Sabine shares how our Equine Behaviour course contributed to realising one of her life's dreams.
"Hi. My name is Sabine and I just wanted to tell you how useful I found your Equine Behaviour course.
Together with other courses and professional qualifications it gave me a great foundation to start my own dream business, “Hillview Equine Assisted Learning”, which is an experiential type of therapy based on the interaction and communication between humans & horses. 4 years ago I had the great privilege of fulfilling my life’s dream of buying a small farm and acquiring 4 horses, as well as a variety of other animals.
Since I am a counsellor and have been a foster carer for traumatised children for 9 years and watched how the children benefited from the interaction with the horses, I wanted to learn more about how to understand & communicate with the horses.
Even though I had been around horses all my life, done vaulting and dressage lessons for years, enjoyed trail riding and volunteer work with RDA (disabled riders), I felt that I really didn’t have enough understanding of horses behaviour and language. This is where the Equine Behaviour course came in and helped me a great deal, giving me a good basis to work on communicating with my horses and inspiring me to attend EAGALA conferences (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association) and follow up with natural horsemanship clinics from then on. Last year I started my business (Hillview Equine Assisted Learning), which is specifically designed to address the mental health issues experienced by traumatised children.
It is not a profitable business, as the feed and maintenance costs for the horses far outweighs the income, but it is the most rewarding work I’ve ever done. It is so wonderful to watch the children learn to interact and communicate with the horses, learn to focus, increase mindfulness and self awareness skills, grow in confidence and self-esteem.
I feel grateful to my horses every day, as they willingly team up with me to teach important life skills to children who had a tough start in life and deserve every bit of help we can give them."
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