How Horses Changed My Life and Led to HHRF By Molly Sweeney
I was lucky enough to grow up with horses in my back yard. I still have them in my back yard. I have enjoyed time with horses on many different playing fields from fox hunting, to trail riding and horse shows. Even learned dressage in Spanish in South America; rode a black Arabian on the beaches of the Arabian Sea; and had the amazing opportunity to race Sindhi ponies in the middle of the Sindh desert with local tribesmen.
It wasn’t until 1990 when I started volunteering with a local therapeutic riding center that I came to more fully understand the deep healing relationship between horses and humans. Once I would have called them miracles but now, I know anything is possible with horses.
I was there when the young boy said his first words while I was leading his horse. The older man whose doctors said he would never walk again and then he was walking on his own in a year. I sat with family members who told me about all the things their rider was learning to do that the doctors said they would probably never be able to do. I love proving doctors wrong!
As I became more involved with Equine Assisted Services, and the scope of services kept expanding, I often heard, “We need more research, so Insurance will pay for these services, and we can develop best practices.” Finally in 2002, I brought together a group in Arizona to find a solution for promoting research. The outcome was to start a Foundation that awards grants for research; put the money out there and research will come. From the start we believed in serving all the groups that have anything to do with horses.
In 2003, KC Henry asked me if I was ready to start the Foundation. Under her guidance the Horses and Humans Research Foundation began.
The mission then and now is “Through sustained investment in rigorous ethical research and educational initiatives, HHRF serves as a catalyst to advance global knowledge of horse-human interactions and their impact on the health and well-being of people and horses. (and other equines such as mules and donkeys was added a few years ago.) HHRF values care for the horse, accountability, respect, excellence and cultural competency.
Stay tuned for next month’s newsletter, where I’ll share how HHRF has grown, the challenges we’ve faced, and my vision for the future of horse-human research.
Growing HHRF and the Future of Horse-Human Healing
The early years of HHRF were very hard to raise money for research. Still is. People prefer to donate to programs and programs prefer people to donate to them. Our board was and still is very much a working board with one full time employee, the CEO, and one part time employee, Terry Boggs, who has been with us since day 1! We have all volunteers on Finance, Governance, Development, Education and Equine Wellbeing Committees.
I’ve always believed that when the time is right, the right person will show up. That person was Pebbles Turbeville who came to HHRF in 2020 as the Executive Director and is now the CEO. HHRF began to grow and expand. These days, the worldwide issue of social license to operate in the horse industry is in full swing with emphasis on research and a good life for horses. HHRF’s two favorite things.
So where do I see the industry going and what can HHRF do in the future?
1. The number of horses in the world is decreasing as land shrinks and various disciplines are being challenged on ethical grounds. I believe it is imperative that the world understand the healing power of the horse/human interaction. For me, coming from a physics and healing energy background, I believe that when there is a relationship between the horse and human based on mutual trust, the energy field shifts in both and sparks their intuitive healing powers. In the not-too-distant future, science will be able to prove this, or something like it, to explain healing and secure forever a primary place for horses in human society. And as importantly, change how the medical profession looks at health and healing.
2. HHRF and EAS programs must spread the message of healing with horses far and wide throughout all communities. I discovered this perspective from attending riders’ funerals and hearing from so many people about how much the horses meant to the rider. One young woman with Muscular Dystrophy told me she knew her disease was terminal and would I bring her horse to her funeral. Of course I did. The funeral home was on the cemetery property. The funeral director told me the woman specifically requested her horse lead the procession of the casket and mourners to the grave site. And so we did. As a volunteer, you know how important horses are to the rider and family. We often don’t fully appreciate the effect on the wider community.
3. As word spreads, EAS programs must adapt to become more sustainable and able to handle large volumes of people who will come to the horses for healing. We must embrace new ideas from horse management for their wellbeing, to new patterns of scheduling and the difficult problem of how long someone should stay in the program.
4. Research needs to involve more of the sciences working in collaboration. Nothing is ONE THING. There needs to be a broader approach to healing.
5. I’ve never felt that the “gold standard” of research from the pharmaceutical industry of randomized controlled trials that are double-blind and placebo-controlled, can adequately explain something as complicated as the horse/human interaction. My expectation is that someone will come up with a better and more accurate way to measure the interaction of two sentient beings rather than a human and a chemical.
So do the best you can until the research or others experience shows you a more effective and efficient way to do it. Then do it the new and better way for the good of the horses and the humans we serve.