This is an outreach program with Mountain Valley Horse Rescue, where small groups can experience volunteer work, learn relaxation, and build confidence.
Mountain Valley Horse Rescue
Mountain Valley Horse Rescue is our flagship site for Destination Rescue. Without the initial programs founded here, and the continued interaction and mutual support at MVHR, Destination Rescue simply would not exist.
At Mountain Valley Horse Rescue, our programs use fundamentally Equulinguistics Equine Assisted Therapy. The following describes one of the many ways that Equulinguistics uses horses to help people:
It has been scientifically proven that electromagnetic fields exist. We know that the planet, animals, plants, and even we ourselves have electromagnetic fields. As humans, we generate these fields ourselves by being alive, our heartbeats, and animals do the same. Plants generate them by the motion that occurs within their cells, and the Earth generates its field by its spinning.
Electromagnetic fields have different names across the globe and in different cultures. Some call them just Energy Fields, some say Life Force, some say Qi or Chi, are just a few.
We sometimes notice these fields in our daily experience, such as when you are aware of someone walking silently up behind you, or when you are drawn to do something like taking off your shoes to walk in the grass.
We live the majority of our lives with our electromagnetic fields enmeshed with that of the Earth – we have our feet on the ground most of the time. When we change that by touching an animal, or by getting on the back of a horse, we change the way that we think, just a little bit. That same change in perspective can be enough to help a person change in larger ways… Like felling happier, more confident, and being able to let go of bad habits.
In Equulinguistics Equine Assisted Therapy, we use these small changes in the ways that we think, caused by being on the ground near horses, touching horses, and by being on the back of a horse, to create more comfortable ways of interacting with life. We work to bring about positive changes in behavior that can be reflected in daily life.
Program Description
Participants begin by learning about the way Horse Rescues work, what their purpose is, and current facts about unwanted horses in the US.
Next, everyone begins the mundane tasks that are needed every day on any horse ranch – which can include cleaning the pastures and stalls, feeding the rescue horses, moving feed or equipment around, or other maintenance at the Rescue. All activities at the Rescue are supervised and instructed as applicable.
After that, we share the stories of the individual horses, then a horse or two will be selected, and participants will halter and groom the horse(s), and even learn beginning elements of Equine Massage.
Following that, the group will take one rescue horse, and be guided through a series of visualizations and techniques for building confidence and relaxation, focusing on the horse.
The group is then guided in returning their experiences of increased confidence, relaxation, and healing to the same horse they have been working with through the whole exercise, guided by a trained expert all along the way.
At the end of the day, participants are invited to share their experiences with the group, and spend a little more unstructured time with the rescue horses.
The Circle of Giving
The objective of Destination Rescue is to bring people into The Circle of Giving. The Circle begins when people come, and are of service to these needy animals. Then the group is then expertly guided into experiences of feeling more relaxed, confident, and connected to the world around them. The Circle completes as participants return the healing that they have received from these Rescue horses, helping the horses to heal even more.