People Helping Horses, Horses Helping People

For 10 years, The Horse Project has rehomed and rehabilitated rescued horses.  Today, with the hard work of passionate volunteers, the horses pay it forward by helping people with physical, emotional, and mental health distress get their lives back on track.

Building on deep study and experience of how horses react and respond to human caring, The Horse Project’s Better With Horses program collaborates with other nonprofits, groups, and businesses to help their clients, members, and employees find confidence and trust in themselves, like those from Blind Fitness who were once sighted and are now legally blind.

Participants learn self-regulating and self-coaching tools and skills through Better With Horses to deal with anxiety, depression, grief, loneliness, and stress, empowering them to make healthier life choices. “I’ve done years of therapy and AA and all kinds of things and this was more impactful than anything I can remember,” says a program participant.

Better With Horses is preparing to welcome women veterans, some in wheelchairs with a healthy dose of equine love and healing, as The Horse Project partners with the Barbara Giordano Foundation, Inc. – a “wellness resource that addresses the unique emotional, physical, and personal needs of women veterans throughout the U.S.,” and the  Paralyzed Veterans of America California Chapter.

 “Our rescued horses are master teachers,” says Project Leader Linda Kiefer. “They don’t need to be taught about trauma, stress, and anxiety, they have experienced it and know it in others.”

Kiefer, a retired corporate CEO, trained as a PATH certified (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship) riding instructor which gave her an innate understanding of the good these emotionally attuned animals can nurture and provide healing for people with physical and mental disabilities. She is also a certified Therapeutic Coach using multi-disciplinary, psychological, and life-coaching modalities.  This training brings an added dimension to The Horse Project’s mission, drawing on the well-documented empathetic bond between people and horses. “Having gone through and experienced the therapeutic aspect, I blended years of horse work, coaching, and my life experiences leading a team in international business to build the outcome-driven Better With Horses program,” she says.

Since 2014, The Horse Project has helped abused, abandoned, and neglected horses, sometimes owned by heartbroken owners who could no longer care for them because of their own illness or hard times. “We rescue horses that would otherwise be euthanized,” Kiefer says. “Horses considered to have outlived their usefulness or value, seniors aged out of their sport, young horses who have been injured and need time to heal, horses we believe we can rehab and rehome.”

If ultimately no home can be found, they stay with The Horse Project. “Our sanctuary horses take part in our Better With Horses program,” Kiefer explains. It is a second chance to lead a purposeful life.

So it is that horses are both rescued and rescuers in The Horse Project. “It was life-changing for me,” one Better With Horses participant says. “I have hope. I feel happy again after a very long time and that makes everything better.” Kiefer smiles.  “The horses inform us. Everyone deserves a chance to thrive.”