Equine therapy uses horses’ big hearts to soothe ours

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Sue Dixon has had a lifelong love for horses and now she’s sharing both that passion and the therapeutic benefits of her big-hearted friends with others.

After working at Kimberly-Clark for 34 years, she launched a new venture—Partnering Horses with Humans—which uses the wisdom of horses to help people change or understand their own behaviour. She became a certified Facilitated Equine Experiential Learning (FEEL) practitioner in 2016, and also has a degree in Sociology from the University of Waterloo.

When she was eight, Sue’s dad brought home a racehorse, an impulsive decision that landed him on the couch for weeks, she says with a laugh, but it launched her love for the animals and the beginnings of understanding their behaviour.

“(The horse) was pretty wound up,” recalls Sue. “That was my first lesson in trust because this horse wouldn’t let anyone touch his head. He wouldn’t let anyone pick up his feet. He had been beat up somewhere along the way and he was traumatized. But he would let me pick up his feet and he would let me touch his head because I was an eight-year-old child and he trusted me and I trusted him.”

Sue was devastated a few years later when they gave the horse away so she started riding lessons, and as a teen bought her own horse, a palomino named Texas Gold who sadly had to be euthanized due to a lung congestion. After working at the riding stables at Deerhurst Resort in the mid-1980s, Sue stepped away from horses for more than two decades but she never forgot that early love.

Fast forward to 2009 when a horse named Eddie entered Sue’s life. He was her best friend and taught her to be confident riding again. But when Eddie broke his leg, Sue thought she’d never ride again. “I thought, ‘I’m never going to go through this heartbreak again,'” she says. But then she met Egalie (pronounced ee-GAL-ee), a handsome Clydesdale-Thoroughbred cross. Sue connected with him right away and says he helped mend her broken heart. But it wasn’t until after taking the FEEL course that she understood him on a deeper level.

“Every time I’m in a horse’s company, I’m better after being in their company. I’m more peaceful, and more connected,” says Sue, adding that she didn’t really know why. She learned that their sensitive nature allows horses to be attuned to human emotions, and that learning to be calm in their presence is something akin to meditation.

With her new business, Sue is able to help her clients incorporate positive change in their own lives using the horse’s insight to recognize and reflect on their own behaviours and fears.

“In order to do that, we have to have a quiet mind, otherwise the horses won’t engage. So mindfulness is a cornerstone of the work,” says Sue. “If somebody arrives, and they’re stressed about their job and that is going through their body, the horses will pick up on that. But when our minds are quiet, and we’re in the company of the horse, we have the opportunity for a profound connection.”

Horses don’t judge, adds Sue. “That’s why people do well resonating with the horse—they give unconditional support and love. For some people, the only nonthreatening touch they can experience is with a horse, and so they can allow us to confront fear safely just because they have a large physical presence.”

And with an absence of electronics, being with a horse offers someone the opportunity to “just be”, says Sue. “Horse wisdom allows people to find their own answers from within their own intuition. My role is that of a facilitator—I’m trained to read horse language, I’m trained to make sure it’s a safe environment, but what really transpires is between the client and the horse, I just help them translate their experience.”

She has worked with students to help them learn skills that allow them to better focus and achieve more at school. She’s worked with people who have anxiety or depression or who struggle with self-esteem. She has worked with people who are bereaved. And every time she feels it’s a privilege to witness the powerful connection between a human and a horse.

“Horses give us an opportunity to have a bond and just spend some time with a majestic animal that is so very sensitive,” says Sue. “And when we’re with a horse, we have to focus on what’s happening right now. So it takes a worried mind away from what’s worrying and that starts the pattern of being mindful and not getting caught up in the worry.”

Sue works with horses in both Muskoka and Orillia. Egalie’s home is in Orillia, where Sue also works with a horse named Presto. In Muskoka, she works with horses Reba and Steve and Mojo at Sugar Foot Farm near Utterson. Both locations have indoor arenas so she can help her clients year-round.

“I’m truly privileged to do the work I do because it’s very rewarding and I get to work with people and horses, and I love both,” she says.

Learn more about Partnering Horses with Humans at equinetherapymuskoka.com or call 705-380-2680.