Horse Sense

Horses may look phlegmatic. Gaze into their liquid brown eyes and most of the time you cannot read their life stories. But increasingly, these stolid creatures are being used to help humans rewrite their own life stories in new, more resilient and more confident ways.

Equine therapy has found its way into mainstream American thinking about coping with issues as diverse as learning disabilities and PTSD but nowhere is it practiced with more verve, creativity and compassion than at Berkshire HorseWorks in Richmond MA.

The nonprofit rescues horses from their own traumatic life experiences and then uses them in a wide variety of programs designed to benefit at-risk children, families, veterans and first responders. The small herd and its handlers have worked with more than 3,000 children, adults and families over the past decade to help them deal with mental health, literacy and behavior challenges.

Funds to conduct the therapy programs come through grants, donations and a cornucopia of fee-based programs such as corporate or family team building, birthday parties, trail rides (complete with wine and cheese picnics), Art on the Ranch, which offers participants opportunities to create their own art while interacting with the herd and donkey play, where visitors can romp in a paddock with Bolt and Rodeo, two sweet miniature Sicilians.

These revenue sources, supplemented by the volunteers who donate their time and talents, help keep the 10-year-old venture operating. Last spring, Berkshire HorseWorks received several grants that provided children with access to its Eagala Model, experiential programs: Ranch Life 101 and Horse Powered Reading.

In March two grants totaling $14,000 covered enrollment for one week of the Ranch Life 101 summer program for 21 children in Western Massachusetts. Ranch Life 101 helps children improve emotional intelligence, emotional regulation and interpersonal skills.

A $7,500 grant provided access to Horse Powered Reading for 25 students of color and/or low socioeconomic status from Reid Middle School in Pittsfield MA while a separate grant for $2,500 allowed third- through eighth-grade learning disabled students to participate in the Horse Powered Reading program.

But according to Berkshire HorseWorks founder Hayley Sumner, funding is precarious in this era of Trump Administration cutbacks. “We lost $26,000 in grants this year,” she said. She said one grantor shifted its priorities and dedicated its funds solely to food insecurity issues. “Mental health fell by the wayside at a time when literacy rates are at their lowest and we have high rates of suicide and depression. It’s hard to find funding for families, veterans and first responders.”

So HorseWorks decided on three strategies to help meet the deficit. It has expanded its fee-based recreational offering at the same time it is working to increase its work with corporate clients on team-building programs. Large portions of the fees collected for these services are being dedicate to the mental health programs.

Thirdly, it is increasing its collaboration with other partners “who share the same sensibilities as we do to create smaller fundraisers,” Sumner said. “We are having the first of these collaborations Saturday October 4th at Hilltop Orchards. David and Sara (Martell) are so community-aware and care about animal issues.”

The orchard is located at 508 Canaan Road and the fundraiser will run from noon to 5PM. “We are bringing our rescue horses Spirit, Gunnar, William, Elektra, 007 and Zephyr and we will have little bios telling their stories” said Sumner. “People can interact with them, and can sponsor one if they want. Gunnar, for instance, has been through the wringer with cancer. He is in remission right now but has to be on cancer medication. Horses cost $6,500 per year with food and medicine, and that's challenging for a small nonprofit.”

The afternoon will offer opportunities to groom the animals, take them for a walk through the orchards or simply sit in the grass and soak up their presence as participants sip on a beverage of choice after picking a bushel of apples.

The orchard will serve a special cider, Berkshire Butterscotch, created for the occasion and will raffle off a private guided trail ride for two through Berkshire HorseWorks’ private ranch, a family donkey play session and a private cider tasting for up to six guests.

The orchard will donate 5 percent of all sales that day to Berkshire Horseworks to be used for scholarships for equine-assisted programs at the ranch, medical care for the horses and donkeys and hay for the winter.

Truffles by Tara will debut a Milk Chocolate Caramel Chunk bar and two dollars from each sale will also go toward Berkshire HorseWorks.

Sumner, founder of Berkshire HorseWorks, said the mission of her farm is to transform lives through powerful interaction with horses. She started her own experience with equine therapy as a volunteer for Central Kentucky Riding for Hope and learned about the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA), which helps persons with mental health and behavioral challenges.

EAGALA Programming is not a riding or horsemanship program but rather emphasizes non-mounted activities with horses that require individuals or groups to discover and apply certain skills.

Participants learn about themselves and others by connecting with the horses and then observing and discussing the team dynamics, behaviors and patterns that arise. What happens in the arena are often metaphors for their lives, families or group interactions.

Sumner says she certified in EAGALA therapy for her own personal growth and because she thought her first horse, Definitive Whim, might become a therapy horse. But the filly had ideas of her own, following literally in the winning footsteps of her famous father, Storm Cat, one of the all-time leading sires in the racing world. She placed among the top four runners in 75 percent of her races.

Life was good for Sumner then as she volunteered with horses, pursued a master’s degree in social work and worked to support Barack Obama’s first campaign for president. But as so often happens, her luck turned. Definitive Whim was given an injection incorrectly and had to be put down, devastating Sumner.

She left Kentucky and her plans for a career in social work and returned to the Berkshires where she assessed the needs of the community and its need for mental health services. Putting two of her passions together, she formed Berkshire HorseWorks.

She acquired her first rescue horse, blue-eyed Spirit, a cautious horse who took three weeks of coaxing before he would approach her. Today’s herd includes “007,” also known as “Dubs, a sweet, laid-back pony; Zephyr, a shy guy of imposing stature and gentle eye; Spirit, the soulful rescue horse from Montana who doesn’t trust easily; Gunnar, a 21-year-old grey Arabian cross who loves to work with therapy clients; mini donkeys Bolt and Rodeo and Star, who Sumner describes as a “love bug”—albeit a bit of a handful sometimes.

“We use all rescue horses, donkeys or mini horses,” she said. “It gives them a second life.”

These animals, each with its own issues, are the basis for helping their human “clients” to regain their equilibrium. Sumner noted that herds of horses are naturally hierarchical and that there are hierarchies in human groups of friends, families and businesses. “There are parallels with human social hierarchies—who is the alpha, who speaks, who makes decisions is all in their body language,” she said. By interacting with the animals participants can work out the comparisons in a safe environment, can learn empathy and find solutions.

She noted that horses are prey animals and for horses “everything is about observation and perception. Horses will not even come close to you if they don’t trust you. They are highly intuitive; they need to know if they can trust you or not in that moment. If people are not authentic in what they are doing, in their verbal and nonverbal actions, that horse is going to call you out.”

Observation is the opening gambit with her human patrons as well. In a recent interview, she described what is asked of a new client arriving at the farm. She said the first activity is to ask the person to go into the field with the rescue herd and to observe and think about which animal is most like them.

Typically, they’ll think they are giving an observation, but it will be a perception,” she said, explaining that the person will ascribe emotions to the animals’ actions, such as “That one hates me,” or “That’s the loner.”

“That’s where people go with their observations,” she said. “What we try to do is to get them not to ascribe a meaning to something. So, instead try, ‘He had two legs.’ ‘He has two ears.’ ‘He’s black and white.’ That way they can start thinking about observations instead of perceptions. They can interact with people at work, at school, at home or in their family in a very pure way and start accepting what they see versus ascribing a meaning prior to having an interaction with someone.”

For more information about Berkshire HorseWorks, contact Hayley Sumner at Hayley@BerkshireHorseWorks.com or 310-488-9777.