On Not Being Alone: Ties That Bind Our Program Together

A place to learn to ride---that description fits our program about as well as describing a Baptismal Font as being a place to hold water. Learning to build relationships with horses strengthens our ability to create relationships with people.

It is not the horses that make our program so powerful. It is the people that do so. By and large our horse lot is not a place where a lot of spectacular people chose to come together. It is a place where a lot of people come together and then become spectacular. It is a place where pain lessens, knowledge grows, strength increases...and loneliness begins to come to an end.

The Harvard study on human happiness looked at many variables. Its findings have been clear and consistent. If you want to understand why so many lives are changed with a herd of shaggy horses, a bumpy path, a flock of free ranging goats, a collection of old songs and young musicians, a confused turkey, an old hot tub filled with compost and red wigglers, where children play in the dirt, where young adults play in the dirt, and where old men get tremendous satisfaction from creating new dirt, new soil and new life--then you should look at this study.

Here is a link to a great informal summary of its meaning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=762&v=8KkKuTCFvzI.