Over the years, my horses have been my refuge, my companions, my teachers, my therapists, and at times, my oxygen. Ultimately they are my family.

That might sound extraordinary, but it is the truest thing I can say about the horses who continue to, and have, shared my life. 

Some members of the herd have been with me two decades, most over a decade, and four are more recent arrivals. Over time I have come to know each of them deeply. Their histories, their personalities, their quirks and their gifts. When their earth walk comes to an end, they will each take a piece of my heart with them.

When people ask me about my horses, I notice they often expect a list. Names, breeds, perhaps a brief description of what each one does. But my herd does not work like that. And neither does the healing.

Fifteen horses currently make up the therapy herd in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. They include off-the-track thoroughbreds, a standardbred, an appaloosa, stock horse and heavy horse crosses, and four miniature horses. They range in age from six years old to twenty-five years young. They have different life stories, different ways of moving through the world, and entirely different personalities.

I intentionally avoid describing them in detail before sessions. One of the most extraordinary things about working with this herd is that the horses will often respond to aspects of a person that sit far beneath conscious awareness. When someone new arrives, I prefer they meet each horse without a story already in place. Without expectation. What unfolds from there is almost always more interesting than anything I could have predicted.

A Life With Choice

One of the questions I am often asked is whether the horses are trained to participate.

And the short answer is that they are not.

The horses at Highlands Centre for Healing work entirely at liberty. That means they are free to engage with a session, or not. Free to approach, or move away. Free to simply graze at the edge of the space if that is what they choose.

This is not a passive safety measure. It is a foundational principle.

A horse who has choice is a horse who can trust, and be trusted. When a horse steps up in session it holds meaning. It is not the result of a lead rope or a food reward. It is genuine interest, genuine presence, a genuine offering to the participant. And that is what makes this work what it is.

I continuously observe the herd during sessions. Body language, energy, the subtle shifts in attention and willingness. Often one or more horses will choose not to enter the session space at all, and that choice is always respected. Over more than a decade of watching these sentient BE-ings, I have learned to read them in ways that language does not quite cover. More than anything, it is felt.

How Horses Come to This Work

I don’t have a formal checklist that tells me in which horses are suited to this kind of work.

What guides me is something more practised and harder to name: a lifetime spent alongside horses, careful observation, and a deep attunement to their nature.

Certain qualities support this work naturally. Kindness. Big-heartedness. Curiosity. An innate sensitivity to the emotional states of others. Some horses have a naturally grounding presence that settles a person the moment they step close. Others seem particularly attuned to subtle shifts in emotion, or drawn toward gentle connection. Each horse brings their own unique gifts.

I know that every horse in this herd is capable of supporting people, in their own way. Rather than placing them into fixed roles, I allow their responses and their willingness to guide what happens. Each session unfolds from there.

I also believe the environment the horses live in is fundamentally important. A horse’s primary need is safety, and to meet this they need to live in company, have space to move freely, and be given as much choice as is possible. When horses are allowed to live in a way that truly supports their physical and emotional wellbeing, they are far better able to remain balanced, present, and available for connection with others.

Daily Life

What makes this work possible, begins long before any session starts. Endless hours of care, connection and relationship building – me to them, and them to them.

The large horses in the herd spend their nights in twenty-acre paddocks. Eating, sleeping, moving, resting. Doing what horses do when they are simply allowed to be horses. In the mornings they come up to the day area. Those who need additional calories receive breakfast. Hay is provided at midday. In the evenings, those who need it receive dinner or supplements, and everyone has access to minerals. They have access to pick throughout the day.

The four miniature horses are kept in a large sand area at night. This is a medical decision, not a limitation on their freedom. They are cared for with the same attention and love as every other member of this herd, and they run with the big guys during the day

Their feet are attended to approximately every five weeks. The equine dentist visits once a year. Each horse receives veterinary care as their individual needs arise. And every horse benefits from a bodywork treatment approximately every three months, sometimes more frequently when needed.

I am careful around scheduling. There are never more than two or three sessions in a single day, and the herd has plenty of time simply to be. That spaciousness is not a luxury. It is what makes everything else possible.

What the Horses Actually Do

This is the part that is genuinely difficult to put into words.

It is scientifically understood that the size of a horse’s nervous system means they are capable of co-regulating ours. Something similar to the way a regulated parent settles a distressed infant happens when we are in close, proximity to a calm, grounded horse. Our bodies begin to mirror theirs. We slow down. We breathe differently. We land.

Beyond that measurable reality, many people who come here describe something more. An experience of being met. Of feeling seen by an animal who does not need you to explain yourself.

From experience, my horses often respond to aspects of ourselves that sit beneath our conscious words. Emotions that have not yet surfaced. Tension held in the body. Guardedness. Grief still being quietly carried. Their responses can help bring awareness to areas that may be ready for some attention, some release, some gentleness.

They are not therapists, yet they are!. They are simply present, fully present, in a way that many of us have forgotten how to be. Reminding us we are human BE-ings, not human do-ings.

And sometimes, that is exactly what the body needs in order to begin to soften. For those drawn to a quieter energetic experience, Reiki with the herd offers another way to connect with the horses in a deeply grounded setting.

Keeping Both Horse and Human Safe

Before anyone enters the horses’ space, we begin with a gentle grounding and mindfulness practice. This matters.

Horses are highly sensitive to the nervous systems of the people around them. They read body language, breath, and emotional state with extraordinary accuracy. Arriving into their space in a calmer, more present state supports safety and genuine connection for both the person and the herd. It also helps clients have awareness of what shows up in their innerscape.

Clients are guided in understanding each horse’s personal space, and in how to interact respectfully. If someone does not feel ready to enter the space, they are always welcome to remain at the fence. There is no pressure. There is no wrong way to arrive.

Guests staying on the property are asked not to spend time with the herd without me present. This is not a rule born of risk management alone. It is about relationship. These horses are in partnership with the healing that happens here, and that partnership deserves to be honoured.

What I Hope You Take From This

People sometimes assume the horses are simply a backdrop. A gentle, scenic addition to what is essentially a human process.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

They are active participants. Curious, wise, entirely their own beings. They arrive at each session with their own preferences and choices. Some days a horse who is usually quiet comes forward without hesitation. Some days one of the most confident members of the herd hangs back. There is always something in that, if you are willing to pay attention.

One fact that is fundamental to me  is that my herd are not, and never will be, a tool. They are not performing healing. They are not here to be used.

They livetheir lives on this land they know and trust. And when people arrivewith enough stillness, openness, curiosity and a desire for change, the most extraordinary things happen.

If you would like to know more about what happens in an equine therapy session, or if something here is calling you, we would love to hear from you.

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