Welcome to Healing Horse Stables

20160220_132400-copy.jpgHealing Horse Stables is a non-profit organization offering: therapeutic riding, equine facilitated learning, and riding for relaxation.

Our mission is to promote the physical, cognitive, emotional, social, and spiritual health and well-being of individuals, regardless of age or ability, by providing equine assisted therapies.

Our future goals include being able to offer equine assisted psychotherapy and hippotherapy – speech, physical, and occupational therapy utilizing horses

What is healing about a horse?

pg1A horse provides a nonjudgmental, caring, responsive presence. A horse naturally gives nonverbal feedback to everyone working with it. And a horse lends its rider strength, speed, and freedom.

The natural gait of the horse closely resembles the normal gait of a human, which cannot be replicated mechanically. While riding, participants must constantly adjust their posture to maintain balance, which enhances overall balance, orientation, and body awareness, and strengthens core muscles. Riding offers opportunities to improve posture, range of motion, flexibility, muscle tone, social skills, emotional well-being, and to experientially access spirituality through building relationships and forming community with each other, our wonderful volunteers, and non-judgmental beings, our horses.

A Message from our Co-Founder, Dorey

I believe I have always been called to a healing ministry, having studied nursing and, more recently, ministry. I have a deep faith, and believe that God desires us to be as healed and whole as possible in this life. So while our program is in no way overtly religious, our therapeutic riding program is underpinned with a great deal of prayer. Often times I invite the riders and staff and volunteers to form a circle, hold hands, and set an intention, or pray if they are comfortable, of safety and healing and fun while we are together with the horses.

I had the privilege of growing up with horses, having started riding when I was only 4 years old. And I hope to give others the same privilege. We have had several junior and senior high students – some from Westminster Presbyterian Church’s neighborhood outreach, Teen Hangout, as well as college students and senior citizens, come and volunteer with us, and it is a wonderful opportunity both to help others and to be around horses. We can always use more volunteers, so please contact us if you are interested.

So many of us are off-center, and out of balance in our overly busy day-to-day lives, whether or not we have special needs. And so being with the horses, handling them, grooming them, and riding them helps us to slow down and become mindful of how we are in the moment, and gives us perspective on how we are living our lives. Our horses are our partners in our healing endeavor. Horses help us to get grounded, because they are such spiritual, energetically sensitive, emotionally responsive creatures. They mirror back to us our own emotions and energy. If we are angry or tense, the horse we are working with will also be tense and uncooperative. If we are anxious, they are spooky. When we are calm, they are relaxed and well behaved.

-Dorey

Please feel free to contact us about lessons, volunteering, or more: