Equine therapy charity fears closure unless funding secured

The founder of an equine therapy charity in Castletown fears the 'lifeline' service for children with additional needs could be forced to close unless funding is secured.

Ability Equine Assisted Therapy provides equine assisted therapy to children and adults with intellectual disabilities, autism and mental health difficulties, however the service is under threat due to rising costs, veterinary bills and a number of ponies out of action resulting in a loss of revenue.

"There are many factors that have contributed to our financial struggles," said Victoria Lacey director of Ability Equine Assisted Therapy.

"We don't get government funding and we are constantly relying on fundraising to keep the doors open," she added.

"We have a very small team of people and all of our clients are individuals who have additional needs in some way shape or form.

"We work with people with mild to profound disabilities but we also work with people who have mental health difficulties and don't always have a diagnosis but are just not having a very nice time in life and use the service for different reasons.

"Quite often we find that we are hitting the same people up and these are people who are often caring for children or adults and they don't always have the time to help us out with a bucket collection or think of a new creative idea of how we could fundraise."

The winter months approaching means a significant increase in costs as Victoria explains:

"We lease our premises so we have all of the costs associated with livery and with the upkeep and welfare of the horses like veterinary care, physio, chiropractor, dentist, farrier and all of these things are incredibly expensive.

"You used to be able to get a bale of hay for €20 but you are looking for €50 or €60 now so if you times that by 50 bales to get through the winter, it is a lot of money.

"Also we have had a couple of clients not able to ride with us due to ponies being out sick so we are not getting money in we'd usually be getting for those lessons.

"Even when we do have all of the ponies in work, it is still a struggle, it is month to month and we find ourselves trying to find the money."

Victoria who became aware of equine therapy when she was trying to find outlets for her own children with additional needs outlines why the service is important for so many people.

"We provide therapeutic horse riding which is a multi area intervention therapy," said Victoria.

"It is fantastic from a physical, cognitive, developmental and emotional point of view," she added.

"We have people with rare genetic physical disorders, autism, ADHD, Dyspraxia, Dyslexia, MS and brain injuries who come to us.

"We also offer equine assisted psychotherapy where there is no horse riding involved, it's all ground based. We have a psychotherapist and a horse professional and we work with people who suffer from mental health disorders, anything from anxiety, depression, eating disorder and PTSD.

"We also offer stable management for adults and teenagers who are in residential care facilities. Some of them just like to groom and to be with the horses. We have one lady who comes to us who just likes to cuddle the horse and she is just delighted with herself and comes out with a huge smile and the care home comment that she is just in the best mood after."

Promoting the idea of inclusion is a huge part of the ethos of Ability Equine Assisted Therapy according to the charity director who said:

"A lot of clients would have intellectual disabilities and are non verbal and they come here and push the wheelbarrow, feeds the horses and gives them a sense of responsibility and then they have the calming affects from the horses as well.

"We provide seasonal camps where we encourage children with additional needs to being their siblings along with them and it's really about fostering integration and normalising disability and giving these children an opportunity to take part in an activity which they might see their brothers and sisters doing."

Those who avail of the service benefit emotionally through their connection with these sensitive animals and a profound bond is experienced between the client and the horse, especially for people with a disability where communication is impacted as Victoria explains.

"The horse has an electro magnetic field around its heart and humans have an electro magnetic field too but as you can imagine, ours is a lot smaller than a horse’s.

"Studies have shown that when you are in the presence of a horse, the horse’s heart rate will help to regulate your own.

"So if you are particularly anxious it helps to lower your heart rate and calm you down. Aside from that, there is just something really magical about being in the presence of a horse.

"They are very hyper sensitive because they are herd animals and because of that reason they are always on alert which is why they are so in tune with us and so in tune with emotion. They can detect a heartbeat from one and a half to two metres away so it makes them very sensitive and in tune with humans."

The relationship and bond that children form with the animals can be transformative as the equine therapy coach explains:

"We go from seeing young children who can't talk and can't walk who you have to hold up on the horse yourself because they haven't got the upper body strength and time goes past and these children build up the muscle tone and they can sit up for themselves.

"We have a lot of children with Autism and ADHD who are over stimulated but as soon as they start sitting on that horse and get that deep pressure input, they relax. Some people who are not walking are referred from OTs solely for that reason. There have been cases where children have started to talk because when you are mirroring that multi dimensional movement on the horse, it helps to release Oxytocin and open up the neural pathways."

To contribute to the fundraiser click here