29/07/2026
People often ask me why I will not use rescued or previously abused horses in my equine therapy work. It is a fair question, and the answer sits close to the heart of everything we do at Rainbow Riders.
My first reason is one of ethics, and I feel it deeply. It is not right to ask a horse that carries its own trauma to hold the trauma of a child or an adult who is already struggling. I cannot expect a wounded horse to absorb someone else's pain. Our horses need to be steady, settled, and safe, so that they can offer that same steadiness to every person who comes to us.
My second reason is quieter, and perhaps a little braver to say out loud. We are in the business of rescuing people. I know how dramatic that sounds. But it is true. We open our arena to the child who does not tick all the boxes. The child who will never fit the box, no matter how hard the adults around him try to make him fit. The uncomfortable one. The difficult one. The child whose need for understanding and acceptance is so often mistaken for something to be medicated away.
We hold space for the adult too. The one who has never felt quite at home in himself, awkward and a little out of step with everyone else. The one who was told as a child to stop being so sensitive. Cowboys and cowgirls don't cry. Don't be silly, it's only a dog. It's only a cat.At Rainbow Riders, those wonderful, remarkable beings are exactly who we are here for.
Through equine therapy, hippotherapy, and equine assisted therapy, our horses offer far more than confidence and self worth. The outward benefits are real, and they matter: better posture, coordination, and mental sharpness. But the inner changes run just as deep. Long held emotional hurts begin to soften. Behaviour that once felt stuck starts to shift. New patterns become possible, all in the quiet safety of the arena.
There is no spotlight here on what needs to be fixed. We begin gently, with what a person can already do, and we grow it from there. Outdoors, with nature quietly joining in the healing.
And alongside all of it, something lasting takes root. A new skill. We teach our special riders real horsemanship, so that their journey with horses can become a lifelong source of joy.
This is why Rainbow Riders exists. Not to fix anyone, but to make space for them, and to walk part of the way alongside them.
