Equessense Therapeutic

12/25/2025

🎄✨ Merry Christmas from all of us at Equessense! ✨🎄
We are so grateful for our incredible families, volunteers, and supporters who make what we do possible. This season, we’re reminded of the joy, hope, and healing that happens when people and horses come together.

Wishing you a Christmas filled with peace, love, and special moments with those you cherish. Thank you for being part of our Equessense family 🤍🐴🎄

12/09/2025

🎉 It’s Martha’s Birthday Week 🎉🐴💛

This week we are celebrating Martha, one of the true backbones of Equessense.

Martha has been with us for many years, quietly showing up with consistency, heart, and a deep love for our horses and riders. She is the kind of volunteer every program hopes for. Steady, dependable, and always willing to help wherever she is needed.

Her actual birthday is tomorrow, but we are making a whole week of it because she deserves it.

Instead of gifts for herself, Martha asked that donations be made to Equessense to support the horses and the work we do here. That alone says everything about the kind of person she is.

If you have ever spent time at the barn, you have felt the impact of Martha’s care and dedication, even if you did not realize it in the moment.

Help us celebrate her birthday week by honoring the animals and mission she has poured so much love into 💛🐴

Birthday week donations can be made here
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=VR5TNW893WLAS

Happy Birthday Week, Martha. We are so grateful for you and everything you do 🎂✨

12/05/2025

Strength Looks Like Staying Soft

Resilience doesn’t always look like toughness.

Sometimes it looks like kindness.
Patience.
Not giving up when it would be easier to shut down.

Horses are powerful —
but they are also gentle.

They don’t lose their softness after hard experiences.
They remain kind.
They remain curious.
They remain open.

That teaches something rare:

You can be strong and soft at the same time.

And the world becomes gentler when we learn that. 💛🐴

Your support helps us care for our horses and riders.
Donate here if you feel led to 💛
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=VR5TNW893WLAS

12/04/2025

Learning to Try Again

Every time a rider asks a horse something new, there’s a chance it won’t go perfectly.

And horses show:
That’s okay.

They don’t shame the mistake.
They don’t react with frustration.
They simply wait and respond again.

And again.

This teaches riders how to keep trying without fear.

Resilience grows when:
mistakes feel safe,
restarts feel allowed,
and effort is met with patience.

Horses don’t measure progress in success.
They measure it in willingness.

And that changes everything. 💛🐴

Your support helps us care for our horses and riders.
Donate here if you feel led to 💛
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=VR5TNW893WLAS

12/03/2025

Horses Help the Body Recover Too

Resilience isn’t just emotional.
It’s physical.

Horses help the body learn how to come out of survival mode and into recovery.

Their movement is rhythmic.
Their breathing is slow.
Their presence is steady.

Research shows that around calm horses:
the nervous system calms,
heart rhythm becomes steadier,
and stress responses decrease.

When the body feels safer,
healing becomes possible.

This is why riders often feel more grounded after a session — even if nothing “big” happened.

Their body was practicing safety.

And safety is the beginning of resilience. 💛🐴

Your support helps us care for our horses and riders.
Donate here if you feel led to 💛
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=VR5TNW893WLAS

12/03/2025

Learning Resilience Without Words

Horses don’t teach resilience by being pushed through hard things.
They teach it by showing us what steady looks like.

A horse doesn’t hurry when energy is low.
They don’t rush through uncertainty.
They pause.
They wait.
They adjust.

When riders work with horses, they begin to understand that slowing down is not failure.
It’s awareness.

That lesson changes everything.

Instead of forcing progress, riders learn:
• to listen to their bodies
• to move with intention
• to stay present instead of overwhelmed
• and to take one step at a time

Resilience grows here in the quiet moments —
in patience,
in consistency,
and in learning that steady is just as powerful as fast.

Horses remind us that returning to balance is its own kind of strength. 💛🐴

Your support helps us care for our horses and riders.
Donate here if you feel led to 💛
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=VR5TNW893WLAS

12/01/2025

This Week’s Topic: Resilience — Coming Back Stronger

How Horses Teach Resilience

Horses live in a world where survival depends on adapting.
They move through injury, bad days, fear, weather, and change — and they keep going.

Not because they “push through,”
but because they know how to reset and return to balance.

When riders work with horses, they learn this same skill.

A horse doesn’t panic because yesterday was hard.
They arrive in today willing to try again.

That teaches resilience in a quiet way:
by showing riders that you can move forward without being erased by what came before.

And without ever saying a word,
the horse says something powerful:

You can begin again today. 💛🐴

Your support helps us care for our horses and riders.
Donate here if you feel led to 💛
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=VR5TNW893WLAS

11/28/2025

Nova’s Glow Up ✨🐴

Can we just take a moment to appreciate this glow up…

Before:
ribs showing, spine visible, no b***y to speak of.
Just a skinny little rescue trying to figure out her new world.

Now:
b***y has filled in, topline is filling in, and ribs are almost gone from showing.
She still has a little way to go, but the progress is everything.

We are so proud of this girl.

She’s been fed with patience, consistency, and a whole lot of love.
And you can see it in her body, her energy, and her eyes.

Glow ups don’t happen overnight.
They happen one meal at a time, one quiet day at a time, one kind moment at a time.

Also… please ignore her newly gray face.
She had fly gel on and immediately rubbed her face in the dirt.
And honestly? She seems proud of her decision. 😅

And yes… I failed and didn’t stick to Horse of the Week posts this week.
We’ll be back to them next week, promise!

Your support helps us care for our horses and riders.
Donate here if you feel led to 💛
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=VR5TNW893WLAS

11/28/2025

Communication Is a Two-Way Street

The best moments in our arena are never forced.
They happen naturally — in the tiny conversations between horse and rider.

A rider breathes slower.
The horse lowers their head.
A hand reaches out gently.
The horse steps closer.
A small cue is given.
The horse understands.

These soft exchanges teach riders that communication works best when both sides feel safe enough to contribute.

It’s not about control.
It’s not about perfection.
It’s about connection.

Horses show us that good communication is simple:
Be consistent.
Be calm.
Be kind.
And listen as much as you speak. 💛🐴

Your support helps us care for our horses and riders.
Donate here if you feel led to 💛
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=VR5TNW893WLAS

Help support Equessense by donating or sharing with your friends.

11/28/2025

When We Listen Back

Horses don’t just listen —
they communicate, too.

Ears forward or back.
Tail relaxed or tense.
A step closer or a step away.
A lowered head.
A soft lick and chew.

Each gesture means something.

When riders learn to notice these signals, they begin to understand:
• when a horse is relaxed
• when they’re unsure
• when they’re curious
• when they need more space
• or when they’re ready to connect

Research shows that recognizing animal body language improves empathy, attention, and emotional understanding in humans.

In other words —
listening to the horse teaches us how to listen to each other.

And that’s where true communication begins. 💛🐴

11/27/2025

Happy Thanksgiving from Our Herd to Yours 🐴🧡

Today we’re thankful for so many things…
for every rider who walks into our arena with courage,
for every parent who believes in what we do,
for every volunteer who shows up with heart,
and for every horse who makes this work possible.

We’re grateful for the quiet moments,
the small victories,
the soft breaths,
and all the tiny steps forward that most people never see.

Our horses give so much of themselves —
their patience, their strength, their calm, their curiosity.
They are the reason this program feels like home.

Thank you for supporting us, believing in us, and being part of this little community we are growing with so much love.

From all of us at Equessense…
Happy Thanksgiving. 🧡🐴

Your support helps us care for our horses and riders.
Donate here if you feel led to 💛
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=VR5TNW893WLAS

11/26/2025

The Power of Soft Cues

Horses respond to the smallest details —
a lifted hand, a shift in weight, a breath taken at the right moment.

This teaches something powerful:

We don’t have to be big or loud to be understood.

In fact, horses often respond better to:
• quiet hands
• gentle pressure
• consistent boundaries
• and clear, simple signals

Studies show that horses read micro-expressions and subtle movement changes faster than verbal cues.

So when a rider learns to soften their approach, the horse often relaxes too.

This creates a communication loop built on trust, not tension.

Softness becomes strength.
And clarity becomes connection. 💛🐴