Michelle Holling-Brooks - The Horse Cure: True Stories: Remarkable Horses Bringing Miraculous Change to Humankind

THE
HORSE CURE
TRUE STORIES

Remarkable Horses Bringing
Miraculous Change to Humankind

Michelle Holling-Brooks

Photographs by AJ Morey

First published in 2019 by

Trafalgar Square Books

North Pomfret, Vermont 05053

Copyright 2019 Michelle Holling-Brooks and Ann-Janine (AJ) Morey

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, by any means, without written permission of the publisher, except by a reviewer quoting brief excerpts for a review in a magazine, newspaper, or website.

Some names and identifying details have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

Disclaimer of Liability

The author and publisher shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by the information contained in this book. While the book is as accurate as the author can make it, there may be errors, omissions, and inaccuracies.

Trafalgar Square Books encourages the use of approved safety helmets in all equestrian sports and activities.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Holling-Brooks, Michelle (Michelle Sheree), 1977- author.

Title: The horse cure : true stories: remarkable horses bringing miraculous change to humankind / Michelle Holling-Brooks ; photos by AJ (Ann-Janine) Morey.

Description: North Pomfret, Vertmont : Trafalgar Square Books, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018052327 | ISBN 9781570769368 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Horsemanship--Therapeutic use. | Human-animal relationships.

Classification: LCC RM931.H6 H65 2019 | DDC 615.8/51581--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018052327

Photographs by AJ Morey

Book design by Lauryl Eddlemon

Cover design by RM Didier

Index by Michelle Guiliano, LinebyLineIndexing.com

eBook design by Prabhati Content

Typefaces: Minion, Myriad

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

To all the horses that are willing to partner with us for healingwe thank you.

The Horse Power of Stories: Equine-Partnered Psychotherapy and Coaching
By AJ Morey

Schedule A: The Horse That Started the Journey
Michelle

Cocoa and Radar: Learning to Trust
Ashley

Delilah to Diesel: Taking off the Mask and Asking for Help
Brenda

Bear: I Will Not Leave You
Gwen

The Big-Boy Herd: Learning to Run and Play
Mason

Cookie and Squire: Finding Your Voice
Jake

Diesel in the Box: Trusting Yourself
Ben

It Takes a Herd
What Weve Learned

H orses have been a huge part of my life since the young age of six. Working with horses started as a recreational sport for me. I rode and my sister played soccer. Little did my parents know that their decision to sign me up for the local parks and recreation riding program would turn into a lifelong passion and eventually evolve into my current mission of helping people find healing.

When I was 13 years old my life was turned upside down due to a severe illness. Horses provided a lifeline to find my footing again. They taught me it was okay to trust and be open to love. They taught me I was not broken, a victim, or less than because I had trauma in my life. Horses gave so much to me, I knew that working with them in partnership in order to assist other humans was my lifes purpose. Starting in 2000 I began to work as a certified professional in the Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapies (EAAT) field. And in 2008 I founded Unbridled Change, a full-time, non-profit organization providing mental health programs that offer a safe space for all beings (humans and horses) to heal and thrive.

For me, this book is over 27 years in the making. My hope for this project is that you, the reader, will gain a rare glimpse into what Equine-Partnered Psychotherapy and Coaching (EPPC) sessions feel and look like. I want to help you experience, through the power of stories, what a partnership with horses can co-create in the scope of healing the human soul. Whether you are new to the field of equine activities and therapies, a seasoned practitioner, or a person looking for recovery, I hope you find that this book opens a gateway to the power of horses as a partner on that journey.

Maybe you are wondering, why horses? What makes a horse such an amazing partner? Why are we drawn to partnering human healing and growth with horses as a key component in treatment? By the end of this book, my hope is that, like our clients at Unbridled Change, you will begin to find your own answers to those questions. While I can totally geek out on research, explanation, and teaching the hows and whys, thats not how I start with clients. I dont really dive into all the information, science, and background for this model of therapy. Instead, I ask them to try to be open to building a relationship with the horses and with us, the treatment team, based on trust, respect, and willingness. I drop in information about why we do what we do organically, as it presents itself, specific to each clients treatment needs. Im inviting you to the same kind of experience. I feel that many of your questions will be answered naturally, through the stories I share in the pages ahead. However, for those who do like to have a working point of reference, photographer AJ Morey has assisted in writing an introduction that shares an outline of the conceptual framework that is Equine-Partnered Psychotherapy and Coaching. Note that we do not endeavor to provide a full description of all processes and how they work; nor do we list the numerous studies that now support this work. That remains for a subsequent book.

I invite you to proceed in the way that best works for you. If you are a reader who wants to get right to the stories, then skip forward to chapter Equine-Partnered Psychotherapy and Coaching we use at Unbridled Change, then proceed with the Introduction. My overall challenge to you is the same challenge I give my clients: Put aside any preconceived notions about what you believe a horse is and what you think therapy is. Read the pages ahead with a beginners mind, open to the possibilities of what if in a good way.

Therapy empowers us to heal ourselves and make sense of the past. Sometimes that healing only happens on one planethe mind. The stories in this book, however, present another way to heal the whole personmind, body, and spirit all together. The Horse Cure, to us, is defined as a means of correcting or relieving anything that is troublesome or detrimental. When you blend building an in the moment partnership with a real being, in this case a horse, with the different mental health therapy approaches and theories, the result is a powerful catalyst for change that integrates all the pieces of the self. Over the past 17-plus years I have watched client after client find a level of connection to the authentic self. Clients learn that their authentic selves are not some fantasy or dream of who they could be, but rather a very real sense of self based on who they truly are