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Horses Our Horses Heal program uses horses to facilitate positive, long lasting behavior changes. Horses Heal was originally developed for at-risk youth ages 10 to 18 but is now offered to participants of all ages. Most camps or other activities that involve horses and youth at risk only teach riding skills and equine maintenance (mucking stalls, grooming, saddling and feeding). Our Horses Heal core program teaches youth at risk and troubled teens about the physical attributes and needs of a horse as well as how to communicate with the horse and build a trusting relationship with it. By learning to build a great relationship with a horse, a youth can begin to build healthy relationships with all aspects of his environment. Horses Heal combines academic studies, groundwork with the horses and arena exercises to create a unique program that helps youth examine and change their behaviors. In addition to our core eight-week program for youth at risk, Horses Heal offers day-long leadership camps, field trips, customized activities such as the one we created for the Anaheim Police Activities League (APAL) in conjunction with the Anaheim Police Mounted Enforcement Unit and more.
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Heal Our Horses Heal program offers both Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) and Equine Assisted Counseling (EAC). Components: | EAL and EAC for: Individuals Families Groups Youth at risk Corrections Addictive disorders
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Download our presentation to learn more about our Horses Heal program.
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Specific benefits of a horse program for youth at risk include: Enhanced social skills Improved trust levels Increased self-discipline, self-control and patience Promotes responsibility and cooperation Builds self-esteem and confidence Gives a feeling of being unique and special Horses spark the imagination
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"The Horses Heal program allows my students to work on an even playing field. They all have fears and different traumatic backgrounds. The horses allow them to be themselves and see positive success in a short amount of time. The program supports our character based program and helps us teach character traits, positive goal setting, and problem solving in a unique forum.” --Mrs. Hofstetter-Batiste, Orange County Probation.
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Presenting Horses Heal final projects
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Temptation Alley
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News flash! Youth at risk are good kids! by Teri Renaud What do you think when you hear the term youth at risk or that a teenager has come from a group home or juvenile hall? These are the kids that we work with and help in our Horses Heal program. These are good kids with a heart and soul who just want to be loved. Most of them have been thrown away, abused and neglected. Our unique Horses Heal program helps teens feel better about themselves, learn new coping skills, and feel safe and nurtured with the help of horses. Horses are amazing with their size and strength and the youth learn respect right away because of that. Fear is the first feeling we deal with. I feel most youth act out because they have so much fear and don't feel safe. I tell the kids that when we walk through our fears, a sense of inner strength can be felt and life can feel more worthwhile and safe. We see so many foster kids who want to give up when they are afraid. I think maybe because so many have given up on them. We tell them that we will not give up on them.
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We always ask the youth what the most surprising thing was they learned about themselves during the program. One young man of sixteen said he learned that he could contribute something. That brought tears to my eyes. This young man came to us very angry, often with clinched fists, and not wanting to participate. He was a different young man at the end of eight weeks. He smiles more and yes, with a lot of love and encouragement (especially from the horses), he now knows he can contribute! This is the goal of horses heal: to let all kids, misguided or not guided at all, know they have a place to come with horses to love, that life can be worthwhile and that they can contribute to our world in positive ways. I know it's been said that the children are our future. LETS HELP THEM. How can you help?
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