The healing power of horses

“   There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”

Winston Churchill

Last year I visited my local RDA (Riding Develops Abilities) on the Sunshine Coast. I was fortunate to spend a couple of hours photographing the morning lessons and get a brief glimpse into how the centre worked. It didn’t take long for the tears to start trickling down my cheeks as I hid behind my lens. Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t crying out of pity or sadness for these special children instead I was moved to tears for the immense joy, happiness and freedom that the children were feeling astride these gentle horses.

All horse lovers understand that horse’s have an exceptional intuition when it comes to sensing the type of rider on their back. Horses emulate the feeling and circumstance of their individual rider – and it was especially apparent here at the RDA centre. The horses are true equine angels as they carefully and patiently transport their special cargo around the arena and nod off to sleep as they let their little riders poke their ears and squeal in high-pitched delight.

It was an incredibly moving and humbling experience to see this symbiotic relationship between horse and child where both were being healed in their own way.

As the quote goes “Your horse is a mirror to your soul, and sometimes you may not like what you see. Sometimes, you will.”

Salt Magazine (my other business) sponsored an RDA horse by the name of Alfie for the year (pictured in the first image) that was a new comer to the centre.