapy sessions are usually provided in a group setting, Magill says, typically with six to 15 participants accompanied by psychologists and social workers.
Through these sessions, participants learn about resilience, emotional self-regulation and overcoming triggers. Equine assisted learning programs also cultivate leadership and communication skills.
“Everything that we do here has a very positive effect,” Magill says.
Veterans saddle up
U.S. Army veteran Jeremy Harrell founded Veteran’s Club in late 2017 to offer Kentucky veterans opportunities for camaraderie through scheduled social events. That same year he experienced equine therapy after overcoming a few misgivings and skepticism.
By the end of his first session, he says he not only felt renewed but convinced: “I knew that if it could do that for me, give me that sense of peace and contentment, that it could do that for other veterans.”
Harrell partnered with Shelbyville horse ranch The Dizzy D to get the program up and running.
Now, he enjoys watching other vets go through a similar process when trying something unfamiliar.
“I’ve had a lot of veterans tell me, ‘I don’t want to have anything to do with these horses’…when they leave they’re kissing the horses goodbye,” he says.
Kentucky Foothills Therapeutic Horsemanship Center in Richmond provides therapeutic riding and equine assisted learning programs for special needs children and adults, students and veterans.
Founder and Board President Mark Martin says the center is developing a new drill team and honor guard primarily for veterans that is expected to launch next year. Training of horses and riders is underway. He says the regimented movements and focus required are familiar to veterans.
“In a way we’re trying to form kind of a camaraderie like what the veterans feel when they’re in the service, and they lack when they’re discharged,” he says. “We’re trying to form an extended family, a community of veterans.”
Hooves of Hope in Lancaster, founded in 2006 to offer therapeutic riding and carriage driving programs, has added Operation Hope for veterans. Operation Hope and its new equine assisted learning program for at-risk youth are both free, says Program Director Laura Friday.
In its therapeutic programs, the organization pairs a mental health provider and equine specialist to help participants with anxiety, autism, PTSD or physical challenges like spina bifida. Riders range in age from 4 to 70-plus and usually come from within an hour’s drive.
Therapeutic animals include 12 horses and one donkey. A horse’s natural gait is similar to that of a walking human, Friday explains, helping those with autism instinctively relax and focus, and imparting a sense of peacefulness to those with anxiety, depression or in trauma recovery.
Personal connection spurs program
Marchetta and Sammy Garrison’s love for their daughter Sabrina led them to enroll her in a therapeutic riding program. Sabrina was born with hydrocephalus and mild cerebral palsy in 1999. When she was 3, the Garrisons began making the 92-mile trip from Campbellsville to Shelbyville, where Sabrina rode horses as therapy for two years.
“It was like when we first went through that gate, I don’t know how to explain it, it was like God said, ‘This is what you’re supposed to do,’” Marchetta says.
In 2007, the couple opened The REATH (Riding Enhanced Around Therapeutic Horses) Center in Campbellsville, a nonprofit that has grown to include a youth summer camp and therapeutic riding programs for all ages in an outdoor arena.
Sabrina, now a college junior, is hoping to become certified to lead therapeutic riding sessions, says her mother, who already holds that certification.
Five-year-old Sophia Newton of Campbellsville is in her third season of riding at the center. Her mother, Jenny Newton, says Sophia was born with cerebral palsy and can’t walk and has low muscle tone.
“The first time she got on a horse she couldn’t even sit up, her voice wasn’t loud; we just thought that was her demeanor,” Jenny says. “… By the first season, by the end of her riding she was shouting across the arena!”
RIDERS UP!
Therapeutic riding programs throughout Kentucky
A Woman’s Life Equine Assisted Workshops, Versailles
(859) 806-8280. Offers wellness workshops, healing and horse yoga, or Neighmaste.
Cassidy’s Cause Therapeutic Riding Academy, Paducah
(270) 554-4040. Provides therapeutic riding programs for children and adults with special needs.
Central Kentucky Riding for Hope, Lexington
(859) 231-7066. Located within the Kentucky Horse Park, offers a variety of therapeutic riding and horsemanship programs for mentally and physically challenged individuals and veterans.
(859) 640-2544. Served by Fleming-Mason Energy, Circle H is a nonprofit organization, which is 100% volunteer driven, with services overseen by owners and certified equine specialists Bill and Carol Marnell. Circle H is dedicated to improving the quality of life for children, youth, and adults with and without special needs through therapeutic, educational and recreational activities with horses. In northeastern Kentucky, they serve Bracken, Fleming, Lewis, Mason and Robertson counties (in addition to Adams and Brown counties in Ohio).
Healing Reins Therapeutic Riding, Henderson
(270) 854-3150. Served by Kenergy Corp., provides therapeutic riding and equine assisted therapy programs for those with physical and/or mental challenges.
(859) 792-8938. Provides therapeutic riding, therapeutic carriage driving, a veterans program and equine assisted learning at-risk youth program.
Kentucky Foothills Therapeutic Horsemanship Center, Richmond
(606) 965-2158. Therapeutic riding and equine assisted learning programs for special needs children and adults, students and veterans. Served by Jackson Energy Cooperative.
Life Adventure Center, Versailles
(859) 873-3271. Works with at-risk youth, trauma survivors, veterans and others with variety of programs, including equine assisted learning/psychotherapy.
(859) 653-7410. A nonprofit organization served by Owen Electric, Lovesome Stables focuses on abilities rather than disabilities. They work with ages 4 and up to improve physical capabilities and functional skills while providing students opportunities for physical activities and social interaction. Lonesome Stables says that even those with minimal abilities can safely receive benefits from therapeutic riding with the assistance of a leader and two side walkers. They have recently started a program offering equine therapy for veterans.
Milestones, Inc., Independence
(859) 694-7669. Served by Owen Electric Cooperative, offers riding programs, summer camps for those with physical and developmental challenges, as well as for seniors 50 and over, plus “Horse Tales,” a youth reading program.
New Beginnings Therapeutic Riding, Bowling Green
(270) 777-3600. Equine assisted therapies for ages 5 through adult with behavioral, emotional, physical and mental disabilities in Warren and surrounding counties. Served by Warren RECC.
(859) 322-2884. New Day Ranch is a nonprofit organization with 16 specially trained horses and a team of certified equine specialists and instructors, as well as dedicated volunteers. New Day Ranch uses equine-based techniques and exercises to explore emotions, tackle challenges, and encourage development in hands-on workshops for participants of all ages, abilities and objectives. New Day focuses on improving mental health and education through their equine therapy. Therapeutic programs at New Day Ranch are idea for groups, but also family and individual sessions are available in special cases. Licensed clinical psychologists are also available to work with children, adults and families who require psychotherapy. The ranch is located on local hero and famed jockey Stevie Cauthen’s old training center, and it is served by Owen Electric.
Peg’s Therapeutic Ponies, Inc., Mt. Washington
(502) 538-4496. Served by Salt River Electric, provides riding programs for people with and without mental and physical disabilities.
Safe Haven Equine Ministries, Georgetown
(859) 340-4289. Offers summer camps, and “Stable Moments,” a program for foster and adoptive youth.
Steps & Strides Equestrian Services, Inc., Wilmore
(859) 519-0471. Therapeutic equine activities for those with mental, physical and emotional disabilities. Served by Blue Grass Energy.
The REATH Center, Campbellsville
(270) 789-8654. Provides challenging and educational activities for children and adults with disabilities through therapeutic horseback riding. Served by Taylor RECC.
(502) 310-2303. Via Dizzy D Ranch, provides equine program for veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injury.
