Equine Therapy

by **Falcon** Sun 01 Jul 2018, 9:03 pm

IAN FAIRCLOUGH THE CHRONICLE HERALD

Published July 1, 2018

The passion and enjoyment of fishing came about after attending a retreat for veterans in 2013, with a gift that creates peace and relaxation within one self. Lures for Vets was created after receiving supplies as a Christmas gift to create harnesses and spinners instead of purchasing from retailer. We have since started doing outreach packages to other Veterans & First Responders as a way of sharing the gift of connecting, healing & relaxation through recreational fishing and connecting with others that understand and want to understand, acknowledging all that was witnessed during their service to community and country.

Worm Harnesses, Inline Spinners, Jigs, Drop Shot Rigs, Casting & Trolling Spoons and Striped Bass Rigs that are created by hand. 10 % of every piece sold goes forward to organizations that help the injured / ill veterans and first responders. I am grateful for the opportunity to have participated in such an event 2013, it has been a catalyst to connecting with many other organizations that help our injured / ill veterans and first responders throughout Canada. Through all of this, it has proven to be a gift of reconnecting through fishing but has provided me with connections that I can call during the rough days.

Lures For Vets

by Covert Tue 26 Apr 2022, 7:37 am

‘Giving us a voice’: Feds support N.S. equine therapy program for female veterans

By Ashley Field . Global News
Posted April 25, 2022

As the spotlight remains on misconduct against women in the Canadian military, one female veteran says not enough is being done to help women survivors heal once they leave.

“We haven’t really talked a lot about what happens when you’re done. What happens when that time is over and you’re no longer in that system? And the legacy of that continues,” says Michelle MacIsaac, who served in the Canadian Armed Forces as a social work officer from 2004 to 2009, when she was medically released with post-traumatic stress disorder.

She says she jumped right back into work, adding she “kept pushing but her world kept shrinking.” She says the transition to civilian life was isolating and she didn’t know where to turn.

“There was an obvious gap for a place or a group that understood how women’s experiences in the military might be different from their male counterparts,” MacIsaac says.

“There’s nothing that I’m aware of in our Atlantic region that’s specifically tailored toward women veterans.”

That’s why MacIsaac turned to the Free Spirit Therapeutic Riding Association to create Spirit, equine-assisted psychotherapy sessions specifically for female veterans.

“Horses, I think, create a safe container, if that makes sense,” MacIsaac says.

“There’s this sense of safety and protection.”

The first-ever sessions ran last year for a group of 16 women.

“By the end, they were taking charge and leading the horses around and tackling obstacles head-on. It was just impressive to see the amount of growth in such a short period of time,” says Alissa Cue, an equine specialist with the association and the owner of Rohan Woods Stables in Aylesford, N.S., where the sessions take place.

Cue has been offering equine-wellness programming at her stables since 2012. She says that not only can horses make people feel safe and secure, but they can also improve one’s communication and leadership skills.

“They accept us as we come through the door,” she says of the horses.

“They’re very calming, they know what we need. They crave interaction and relationship, like we as humans do.”

Stephanie Townsend, an equine-supported wellness facilitator with the program, says it was incredible to see the mental and emotional change of participants by the end.

“We really, therapeutically, ended up seeing a reduction in symptoms that they had presented with,” Townsend says.

Anxiety is reduced and sleep improves, shd says. “And then what was really exciting too was some sustained relationships that came out of that.”

Last year’s program proved so successful that Veterans Affairs Canada granted the Free Spirit Therapeutic Riding Association $90,000 to offer the program once again. Registrations are now open for the 18-month program, which begins in mid-May for a group of up to 64 female veterans from western Nova Scotia.

“I think it’s a huge success to get this kind of recognition in a rural area and working with an all women’s group,” Cue says.

As for MacIsaac, she says the funding served as validation.

“It was like giving us a voice. One of the toughest parts of making that transition, or even when I served, was feeling like I didn’t have a voice,” she says.

“So this was validating the need, validating that women in our community could offer this program and support one another. And validating that there’s a huge gap.”

The hope is to continue to offer Spirit beyond this next session. She hopes to build a community, something that she says is so important in the healing process.

“We have capacity to heal with one another. We have strength. So we can talk about women in the military as victims, and we can also talk about the incredible strength we have to be able to survive and stand on our own two feet and carry on,” MacIsaac says.

“And I think we have an invaluable skill to share with one another.”

Global News

by **Joker** Mon 20 Jun 2022, 7:31 pm

Equine PTSD therapy program to expand

Published June 20, 2022

Equine Therapy Laurence-kettlewell--and-nicki-armstrong-pine-lake-1-5955279-1655760007552

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