Horses that help heal our hearts
Meet the remarkable rescue horses, owned and loved by Carrie Byrom, which have been bringing peace and comfort to people facing trauma, including key workers affected by the pandemic
Inside the gates of Stable Lives, all is calm. A tranquil place where people gently stroke and whisper their stories to peaceful ponies, it feels a world away from the lockdown restrictions and coronavirus fears.
Stable Lives is an equine charity in Wigan that’s been using the therapeutic power of rescue horses for four years to help children and adults living with mental health challenges. But since coronavirus hit, these amazing horses have been doing even more to bring comfort to those worst affected by the pandemic, including key workers.
The charity was started by Carrie Byrom, a horse lover and former military wife, who came up with the idea of using rescue horses to help people with trauma, following the news that a close family friend had developed complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) from his time in the military. While their friend was sadly too poorly to reach at that stage, Carrie invited her friend’s young children to spend time with her own rescue horses and realised it gave them joy and respite at what was a very worrying time.
From then on, Carrie started running respite days and short courses for other children affected by trauma as well as adults, including veterans, dealing with depression, PTSD and other mental health challenges. In all this work, Carrie uses horses that have typically come from traumatic backgrounds themselves.
“Rescue horses give people an opportunity to find something in common with them,” says Carrie.
“For example, one of our horses was rescued by the RSPCA in horrendous circumstances and was utterly terrified when he arrived. But we put him back together and helped him trust again. And for a veteran facing his own challenges, to see that gives them hope that they can come through it, too.”
The horses help teach the importance of body language as people have to turn down anger and aggression to be calm in order to gain the horses’ trust. “I see so many people carrying around so much baggage and stress but as they spend time here, it’s like they can lay all that baggage down,” says Carrie. “I liken it to the feeling I get every Sunday at church when I can lay my worries down.”
Knowing what an incredible difference her horses make, it was no wonder then
‘Rescue horses give people an opportunity to find something in common with them’
that when the country was first plunged into lockdown, closing down so many charities, Carrie decided Stable Lives would keep going even though she had to furlough most of her staff and fund her bills with almost no income. Nevertheless, she carried on supporting veterans, inviting them to help her deliver plants that couldn’t be sold from the local garden centre to give to neighbours in need and help give the veterans a sense of purpose.
She also extended the hand of help to key workers. “My husband is now a paramedic and I could see the intense pressure all blue-light workers were under, without getting any real break,” says Carrie. So she started holding respite days where nurses, paramedics, doctors, funeral directors and other key workers were able to leave their troubles at the stable door.
On these respite days,
Carrie held workshops teaching people about basic horse care and reminding them, through the horses, of the importance of eating and sleeping well. The sessions were also an opportunity for them to spend time outdoors, take a break from their worries and enjoy a hearty meal home-cooked by Carrie’s mum. “I saw intensive care nurses feeling so under pressure, but by the end of the day they said they felt like different people with a sense of hope for the future.”
‘We want to be a place where people can find calm’
Many of the key workers found these respite days so beneficial that they’ve since been back, either for one of Carrie’s six-week training programmes or just to have a quiet moment with the horses.
As well as key workers, Carrie has also been helping children who have found lockdown especially challenging, including those with autism, eating disorders and children recently bereaved who have found themselves out of routine and unable to access many other counselling services that had to close. “To give a child a chance to be outdoors, away from the cauldron of lockdown at home, just being with the horses was massive.”
Thankfully, despite the current month-long lockdown in England, Carrie and the team can continue providing help as government guidelines still allow support for small groups of vulnerable people. As for Christmas, they will be filming a video of the nativity as told through the horses dressed up as donkeys. “It will be given to schools and clubs for Christmas as we are aware that no one can do nativities this year,” says Carrie.
Going forwards, Carrie wants to help as many people as she can through these difficult times. “We want Stable Lives to be a safe, quiet, peaceful place where people can find calm,” says Carrie.
■ If you’d like to support Stable Lives, please send a cheque payable to ‘Stable Lives’ to: Parbold Equestrian Centre, Bradshaw Lane, Wigan WN8 7NQ or visit stable-lives.co.uk Carrie has written an inspiring book called The
Horse With No Name, available from Amazon.