Simon’s Story

Simon managed to train her to overcome her anxiety in a number of situations. He applied the same learnings to himself and developed a range of successful coping mechanisms to manage his anxiety. The other young people in his school saw his natural rapport with the horses, they started to call him “The Horse Whisperer” and asked him for help at the stables. This allowed Simon the chance to build friendships and to see himself as someone who can take a leadership role and help others.

After 12 months at Learning Through Horses Simon had transformed into a confident young man, he has gone on to college to study animal care and still keeps in touch.Simon started coming to Learning Through Horses at a time of personal crisis. His autism diagnosis made it hard for him to build relationships with others and his anxiety was so debilitating he was barely leaving the house and was experiencing significant physical symptoms of nausea and panic when around other people.

To begin with Simon was too anxious to touch any of the horses and couldn’t engage with his peers, instead he chose to watch the others work with the horses from a distance.

Over time, knowing he had the space to take himself away for a break if his anxiety got too much, Simon began working with the horses. He formed a powerfully strong bond with one of our horses Princess who herself struggles with anxiety due to past trauma.

Zainab’s Story

When Zainab started attending a Learning Through Horses programme in 2018 she was excluded from education and struggling to manage her temper and form relationships with others.

To begin with Zainab pushed everyone away, she refused to engage with the horses, wouldn’t talk to staff and had a lot of arguments with the other young people on the course. This went on for three weeks.

In the fourth week Zainab went into the field to catch Thomas our largest horse. Thomas has a lot of trust issues due to past trauma and he wouldn’t let Zainab anywhere near him. Zainab lost her temper and started to shout and scream uncontrollably which caused Thomas to run faster and faster. 

Even though it was pouring with rain Zainab stayed and worked with Thomas helping him to let go of his fear. After 45 minutes of patiently working with Thomas he finally let go of his fear, allowing Zainab to approach and stroke him. Then something amazing happened – he followed her to the gate without the aid of a rope, choosing to trust her and be with her instead of the other horses despite his own entrenched trust issues.

After some time Zainab stopped focusing on her own anger and started focusing on Thomas obvious fear. She stopped screaming and was able to listen to the staff member, who taught her how to use her body language and energy to work with the horse in a calm way. Her anger resided as she learnt to focus on the needs of the horse. 

After this moment Zainab’s behaviour changed for the better. She consistdently engaged at the stables with enthusiasm, she learnt about the impact of her behaviours on others and demonstrated incredible empathy towards the horses and other young people. Over time her outbursts of anger disappeared and she told us “that she finally felt happy”. Zainab is now at college undertaking professional qualifications in horse care and doing really well.