Thank you @ascotracecourse . We are so thankful to be an Ascot sponsored charity. Our founders are having a brilliant day at the races networking with other Ascot sponsored charities. Watch this space for some partnership working… #royalascot #equinetherapy #charity #mentalhealth
Everyone is very relaxed and happy this morning!
Horses live in herds for safety and companionship. Although they're all in their own space they are together, aware of all the others and content doing their own thing. An important lesson this #lonelinessawarenessweek that just being in the same space as others can be enough to feel part of the community.
#horses #horse #equinetherapy #equineassistedlearning #youngpeople #friendships #relationships #lifeskills #loneliness #together #partoftheherd #relaxed #happy #content
New boy Zal is settling in well and is very playful!
He's already bringing a different energy to the herd. Great for our young people to see how diferent personalities affect the dynamic of the herd and think about how diferent people bring a different vibe to friendship groups.
#horse #horses #horsetherapy #equinetherapy #equineassistedlearning #groupdynamics #friendships #relationships #friends #semhsupport #lifeskills #charity
A relaxed sunny Sunday and now ready to face the week #horse #horses #horsetherapy #equinetherapy #equineassistedlearning #lazysunday #relax #downtime #selfcare #youngpeople #semh #wellbeing
Subheading.mp4
Great to have had a visit today from @sadiq who stopped by whilst on the mayoral campaign trail. He took the opportunity to meet Prince and Perry (Polo mints for the horses may have been involved), chat with CEO's Jemma and Rosie about what we do and how it helps some of London's most vulnerable young people to improve their mental wellbeing, engagement in education and longer term life prospects and meet a group of young people and watch some of their session in action.
Luckily the rain held off!
#horse #horses #equinetherapy #equineassistedlearning #younglondoners #youngpeople #charity #alternativetherapy #alternativeeducation #twohorserace #mayoralcampaign #mayoroflondon #community #greaterlondon #HealingHorses
Eric and Charlie are two of our smallest horses. Eric is a real people person/horse and loves to be near people. Sometimes he gets too close. Charlie can be very timid. At the beginning of the video you can see how Charlie stands stock still while Eric comes to say hello. Eric is much bolder than Charlie. Charlie will hang back until he's sure about something, or wait for Eric to go first.
This a great relationship for our young people to observe and many of them see themselves and their own friendships reflected in Eric and Charlie's behaviour.
Are you an Eric or a Charlie?
So great to have therapy horses that show different emotional responses. #healinghorses #equinetherapy #equinetherapyhorse
52 sec Open day video Sept 23.mp4
September was a busy month with the start of the new school year and lots happening at the yard!
Having moved in back in January, it was time to open the gates for a day for our first ever community open day. It turned out to be one of the hottest days of the year, but still over 800 people braved the heat to show up and find out more about the charity and its work.
Thanks to Ascot Racecourse for providing the goody bags for children, to the Worshipful Mayor of Barnet, Cllr Nagus Narenthira for opening the event and to everyone who came along, met the team and the horses, and of course to our wonderful staff and volunteers who made it all happen!
Aug 23 review Grace on quad bike.mp4
Back in August we celebrated with lots and lots of cake, as our first ever apprentice, Grace, completed her apprenticeship, passing all of her assessments with confidence! Grace joined us with no experience around horses but now has ambitions to own her own horse one day!
We have just recruited our next apprentice who will join us early next year and has a tough act to follow, Grace has set the bar high!
Many of the young people who come to us for therapy or alternative education have never been near a horse before, let alone given a passing thought to a career working at a stables or a racing yard. Our apprenticeship scheme gives opportunity to youngsters to explore options around working with horses, they help to look after and care for our horses, see what happens when the vet, dentist or farrier comes to visit, learn about equine therapy and gain skills and qualifications.
Perry rainbow.mp4
Here we are in May in our review of the year, and this is when the fabulous Perry arrived and we couldn't resist sharing this lovely short video again!
Perry has proved himself to be an excellent therapy horse over the past few months and has become very popular with everyone! He has had issues with boundaries and accepting his place in the herd which is really useful for young people to identify with and prompts plenty of discussion around why this might be.
Identifying and understanding behaviour and emotions in the horses helps young people identify and understand their OWN emotions and behaviours and how they can impact on others.
Arena Exercise.mp4
Each week our equine staff team spend a few hours doing wellbeing assessments for the horses, identifying any physical or emotional challenges and creating a management and training plan to address any issues to keep the horses on the best form possible. Usually this involves training sessions helping horses to learn different skills; for example being more confident with unusual objects or learning how to respond to very gentle cues from the rope. This week the horses were all displaying different low grade challenging behaviour. The answer to these challenges wasn’t training however - it was improving wellbeing.
Although the herd live out 24/7, because the fields and arena were frozen last week they had all spent a week without any fast movement since they know to move cautiously on frozen ground. So the order of the day was play sessions in the freshly harrowed arena for them to run, play and let off steam.
And guess what? After this we were left with no more challenging behaviour to “train”!
An important lesson to us all. Sometimes challenges we are facing need to be overcome by problem solving & a systematic learning / personal development approach to overcoming them. Sometimes we need to look at our wider lives and self care, to improve our wellbeing first which can sometimes be as simple as getting outdoors and have some fun!
Big Give Thanks.mp4
A huge, huge thank you to everyone who donated to our Big Give Christmas Challenge campaign - we were thrilled to meet our target and the boys celebrated with a roll around the arena!
We know that things have been tough financially for many people this year and are so grateful to those who could donate and help us help many more young people overcome personal challenges, grow in confidence and learn to build new friendships. These things may seem small to some, but for socially isolated young people coming to the stables is sometimes the only time they will leave the house. By helping them make connections with others, enjoy the outdoor environment and let them discover that they can take on new or difficult tasks and complete them, their whole world outside of the stables begins to open up.
#ChristmasChallenge
Big Give
Jemma Big Give plea.mp4
📢 THIS IS YOUR FINAL CHANCE!
The Big Give Christmas Challenge ends at MIDDAY today so if you've been meaning to donate but haven't quite got round to it yet, click the link and help us help even more young people in need of support with their mental health and wellbeing.
A recent NHS survey found that 1 in 5 young people aged 8 - 25 has a probably mental health condition often leading to poor school attendance, anxiety and social isolation. With your help, we can make a difference to these young people.
"The progress my child has made is amazing. In the 6 months they have been coming to SLTH they have become a different child.
They will often talk about the sessions and use them to make sense of their feelings.
They are now confident enough to join a group, which 6 months ago they would not even have considered doing." - Parent, Summer 2023
"I didn't realise that the equine therapy was helping at first, but recently I've noticed that I am always thinking or talking about it.
If I'm in a situation I will think 'this is like when the horse....', which has helped me to understand my feelings better." - Young Person, Summer 2023
https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a056900002RXsbSAAT
Big Give request.mp4
The Big Give Christmas Challenge is still on!
Do a good deed this weekend and make a small donation which, thanks to The Big Give Doubler, will be DOUBLED!
If you can find just £5 to give, we will get £10 - magic!
https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a056900002RXsbSAAT
#ChristmasChallenge
Big Give
Big Give 2023 40 80.mp4
Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has donated to us through The Big Give so far, we are so grateful for your support!
If you haven't donated yet, click the link and help us share some magic! And don't forget, until we reach a total of £4000, your donation will be doubled!!
https://donate.biggive.org/campaign/a056900002RXsbSAAT
