Unbridled Potential: The Power of Equine Therapy
Step into the world of equine therapy, guided by the inspiring Lynn Moore, CEO of Acres for Life Therapy & Wellness Center. Listen to Lynn’s own transformative tale, one marked by mental health struggles and search for meaningful connection.
Take a virtual tour of Acres sprawling, verdant pastures where horses - each with a personality as diverse and layered as the humans they help- become mirrors to the soul.
Here, an old horse like Chief, once forgotten, brings a prickly man face to face with his own potential for change. Explore the mysterious non-verbal connections that form when horse and human interact. Learn how Acres For Life uplifts its community and hear first-hand how this therapy packs a punch, rewriting life stories one hoof-beat at a time.
Lynn Moore, CEO of Acres for Life Therapy & Wellness Center, is a mental health counselor, Equine Therapy specialist, mentor, facilitator, and businessperson.
LINKS
Acres For Life Therapy & Wellness Center
Podcast Transcript
Pat:
Fill To Capacity, crazy, good stories and timely topics, podcast for people too stubborn to quit and to creative not to make a difference! Inspiring, irreverent and informative. Stay tuned. Hi, I'm Pat Benincasa and welcome back to Fill To Capacity. Today's episode, Unbridled Potential: The Power of Equine Therapy." My guest is Lynn Moore. Lynn is the CEO of Acres for Life Therapy and Wellness Center in Forest Lake, minnesota, and she co-founded in 2001. She is a mental health counselor, Equine Therapy specialist, mentor, facilitator and business person. Well, with all that said, welcome, Lynn, I'm so happy you're here!
Lynn:
Oh my goodness, Pat, thank you so much. It's an honor to be on your show.
Pat:
Well, thank you. Now, before we begin, I would just like to give a brief definition for my listeners of Equine Therapy, which I know you will go in depth with, but I just want to start here that Equine Therapy is a treatment method that uses the connection between people and horses to enhance physical or emotional healing. So, Lynn, what is Acres For Life Therapy and Wellness Center, and what inspired you to combine mental health and equine therapy.
Lynn:
Oh, my goodness, what inspired me to do that? How long do we have? How long is this? Well, it's a personal story which many times right transformational experiences tend to be right like where you end up starting a program like this, where it's open and providing that healing space and that transformative space for others Many times comes from a personal experience that we each have. Very briefly, but importantly, in my story is that when I was a young girl, grew up on the east side of St Paul, lived in a small home, small yard, loved animals, loved nature and I was always at my happiest when I was out in that and in the sunshine, in the rain it didn't really matter. But I was always bringing home stray dogs, stray rabbits and stray people and my mom would say, "Lynn, at some point you're going to need a big place because you're bringing home stray animals and stray people. So, I tucked that away, kind of that message. You know, sometimes we get messages throughout our lives.
Somebody says something and at that moment it doesn't make a lot of sense but it's like, okay. Well, fast forward, 10 years, almost 11, this exact time of year my father passed away from lung cancer and that left a really big hole in my heart and relationships. And when those things are gone, there's that missing piece and my dog, Penny, was my kind of saving grace. And while I had a wonderful mom and sister and brother and friends and family, I had that hole that Penny, my dog, helped fill. She's that unconditional love and care, and what a great listener you know and fun to have adventures with and she was my pal.
Fast forward now a little bit more in high school and then college, and Penny was with me for a lot of those years and helped me go through relationship issues and all those kind of struggles that you have as you're growing up. I tried to fill this hole in my heart, though, from losing my dad. So over the years, you know, Penny was there and helped. And being out in nature still as I was growing up, hiked and went up north of the Boundary Waters and all those beautiful places. Those things definitely helped. But I did try other things to fill that hole in my heart, alcohol, which didn't help, relationships. I still felt lonely. I still felt different. I still felt like I didn't belong, and I continued to struggle with that.
Well, I was now living on a 20 acre hobby farm in Chisago, Minnesota, and I was married and my former husband, he left with a two week notice. So here I was on this 20 acre hobby farm. I was married, had a career, working in banks, financial institutions, do marketing and relationship management and all of that. Everything on the outside looked great, but on the inside, I had lost myself to my former husband's addiction. He was an addict, alcoholic, and I had just lost any connection to who I was, trying to control, trying to, you know, make him happy. And, as many of us have learned over the years, we can't control other people to do anything. So it was November 1, when my former husband left with his two week notice and I found myself alone on a 20-acre hobby farm with four horses, dogs, and if you think about November in Minnesota and think about November, December, January, February, March, April, sometimes May, it's a great metaphor for how I felt in my life during those next months where I found myself alone.
When it first happened, it was it was dark. It's lonely that time of year. Things are dying and it feels like they're never coming back. It's dark and old. That's how my life felt to me then, however, I had these horses that needed taking care of.
Now, I knew nothing about Equine Therapy or how horses could help with mental health. Basically, at that point in my life I knew nothing about nothing, because I had lost myself in this addiction and I needed to find myself. And I had also lost connection with this kind of, I believe people are born with a light inside of them, these gifts, these special, unique things that they are to bring to the world, and I had really lost connection with my light. You know, I didn't know it at the time, but as I look back, you know I allowed people in my life to cover my light up because maybe they felt intimidated by my light. I don't know why, but I would dim my light,
through different experiences losing my dad, those life experiences. Sometimes I covered my light up, maybe because of self doubt, feeling insecure, Not belonging, and things like that too. But I believe everyone is born with a light inside that is there to shine, and so mine was pretty well, I thought- out. But what I learned by going out into this pasture with these horses each night because, Pat, if I didn't go out and take care of them, no one was there to take care of them they would die. What I didn't know then is that if I didn't go out and take care of them, I may die.
So, I was in this really dark spot, but I would just somehow muster the skill, the energy, the awareness of what they needed and I would go out there and I would take care of them during these November, December, January, February, March. And as I went through my process of grieving, of anger, of finding myself again, while I was taking care of these horses every day, I realized wait a minute. As I looked around, these horses were still here, like they didn't leave me. Like other things in my life, people specifically had left me, some by their choice, some by not their choice, but the message that I had been telling myself, the story I had, the chapter I kept replaying, was that everybody's going to leave me.
Lynn:
the point? And all those questions were coming up through those nights, as I would feed them and I'd go through my process, like what is the point? Is there any value? Do I have a purpose If this is how it's always going to be? Do I really want to be here? And so it got pretty dark, meaning mental health wise, where I was questioning should I even stay in this world? But the horses as I, paused, I looked around and I would look up from my process. They would come closer, they would breathe slowly on me, they would lay down next to me. Sometimes they'd move a little ways away from me, but they never fully left. As I said, it just spoke to my heart and so I started thinking wait a minute.
What, if they're helping me to find the confidence that uncovers all the crap that's covered up my light. I think I was afraid that maybe the light had gone out. They help me find the confidence and the courage to uncover all that crap and then start to see who I was and the gifts that I still had, and believe in myself again. And so, then my light came forward and I was like, wow, there must be other women going through life transition that could use something like this, that could benefit from working with horses outside and nature. And so, I did research, and I found an organization to be certified under and I did that. I went back to school, I got my master's in therapy, and I started creating a program called Acres For Life, and that was 22 years ago.
Pat:
Before you go on any further, I think you're touching on something really important, that it seems that people who are joyful, people who have gifts to give there's always the dark with the light, and oftentimes it's people who have gone through or deals who have lost themselves, given away their power, come to a point where, like, I don't know who I am anymore and what you're talking about, I think, resonates with so many people in their life experiences, and I'm glad you set the stage for that to let people know that it's not like you just went to school, got the degree oh, I'm going to start this. You evolved through through the revelation of feeling empty and what to do with your life, and then discovering these magnificent beings who will nuzzle you, look at you, breathe slowly. So it's a beautiful story of discovering who you are and the work you were meant to do, and I really appreciate you sharing that.
Lynn:
Thank you, and that's so true. It was almost that abyss I needed to go in, where to really find out what I'm made of, who I am, what my purpose is, and that struggle. Right as much as in a way I wish I could have missed it or skipped it or not had to do it. But then I think now I'm grateful for it. Right, I'm grateful because of how it shaped who I am, how it helped me to really what is important, what is the point, what is the purpose?
Pat:
But for you. You took it a step further. You got it. You went to graduate school. It's like you translated all of that pain and the discovery of being with the horses, what it did to you, and you made an action out of it.
Lynn:
Yes. So when I first started, you know, when I found this, I can't stop. There was this drive, this was this passion in my heart that I was like, how is this going to work? What is this? I don't know how to do this. I'm not a therapist. I worked in, you know, a Corporate America. All these doubts and like what me? Are you serious? And, however, I couldn't stop and I've thought of that over the years. Because there's been many times, even building Acres For Life. This year we're going to do about 3,500 therapy sessions this year, from the three sessions we did the first year Yep, three sessions to 3,500 sessions. You know, there's been so many times over those years that it's been like, okay, wait a minute, what am I doing? You know questioning it and just, and then I can't stop because there's this drive I need to continue to bring forward and deliver on my passion and my purpose.
Pat:
What was this Acres For? Life Therapy and Wellness Center? What did you do here?
Lynn:
Yeah, so it's a little different because we don't do any riding of the horses. Many times when people think of horses, right, and Equine Therapy, they think of therapeutic riding. All of that is hugely beneficial, so I don't want to discount any of that at all. It is hugely beneficial in riding the horses very therapeutic in itself and being around them. But what we found is that being on the ground, hoof to boot or hoof to shoe, right on that same foundation, that same level playing field, it's a full relationship, of just kind of the horse is able to go and move as he or she needs to, the person can move as they need to. When someone is riding a horse, there's, in my opinion, a bit of a false sense of security, like you're in control of the horse and really the horse, if it wants to go, it's going to go, whatever way it's going to go. And so there is a very deep relationship that forms between horse and rider. But there's also, I think, a power differential that happens right when somebody's on the back of a horse, versus that hoof to boot. And so we do everything 100% on the ground.
The horses become part of the story, part of the transformation, part of the healing. And so, through a process that we call Arenas For Change (ARCH), which is another organization that I helped to start, we have a framework that we work in and it's a framework of story because we believe that everybody has a story and we connect through stories, like your podcast, right, we connect through that, we share history, we move things forward. We transfer information through stories. Well, some stories can keep us stuck. You know, we replay stories in our life and it's like we replay the same chapter and it keeps us stuck. We believe that, through incorporating the horses and nature, and now other animals, dogs, cats, you know, coyotes that come in, eagles that fly over, all of those things can become characters in our story and we, as the author, can rewrite or change the relationship we've had with past stories in our life, right, and then we can even play with what our goals and how do we want the next chapters of our life to read, and so, working with the horses, they become, as I mentioned, our kind of our storyboard or our blank sheet of paper is the past year.
We usually work in three to five acre pastures in a herd of horses. They are, you know, loose in that pasture. They're not tethered by anything, so they can come and go as they need to, and we look at how our life is unfolding and maybe there's a certain part of our life that we want to investigate a little bit. For example, a person that I was working with that was early in recovery, had just gotten out of treatment and had relapsed multiple times a young woman. She came out and as we stepped into the pasture, and we looked out into the space. So, we're looking out over the grassy kind of rolling hills. We see the horses out there grazing, and I asked her to just look around and see if there was anything out there that represented, or could represent, what her life would look like in recovery, what she wanted her life to look like in recovery.
So she took a few minutes and she looked around and she saw you know all different things kind of around her. Flowers grown in the field and there's a cat and some horses. And then she paused, and she pointed way out on the other side of the pasture, the furthest point, and she said "that's what I want my recovery to look like. We said, well, okay, what about? That looks like you're the recovery that you want. And she said well, for one thing, it's big, it looks powerful, it looks healthy, it looks content, peaceful, it looks like it has friends, it has other horses that are around it, so it has friends and relationship. And then she paused, she took a deep breath and she said and it seems so far away. And we said, okay, now we know where we're at. And she said how am I ever going to get there? So we said, well, let's work on that.
So what we did was then, experientially, we work on what are the next steps, what are the steps that you want to take to get to that recovery which is represented by that horse out there. So for the next several week we worked with this young woman on what are those next steps and what was interesting, as she would start making steps towards that horse for multiple weeks this shaggy, broken down, blind horse would cut in front of her and cut her off on her path and get her to move to the right, and then she'd be off someplace else. Then she'd try to get back on the path and he'd come again and get in her way. And so you know, we're processing, like who or what is this shaggy, dark horse? She said "that's my addiction. It comes in all the time. I start moving towards my recovery, make good steps and then all of a sudden, boom, I get off track. Now. Then we start putting into practice. Right, she's been in treatment, she knows 12 steps. And so we said, well, what are those things? What are the tools that you have?
Then, over the next week, she talks about a sponsor. Well, who or what could be a sponsor? She said well, "lynn, you be my sponsor in this. You know you play that role. Okay, I'll play that role. I need to go to meetings. Well, what could represent that? Well, let's put this halter.
So she put a halter on this shaggy, broken down dark horse. And then she said "and I need to actually go to the meeting, so I'm going to have a lead role, represent going to the meetings. And so there's it right. So now addiction has meetings on it, it has hands going to the meeting, it has a sponsor next to her and now we start walking much more quickly not directly always, because addiction would kind of take us to sometimes start pulling and we'd have to pause and slow down and get addiction to like come on, what do I need to do? I need to maybe do some steps. You know, I need to take an inventory. Whatever that was that she wanted to work on that day. That's an example of how we put into practice working with the horses out here and help people in recovery and addiction work.
Pat:
You kind of led into a question I think you've answered. In researching and getting ready for this podcast, I read that: "horses are highly sensitive to human emotions and nonverbal cues. If you have a dog and I have a house with four ill-behaved kitties and one of them always knows when I'm like maybe down, she always comes around. She always knows, and there's a way that animals do. But horses were singled out as saying that they're really highly sensitive to human emotions.
Lynn:
Yes, they are. So horses use all of their senses all of the time. So they are prey animals, where they need to be able to read their environment correctly or they end up being someone's lunch. I mean, that's what's in their DNA, to use all those senses all the time. We say out here quite a bit: "Horses are great story editors okay.
They are great at telling the untold story." They know it before we ever know it. And so, as you, you know, like you mentioned, you're a kitty coming and coming closer to you if you're feeling down or whatever. Horses have this, I don't know how to even explain it. They just have this ability to step in closer when they need to. I've seen them walk up behind people that are stuck and just nudge them, even push them with their head, lift them off their feet and move the people forward. I've seen horses turn and walk away or lead someone to something. I've seen them lay down at times when you thought, oh my gosh, what in the world is happening? And they'll lay down at the feet of a soldier who has been struggling.
They use all of their senses all of the time to assess their environment and then they don't have that part of their brain as humans do. That's the evolved part of the brain that we take our experiences, you know, and we make sense out of. They live in the moment. So they feel like they need to move forward, they do it. If they feel they need to. You know, nudge someone, they do it. They don't talk themselves out of it.
Pat:
Yep, they don't second guess themselves continuously. Now, I spent a lot of time on the website for Acres For Life and I was struck by the range of people you serve Veterans, first responders, young people, people struggling with mental health challenges, people in recovery. How do you tailor make your approach to these individuals? I mean, that's a wide range of people.
Lynn:
It is. So when I started, we had one day workshops, three different days during that first year, and those were focused for just women in life transition. So those women came and they went through the day long workshop and I'm a big proponent to asking for feedback and listening to the messages and watching for patterns that may help guide. Well, I would say seven or eight out of the 10 women at each of those workshops said the same thing. They completed their evaluation separately, but the theme was I wish I would have had this when I was early in recovery.
I wish I would have had this when I was in treatment and I was like I didn't start out to work with people that were in recovery or struggling with addiction, and so I ended up, as I mentioned, going back to school and getting my masters, and I ended up going to Hazelden Betty Ford graduate school and through that process built a program incorporating the horses into addiction treatment that Hazelden partnered with us. So Hazelden Betty Ford partnered with us and we focused pretty much exclusively on working with people struggling with or moving into recovery. So we did that. That was in 2005. We did our first pilot 2006, signed our first contract and we did individual and group work with them for years. What we then realized is that most people that were coming to us, they were mostly adults, some adolescents we worked with, but most had mental health or dual diagnosis as well, not just the addiction. So and it's always hard to like, what comes first does the substance use issue comes first, or is it the mental health that comes first or what? So they kind of go together.
So I went back to school again and got another masters in licensed professional counseling so that we could have a broader scope and start opening up to outside of the recovery field. So, we see people, as you mentioned, a broad scope 3 years old up to 97 years old. We see individuals, we see groups, we do retreats, we do team building, all of that. I think the way we do it is that we have a framework of how we work with the horses, and so it's a framework of the story and we have different, various skill sets that we can incorporate to join with people in their story and to help develop the story.
What we're really good at is organically. So we're with the person but we organically go with the story that comes forward. So it's not a set curriculum, it's a set framework. You know the horses being living, breathing beings and we truly trust them when they do something. We trust that there's something underneath it for the person and then we, as facilitators, we ask questions about what the horses are bringing forward, like a mirror, and then the person adds the meaning. We're not telling them what the meaning is of what the horse does. That is done by the person in their story. They're the author.
So I think that's why it works so well with such a wide variety, because it's not us having to have the answer. We have the skills and the structure to help bring the opportunity for that internal message, that internal knowing from the client to come forward.
Pat:
Based on the interactions of the horse, you don't say, well, the horse is doing this, because it's not a closed method, it's more exploring. The horse just did that. What are you feeling? What does this bring up in you? What do you think is going on here? And so it just seems that I don't know how many times in life, when we're really struggling, there's reflection to say, well, what's going on? Did I cause it? What's wrong with me? But what this is about reflecting in present moment. And then the horse is the wild card, because you don't know what it's going to do which makes it so fresh and alive.
Lynn:
Yes, that's so well said. Yes, because the horse is so in tune with their environment. It's fresh and new all the time and they don't have an agenda, they don't have right, they're not carrying a grudge, they're not trying to get anybody anywhere. They're just showing up with what, the energy they're picking up and what they're experiencing. So it is all fresh and new and people can, I believe, trust it more quickly than they do trust a person, because most of the people that we see have had extreme trauma and they've been hurt by people, and so they'll open up and let their defenses down and maybe they'll trust an animal easier and more quickly. And I had experienced that too. I would definitely trust an animal over a person years ago. I've gotten a lot better now, but, yeah, I think that's part of it too. They can really just trust and let their guards down and then healing happens.
Pat:
I want to focus on the horse for a moment. When you get a new horse, how do you know if they're compatible for this work? I mean, how do you vet the horse and does their interactions with people affect them? Do you see changes in their horse personalities?
Lynn:
This is such a great, great questions. Yes, so over the years we take great care in adding to our team whether it's four-legged or it's a two-legged person on our team, because if we don't have that mix right, or we have a horse or a person that doesn't fit or doesn't really like this type of work, right?
How are we going to create this peaceful environment for healing and transformational change? So we get offers for horses to be donated here, probably two or three times a week, yes, and we can't afford to do that Right now. We have 16 on the property and we have a miniature mule, amelia Earhart. She's our smallest, to Annie, who's a Clydesdale, so she's the largest. She's about 2100 pounds and Amelia is about 250 pounds. And then we have every shape, color, personality, experience, education in between, which is a beautiful metaphor too for the people that come here, because many times, if everything looks the same right, if all the horses look the same, maybe there'll be somebody that's like not able to find where they fit or they might not feel like they belong. But because we have all different shapes, sizes, colors, personalities and experiences, people have a sense of belonging when they come here very quickly and a connection and acceptance. But back to the horses for a minute. So people call and they'll want to donate.
We ask about their stories, because stories really important. What have they been through? What's their experience been like? We're looking for horses not that have never experienced anything. We're actually looking for horses that have experienced all sorts of things and that are able to be horses that haven't been over trained or need to have life a certain way, because life changes, right Weather comes in, maybe there's a need. We have to put horses together and they need to be flexible and able to kind of adapt and go with the flow and know who they are. And so we hear their story. We ask a lot of questions about where they fit in their herd, because there's usually some sort of a I'll say hierarchy, but in horses I really feel like it's more of a role, like every horse. In a healthy horse, herd is important, is valuable.
Yes, there's a lead horse and that's the one that gets to come in first and gets to drink water when he wants to and kind of. However, he's important and so is the horse. That's five horses out from him. They all have a role and they all need to do it to keep that herd the healthiest. We'll ask about where that horse fits in there and we'll think about our herds here. We have four different herds that work together in that herd or that unit or that family, however that fits best for the client to look at that group of horses and then we'll go meet the horse. We'll spend time with the horse. We will touch them all or pet them and talk loudly, talk softly, make sudden noises, kind of go through things that you've seen happen out here and see how the horse responds to it. You can pretty much tell if a horse you know they don't have to come right up to us and want to be in relationship you know and close. But you can usually tell pretty quickly if a horse enjoys interaction or not and it doesn't like I said, it can just be in the same space, it doesn't have to be close interaction. Then we go through. Usually we bring them in a quarantine space where they can kind of get acclimated to the space and to us, separate from the other horses, and then we think about which herd would be best with this horse and their personality, after we know it a little more and then we bring the horse in and introduce them and then give them some space and time to work things out. If we need to adjust and move horse, you know, shift our herds around a little bit, we can do that and our teams. But it is definitely a process where we listen to what the horse is telling us through their behaviors, their needs, also the herd that is existing here. What do they need?
Sometimes horses that come to us they can't be ridden anymore. Maybe there was an injury, like one of our horses, rebel. He's a retired mounted patrol horse and he had an injury on the job, and he can't carry a rider anymore. He's healed but he just can't carry that weight. Well, he's still young and he's still very capable and he's perfect for this work and we don't do any riding. So here he can be in his second career and he works with military and first responders all the time and they can see themselves in him where, you know, maybe all of a sudden, something happened in their career. They're not able to stay in that career that they loved, and now they see hope through rebel, who has a whole other purpose helping others. Yeah, I could talk about this, you know, for days.
Pat:
I'm so fascinated by this! Just that quality of interaction. One thing that animals do so well is remind us of present moment. Animals are always in present moment. They're not thinking about what happened at the food dish three days ago. I mean right, I mean the right moment.
They're not anticipating whether they're going to, you know, go down the litter box or whatever animals do. They're in the moment and I think that is what is so remarkable. We have a lot of outdoor visitors. We're on a city lot in St Paul but we have bunnies, we have a possum, we have raccoons that visit chipmunks and each group. They're like friends now, but they each have personalities, very distinct personalities, and all of them live in the moment in their particular animal way and it's really a marvel to watch that. And so I can imagine people struggling and being around horses and always being in this moment and that quality of interaction. That is intentional. I'm here right now. You know the nuzzling. What a reminder. It's just a whole different perspective.
Lynn:
Yes, we hear that quite a bit. Where people that come to us are struggling, right, veterans, first responders and other people who have experienced trauma are very hypervigilant. It's hard to be in the present moment because, right, is there something that's going to harm me? I need to always be at the heart, and so when they come out here, many times that's what they actually say to us right away like wow, I was out with the horses and for like 10 minutes I didn't think of what I needed to do in the future or regrets of my past. I haven't had that gift in my life of just being for so long. And then over time that gift keeps giving and expanding so that pretty soon the person is like, oh my gosh, I'm able to stay in the present moment. I'm not worried or anxious so much. Yeah, I'm not so depressed and sad because of my past. I'm like experiencing my life. And so many times people come to us and they are, they're hopeless, they've tried all different things, or or they're just, they're lost. And so when they come out here and we see this all the time we see miracles pat every single day where the human spirit when it has felt Hopeless and lost, and it gets a glimmer of hope. I have seen that human spirit will do just about anything to get more of that feeling of hope and we can create that space here, yeah, where that hope can just grow and then become a reality.
And I remember this young girl who started with us that she was in a residential school when she just basically laid on the floor all day long, from the moment she got there, her hood up, her hair was long, it was pulled over her face. She laid on the floor, didn't interact with anybody. So then somehow she agreed and I think it was because of the animals that she agreed to come to acres for life. However, when she came, she sat in the chair, curled up and again, hair pulled forward, hood overhead, looking down, not making any eye contact, and Little by little, right each week she would definitely get up from the chair and go out, but she would lean against a post.
But the horses come up, they were curious, they're inquisitive, they are social, and they started looking underneath the hood, you know, and she would move away, and but then each week we saw this change in her right where she would start peeking out from underneath the hood, and then she would like another time. Stand up a little straighter. Early on we would get a glimpse of her kind of like smile or giggle and then she'd back back under. Over a period of time, pat, like that hood came down, the hair pushed back. We saw her face. Then her hair's in a ponytail. She's touching the horse, she's petting the horse, this young girl today, because we have we stay in contact. We have an alumni group that once you're part of acres and you finish up your Mental health treatment here or whatever you go through here, if you're doing wellness or you're welcome to come back once a month.
See the horses interact. There's no charge. So we still get the benefit of seeing her, and years later she's gone on, finished school, she's graduated from college, she interacts with people. I mean, it's things like that that we see the horses do. I probably wouldn't keep peeking under her hood, right, because I wouldn't be touching her. I wouldn't be doing that because, right, but a horse is just like, excuse me, this miracle that you're talking about.
Pat:
One thing that came to me as you were describing this is that sometimes our heartache or depression is because we want to control things, and that rigid need to just clutch and hang on. What you're describing is this beautiful horseway of gently letting the person know it's okay to let go. It's okay not to be in control. And I think, as you were talking about this young woman, listen, I taught teenagers for years. I know about the hoodie, I know about the attitude, I know about the not looking in the eye and you know the angry kids. Those were the kids I love the most. I just love them, the ones that just you know, like f off, I don't want to talk to you. They just look at you and you just have to very gently, graze around them, and just kind of work your way very gently in that process. And so what you really magnify is a situation where it's safe to let go.
Lynn:
Yes, so true, there's another story if you're okay with it. But, oh hell, yes, you just keep talking. Okay, so, speaking of letting go, oh my gosh, there's so many that just resonates with. But there was a, a gentleman again, and this is not only that. It works with with recovery, but this story is so powerful. He was in his 50s.
It was coming as part of a group from Hazelden, betty Ford, and was a the fifth session of a six-week session and they came out and this man was prickly. You know, he had been multiple times in treatment. He moped a couple packs of cigarettes a day. He swore like a sailor, he was angry, he was very hurt and broken and he was there and we were setting up the session.
For what we're gonna do, okay, today we're going to spend some time in the pasture with the horses and we're going to work on Making amends with people and things that we feel like we need to make amends with. Sometimes we need to say them to people and sometimes we need to keep them to ourselves or make them with ourselves, right? So we wanted to give that opportunity and he just laid into us he's. You know. He used all very colorful words which I won't use here. But like what in the world do you think? You know that's that easy. We can just go out, walk up to a horse. You know you guys are full of everything. So he's like you know, screw you guys. And he started walking away from us, walking out into the pasture. The other guys were like, hey, yeah, we'll go out, we got it, we're gonna go do that. So they go out to start making their amends and this individual starts walking towards our Most broken down horse that we have. His name was chief. He's no longer with us.
But, Chief was saved off a slaughter truck. That's where he was headed for slaughter. One of our team-based some felt something said. I feel like he still has a lot left to give. He's had such a hard life. So she rescued him, brought him to acres and he worked with us for about 12 years. Anyway, Chief was standing down about 20 feet from my partner and I, we work in a team.
When we're working with groups, we have an equine specialist and we have a therapist and so we're like, oh, just kind of pause. We're like, how is this gonna go? Because Chief didn't really like people, he didn't like to be touched, he didn't want people close. He had scars all over his body from where he was abused. He had sway back, he had crooked legs, he had had a really difficult life. And as we looked at we're like, you know, should we step in and separate so that chief doesn't have to interact with this, or then should we protect this guy, right, our client? But as we looked out and we saw this picture, we're like, oh my goodness, this prickly guy, prickly horse, I don't know. Let's just maybe hold this space a little bit. We trust this work, we trust our horses, let's see what happens. I mean Chief can move if he needs to move and so that free choice, right when they're not on a lead, they don't have to stay. So that also can play into the story. So as this man, very angry, is walking intently towards Chief, he gets up to him and he takes his arm and he pushes his Chief's head and neck really hard away from him. And then Chief comes around really quickly, swings back, his teeth, bared and doesn't nip the man but very close almost nips him. The man pushes him again, but a little bit less. Chief comes around, just a little bit less. This patterns interaction of pushing, pushing and coming back at that continues. It's back and forth, but it's less and less and less, until they're standing next to each other, standing there, just looking out. And then we're standing like just holding space, breathing. I mean it takes a lot of presence to just hold that, to not interrupt it, to just trust it and to be there.
Chief all of a sudden lays down. Now a horse is at their most vulnerable spot. When they lay down because they can't get up quickly, their stomachs are exposed right. So he lays down and Chief had legs that were all crooked. It was hard for him to get up and down. So he laid down and we're like, what in the world? Whereas he lays down, he had his back towards the man, his head going out front, his legs going to the opposite side. The man kneels down and then sits down with his back against Chief's back and we're like, oh no, what is gonna happen? Chief just lays there. The man lays back, leans back on his back, opens, spreads his arms wide, laying his head back, just resting on Chief. As Chief lays there, we're still like what in the world is happening. I mean, we're witness to, yeah, something.
And so then we saw Chief. He stretches his neck out very, very far out in front of him, deep digs into the sand, stretches out and then he lets out the longest, deepest breath inside that I have ever heard fryer or past long, deep, release of all this air and pressure. The man's laying on his back and we can see him sobbing. His arms are open, tears are rolling down his face, his chest is going up and down, just sobbing, and Chief is releasing this air out and they're just laying there together. We're just like what in the world and we're trying to watch what the other guys are doing out in the past year working on their amends, and so we keep holding the space. Well, they stayed like that for about 20 minutes.
The man was just crying on and off. Chief was laying there just now, breathing just slowly in and out and his chest was going up and down. The man was going up and down on, you know, as he's leaning, gets his back and the hazel van pulls up. The other guys come in this guy. He stands up, he comes in. He's walking backwards, wiping his eyes, his tears, and he turns away from us and he goes and gets on the hazel van. They get on, they leave. We still don't know, Pat, what happened. We just know. We're like what in the world? I call hazel van and I say hey, I don't know exactly what happened. We were witness to something very powerful. But there weren't any words for it. So I said thank you for the heads up.
Two and a half hours later, that unit supervisor calls me back and said you're absolutely right, something very powerful happened there, but I don't know what it is yet either. The man hasn't stopped crying for two and a half hours. So he said he just got up from my desk, he's going to take a shower, he's gonna go take a nap, okay. So a week later come back the guys, they get off the van, they come in and this prickly man looks at us and said I'm gonna go see my friend Chief and he just goes. So we're like, okay, well, that's the nicest thing he's ever said to us. So he goes, he spends his whole time with chief. Again, we do our session, we do a little closing, because it was their last one. He's still with his friend Chief time to go. He doesn't share anything. We don't push it because we don't have to know for this to work, you don't have to verbalize it or that you don't have to tell us. So they leave. We're like we're never gonna know what that was.
Six months later the phone rang and there was a man on the other end of the phone and he said you probably don't remember me, but I need picture of your horse, chief, laying down. I said oh, I think I remember and, yes, I'll get you the picture. So he said well, thank you very much and told me where to send it. And I sent him a picture of Chief laying down. A month later he sends an email and he said I have two gifts for you. One is this beautiful watercolor of Chief laying down and the other is a picture of my new tattoo of Chief on my bicep.
He said if I ever forget what Chief taught me, I will die. He said I have never surrendered at that depth in my entire life and he helped me to surrender at a level that I needed, to All those things I've been carrying, all the shame, all the guilt, all the rejection, all the anger and to this day he still talks at the recovery talks. And Chief, that broken down horse saved off a slaughter truck saved this man's life and once a year, Christmas we would get, until Chief passed away. We would get a check from this man, a donation, and it would say I still don't quite understand what you do there, but here's a check for Chief and I want you to let him know that somebody loves him and buy him something nice.
And so we would tell chief you know, here's this gift from your man that you saved and never forget. Chief, you're the only horse here. You may be the lowest on the totem pole, You're the last one that comes in to eat, the last one that can go in the shed, but you're the only one that has a tattoo on somebody's arm, on yourself, right? So you hold your head up.
Pat:
Oh, what an amazing story, Lynn. Yeah, oh, my God. I'm sure you do. And this way of being in the world, uou started this conversation that you had a dark point in your life, and you knew that you had a light within you, and you had to really work to get that light going. I think you know I'm showing my age, but there was a thing called a Zippo lighter.
I'm an artist. I always get these graphic images in my mind when people talk and when you were talking about trying to get the light going, I had this image of a Zippo and how you keep flicking it and the flint just kind of sparks but it doesn't quite catch. And after five times it catches. Well, you, Lynn, are the Zippo lighter. And you got the light going. And what you do, god, it's nothing short of the miracle of connection, the possibility of connection and the mystery of connection that goes beyond words. That's the space that you maintain and create. I'm just in awe of the work that all of you do at Acres For Life.
Lynn:
Thank you so much and that connection is so important to me, and the connection that people connect with themselves, connect with their family and friends, connect with the world around them. Connection is so important and I think, is so lost in the world today.
Pat:
Oh, yes. What is the one thing, the one thing that you hope for every client who comes to Acres For Life? What is the one thing you want for them?
Lynn:
Oh, one thing I want for them is to know that they are loved and accepted and that they belong just how they are. If they want to do something different and explore and experience something or change something, we're here with them. If they wanna just stay where they're at, we're here with them. They have found a place where we see them and we hear them, and we're gonna be with them.
Pat:
So, Lynn, if somebody wants to check out Acres for Life or make a donation, how would they find you?
Lynn:
can find us on our website, which is www.acresforlife.org- We have an open house coming up always the first Saturday in October, from one to five. It's an open house meet horses, listen to music, have some food and connect.
Pat:
Lynn, thank you for being here today and just telling us so much about Equine Therapy, your life and about the important life-affirming work that you do. Thank you so much.
Lynn:
Thank you, Pat. I appreciate you very, very much.
Pat:
And listeners, whoa, I don't know how you cannot be blown away by this story! Thank you for joining us today. If you've enjoyed filter capacity, please tell your friends and hit subscribe. And thank you, Natalie Zett, audio engineer. Thank you, bye.
