Therapy horse helps patients perceive selves
A bay mare who bucks when she’s ridden and has an addiction to windsucking—an act thought to get horses high— has brought hope and healing to therapy patients who seek her guidance in their journey toward wellness. Code Forty, an off-track Thoroughbred fostered seven years ago from the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF) has hit her stride, not as a sport horse or companion animal, but as a bona-fide therapist’s “assistant” at Unity Wholeness Center in Denver, Colo. “Horses are relationship masters,” says Suzanne Carter, a licensed professional counselor, and proprietor of the Colorado center. “Because they’re prey animals, they’re motivated […]
