Solid Foundations for 2021

Horses have the power to change lives 

Red Horse Foundation supports children, young people and adults struggling with trauma and mental health issues through Equine Assisted Psychotherapy and Learning. This highly specialised form of therapy involves working in collaboration with a horse and one of our highly trained therapists.

We provide a 6,8 or 12 week course of sessions offering a powerful combination of counselling, psychotherapy, ground-based exercises and mindfulness. Sessions can be either delivered on an individual basis or in small groups. Clients carry out tasks such as feeding, grooming and leading the horse, as well as focusing on specific ‘obstacles’ to overcome. These experiences and the emotions they trigger are then reflected on with the therapist.

Through this our goal is to help children, adults and families to process and work through the trauma and grief, to develop new ways of thinking and to overcome their obstacles and move forwards in their lives. 

Thanks to your support this year we have not only continued to deliver support to those most in need within our community, we have also been able to support NHS workers and frontline staff working during the pandemic with a free course of therapy with our herd and staff team to help them process their experiences. 

All our sessions take place in our riding arena, which is integral to everything we do at the Red Horse Foundation. It provides a safe, contained space for us to do our work. Everyday at least four clients, a therapist and one or more of our horses will enter the arena to complete set activities together and see what unfolds. 

We might challenge a client to catch a loose horse, or lead them through a series of obstacles, or simply ask them to be amongst the herd and notice the sensations and emotions it provokes. Whatever happens, provides material for the therapist and client  to work with. When not being used by clients, the arena is also the main space in which our yard staff exercise our horses to maintain their welfare and fitness.

This is where your help comes in….

The expected surface lifetime of an arena like ours is around 20 years and our arena, which is 30  years old, is in urgent need of repair. These problems include deep corners, puddling, bare patches and a worn outer track. This can cause damage to horses using the area, and a risk of slipping, which heightens the risk of potential injury to both horse and rider. 

Our mission:

In order to continue to deliver our vital work, we need your support to replace the current arena surface. We know this year has been tough for us all, but we also know that if we can all come together we can make amazing things happen.

We need your help to raise £1800 towards the cost of this essential work. The arena is central to all our work. A new arena will offer a much improved, safe, comfortable and visually appealing practice area, improving the therapeutic experience for both staff and clients.

The new arena surface will enable us to continue to support some of the most vulnerable members of our community. As the project title suggests, it is the foundation on which we build. If our horses aren’t comfortable whilst using the arena, they cannot support our clients and our therapists cannot work with them. 

With a new arena we will be able to offer therapeutic sessions for 6 hours per day, 6 days of the week, for 48 weeks of the year, enabling us to offer 1728 client sessions in 2021..! 

If we can make these vital repairs now, we can start 2021 on solid foundations and continue to give people access to the healing power of the horse, enriching their lives and improving their well-being. 

Thank you for our consideration and Merry Christmas from all of us at the Red Horse Foundation