Unbroken Equine-Facilitated Healing

01/29/2024

Did you know horses can engage in co-regulation just like humans can with each other? Breathing together, light touch, and using a soothing voice are all examples of ways we might help others emotionally regulate. Luna historically gets very anxious having her hooves trimmed by the farrier. Here I was doing my best to help her stay regulated by keeping my own nervous system regulated, and then sweet Penny joined in with her own supportive co-regulation. I’ll never tire of the way she rests her chin on my shoulder and breathes calmly 🥹❤️

11/12/2023

New year, same wonderful you (but perhaps looking for a little added emotional support 😉)! Unbroken will be launching this 6 week trauma-informed, connection and relationship-centered therapy group on a continual basis beginning in the new year. This group is open to all adults, but we are especially hoping to offer it to teachers, parents, mental health professionals, caretakers, or others who work with/care for kids and could use some support of their own. We had the chance to run this group for other mental health professionals this past spring and it was a great success - a wonderful experience for our clients, our human treatment team, and our horses alike! Exact starting dates are still TBD - we are currently trying to gauge interest and availability of potential clients. Please reach out to hadley@unbroken.org or laura@unbroken.org if you’re interested or would like more details on this program. And please feel free to share this flier with others in your networks!

10/30/2023

We’ve got a 3/4 Murray gray, 1/4 mini Jersey bull calf for sale! Very docile and would make a great little mower. Please DM if interested!

10/03/2023

We had such an awesome time today out at Pecan Creek Ranch! We had the opportunity to get a sneak peek at their new trauma-informed EAS curriculum and offer feedback, as well as connect with some truly wonderful other practitioners. It was such a great reminder that we are not alone in this equine therapy world, and that there is strong support available if we just work to keep up the connections ☺️ We hope this was only the first of many gatherings of this group. If you’re an equine-assisted services provider in the central Texas area and interested in joining future networking events like this, feel free to reach out to us and we’ll loop you in!

Rebecca and I were feeling so recharged and fulfilled after hosting a meeting/ focus group with some of the amazing EAS providers in our area. We are excited to do it again!

Posting the pic for posterity: The first photo from the first informal meeting of whatever this regional EAS provider network group ends up being named. Some people not pictured as they had to depart before we took it.

If you’re a Central TX EAS provider, and you want to be a part of our next meet up or part of this networking group, let us know. We all agreed we needed this time together and support from each other. Join us!

And if you end up purchasing our upcoming EAS curriculum, you’ll have these amazing people to thank for making it digestible and usable. They were all so incredibly diligent and gave us the most helpful feedback. We are GRATEFUL!

07/31/2023

We equip clients early on with some basic understanding of horse body language, as well as the “polite” way to go about introducing yourself to a horse. The first thing we do is offer what we call the “horsey handshake” - offering the back of your hand for the horse to sniff.

Horses get a great deal of information from scent, and they will remember an individual’s unique scent for their whole lives!

So it’s a great way to introduce yourself. Some horses, like Teddy, prefer to bypass the handshake and get a little more personal 😆

07/08/2023

And this is Part 2 😊

07/08/2023

Sharing this post from Healing with Horses Ranch, where I got my start in equine-assisted psychotherapy and built the experience which eventually paved the way for starting Unbroken ☺️ The audio in this is from a piece I wrote a few years ago while working there, explaining a little about equine therapy and why it’s so impactful in working with both trauma and addiction. 🩵

06/01/2023

Today we wrapped up what was an absolutely transformative and amazing first 6-week “Equine Therapy for Therapists” group. A lot to reflect on, a lot to process both with and about the horses and all they’ve taught us in their presence. Sitting with that bittersweet feeling of goodbyes with others you’ve connected with, and feeling grateful for the opportunity to know them. There was a lot of reflecting today on the questions “Do horses really feel? Do they feel joy? Do they grieve a loss?” And the best answer we could offer was “take the time to watch them and see for yourself if you recognize any familiar emotions in them.” Because the clients in this group were present in a session when Prince began to get sick and witnessed the beginning of that difficult ordeal, we closed our final session today by inviting them to help us scatter Prince’s ashes in his field, among his herd. We watched first as Herc stood unmoving by his old friend Prince and, as horses always seem to do in their own way, answered our questions.

05/31/2023

Calling all teachers, school counselors, and other mental health professionals who work with kids! As the adults who pour your energy into supporting the children of our community (during some very challenging times in our country, no less), you are probably well aware that it's all too easy to neglect your own support and self care. Unbroken is offering a unique opportunity for those looking to invest in their own self care and growth. Beginning June 22 we will be starting a 6 week equine-assisted therapy program for teachers and others who work with kids in a healing, educating or caretaking capacity. We invite you to experience the healing power of the horse-human relationship and how it can translate into a deeper, healthier connection with the people in your life as well as with yourself. More details in the flyer below. We would be very grateful if you would kindly share this flyer with any individuals or organizations in the Austin and surrounding areas that you think would be interested in an opportunity like this. We hope to see you out in the pasture soon! 🐎

**Shout out to Sagamore Fence & Deck for very kindly contributing to funding for this program, allowing us to lower the cost from our usual group rate and hopefully make it a little more accessible! 🙏🏼 We are always looking for ways to make our services more affordable for those who need them (while still keeping our horses fed!), so we also welcome any suggestions for funding sources you know of, in the school system or otherwise, that go toward enrichment and support of school faculty/staff or mental health professionals. We would love to speak with them 😊

05/19/2023

We loved making new community connections at the Whole Child Annual Mental Health Fair at tonight! Thank you for having us! Perhaps next time we’ll iron our table cloth 🙃

05/09/2023

We are looking forward to building more connections with other amazing local mental health agencies at the Whole Child Mental Health Fair this coming Monday! “Healing & Connection” are right up our alley, after all 😉. If you’re in the Manor area and curious to learn more about us, come pay our table a visit at Manor High School Monday night!

05/08/2023

Our website got a MUCH needed makeover, complete with long overdue updates and photos of the exciting developments over the last year! Swing by www.unbroken.org to catch up on what’s been going on round here! 🤗