‘Horses are the teachers’ at Orchardview Stables’ new special needs program
Anurse, a special education teacher and a therapist walk into a horse stable … That’s not the beginning of a joke. It’s what happens every day at Orchardview Stables, a nonprofit in Marshall.
The organization matches special needs individuals with horses for the purposes of “equine-assisted therapy,” which relies on horses’ innate sensitivity to human emotions and the motion of riding to improve lives mentally and physically.
Tessa Maxwell and her mother, Mary Kay Soergel — the special education teacher and nurse, respectively — heard about those therapeutic results from families seeking riding lessons for their family members with special needs in the early 2010s, but there was one problem: “We were finding people who could really benefit, but they couldn’t always afford it,” Maxwell said, because it isn’t covered by health insurance.
To make their farm, horses and skills more accessible, they officially became a nonprofit in 2016.
Since then, Maxwell has become a therapeutic riding instructor, and the organization has partnered with a licensed professional counselor to perform equine-assisted psychotherapy on site, free of charge when possible.
Because of a giant check — in physical size and amount — from another local nonprofit, Miracles 360, presented on Oct. 21, Orchard view will embark on something new: an equineassisted learning program for middle school through high school-aged students.
Miracles 360 raises money and donates it to groups that help children with special needs address their differences with nonpharmaceutical methods.
“Trying to find non-traditional therapy programs for kids, there aren’t a lot of them out there,” said
Jay Gagne, president of Miracles 360.
But after visiting Orchardview with his wife, Denise, who is also a Miracles 360 board member, and having another board member, Stephanie Feth, a special education teacher, vet the program, there was clearly a match between the nonprofits.
Two weeks ago, Miracles 360 donated $12,500 to Orchardview, which will fund 20 individuals through five quarters of the new curriculum, which is particularly suited to how horses can help those with special needs.
Maxwell describes horses as “giant biofeedback machines,” who are “aware of our energy and emotions even when we’re not.” Much like human beings, some horses avoid humans who are upset while others seek out those who seem most fragile.
But unlike humans, horses don’t judge. It doesn’t matter what a kid’s grades are, how “cool” their clothes are or if they have a difficult time carrying on a conversation — horses offer acceptance that causes special needs children to trust them more readily than they trust their peers, in Maxwell’s experience.
Though a nurse, special education teacher and therapist may walk into the stable every day, they give most credit for their programs’ successes to the surroundings, the horses and a sense of purpose guided by faith.
“We don’t push our religion on anyone, but we believe God brought us all together and has given us these gifts of the horses and the farm to share,” Maxwell said. “That means practicing love, understanding and acceptance of whomever comes to the farm.
“The interesting part is the horses do the same thing. And the horses are really the teachers.”