Our Program
Rod and Deb O’Malley have extensive experience in horsemanship and have been helping those in our community to improve behavioural and mental health outcomes.
The Learn from Horses team delivers a tailored program, based upon proven processes and research to promote physical and mental well-being through interaction with our rescued horses.
The Horses Helping Humans program aims to:
- Build confidence and self-esteem.
- Improve emotional control and self-discipline.
- Assist with anxiety, anger management and impulse control.
- Develop healthy relationship skills by respecting self and others.
- Utilise activities to assist with spatial awareness, sensory perception, and hand/eye co-ordination.
- Assist individuals with dexterity and gross motor skills, body stability, and to increase postural muscle strength and stamina.
- Allow people to relax and have fun in a peaceful environment.
- Provide gentle equine interaction with residents of Nursing Homes.
The Horses Helping Humans Program
Learn from Horses is a charity, proudly using the Sue Spences' half day and full day programs to teach people about themselves and effective communication.
We're all human. We all need a little bit of help sometimes. If you are willing to learn, life lessons can come from the most unexpected of places.
In our own special equine way the Learn from Horses team are delivering the unique ‘Horses Helping Humans’ program to the Mid North Coast region.
Our one-of-a-kind program was developed by Queensland mother of two, Sue Spence who through her own challenging journey and her lifelong love for horses found that she could help others by sharing her knowledge. “There is no ‘hiding’ around horses,” says Sue, award-winning author of ‘Horses who Heal’ and breast cancer survivor. “Horses don’t care what you say, they see how you ‘feel’ and they will react in kind. If you’re aggressive around a horse, they will be fearful, if you are timid they won’t do anything you ask, our program aims to develop an awareness of body language so people can better communicate in a calm yet assertive manner.”
Horses have taught us patience with ourselves and others. They inspire a mental calmness and we want to be able to share that with others. There are so many in our community that may not have had positive role models in their life, some may not have had an opportunity to fulfil their lives, this program offers an alternative way for people to reconnect and begin to find trust.
How We're Helping
By working together with the horses, students learn vital skills such as improved communication, self-regulation, respect and trust for others and to contribute meaningfully to their local community. Students learn how to gently back their horses away from them to create healthy safe boundaries, how to circle their horses around them on a 12ft lead, pop them over small jumps and lead them around an agility course. In particular, this program is producing good results with people ranging from improved self-sufficiency, reduced school suspensions and better engagement in the community.