| Kat Creech introduces us to some of the horses behind Life with Horses, a charity dedicated to giving injured retired racehorses a second chance after racing while providing human interaction through equine therapy.
“SCALLYWAG” Excalibrator is his race name and we call him Scallywag. He is cheeky. I got him first up when I left the corporate world and didn’t really know what I got myself into. He had a lot of energy, running around like a lunatic but as I worked with him in healing his injuries, I started to realise how special he really was. The healing process took about 6 months and over that time I watched this horse that was energetic, running fast, soften into this gentle beautiful soul that just wanted company, just wanted people around him and as he started to interact with close ones within my family and friend group. I started to realise he had different hats. He has race horse hat, he had horse hat and then he had horse and human hat. He would know when there was a young person that needed a little extra TLC. He would then know when there was someone who was a little bit more confident around horses, and he would change his personality and his behaivour to suit that person. He really read the situation beautifully so when I saw that journey, my brain started clicking, the mind map started and that’s how we formed Life with Horses.
“DUCKY” Ducky’s race name was All Pluck. We’ve had him since we started the charity. He’s the first horse people could sponsor. He’s ten years old and he has roughly 18 people sponsoring him so they come out for visits, riding lessons, they come and visit him on his birthday. He’s a popular one with the little ones. He loves giving them a lot of attention and love and even though he’s so big, he’s a real big softy at heart. He’s a bit of an anxious horse. He wears his heart on his sleeve. So what you’re feeling, he’ll feel. He needs to know that you’re comfortable and strong and know what you’re doing and then he’ll follow and he’ll trust you but he just wants to love as well. If he could climb into bed with you he would so yeah he’s a very gentle man.
“FANCY” So we have a very special mare in the herd – she’s the only girl and her name is Fancy. Her race name was Spring Tide. She’s 10 years old and she is the most beautiful horse. Her experience before coming to us was the owners had two special needs children and she used to hang out with them all the time and be so gentle and soft so that’s why they thought Life with Horses would be perfect for her. She’s come here and she’s just shown so much tenderness and love and she’s a real mother hen.
“NEMO” Nemo’s race name was Sea of Life. He is a gelding that used to race in Hong Kong. He’s 7 years old so he’s a very gentle soul but he looks like the hulk so sometimes people get mixed emotions with him but he is just so beautiful and tender. Loves his head scratched and he’ll be a great therapy horse in the future.
“PRINCE BRINKLEY” Prince Brinkey’s race name was Brinkmanship. He’s 7 years old and he is our more active horse. He’s quite energetic and loves to play and be cheeky!
Interested in sponsoring one of these amazing animals? Sponsoring a horse is only an $80 a month tax deductible donation allowing you two visits a month.
“So they can come out, they can groom, wash, feed, learn how to have a horse at the fraction of the cost, time and energy,” Kat explained. “So that can be young kids, it can be grown adults that have just always wanted to have a horse and they could never do it and that gives them a chance to step away from their world into this amazing environment and experience these beautiful animals.”
“Then once they start to get comfortable we’re providing them the opportunity to have riding lessons so we’ve got a preferred coach who works with our horses and they can learn how to ride our horses and step up on that experience and training level so to the point where if they wanted to go to a competition say at a local club, we could take them out, and they could do a dressage comp and just learn how to advance their riding skills and then if they want they can then jump on a new horse and help us train them and it’s a bit of a cycle and that’s where it becomes a passion and a hobby!”
“Then we’ve got our corporate side so that’s corporate team building days so we get corporates that come out and spend a day with the horses and that’s where they can a, get out of the cement world and b, learn how to communicate and trust and work as a team on a different level. Alot of team building exercises are putting together a bike or something like that where horses are very intimidating to some people so they all come in at different levels with knowledge and experience and calmness so for them to learn how to regulate themselves as a team member, communicate not only with their team but with the horse, and they’re doing activities with each other around the horse so it builds a lot of trust and teamwork.”
“We also have school holiday kids camps. It’s a great way to get the kids out onto the farm for a day to have equine experiences and gets them off those screens.” |
