Stable Heart LLC

04/21/2026

Friends! We still need your help getting references for a VA Grant we are applying for. What this grant will allow us to provide for eligible veterans and service members:

✨FREE LOCAL EQUINE THERAPY SERVICES
✨Individual therapy without a waitlist!
✨Group therapy with other veterans
✨Transportation reimbursement
✨Supplies for groundwork/activities
✨Property expenses/upkeep
✨Horse supplies, vet bills, feed, adaptive tack, etc.
✨and so much more!

We are located on the line of Humboldt and Kossuth County, Iowa and will serve Veterans and service members throughout North Central Iowa.

We are aiming to impact 30 veterans once we receive this grant. Once we get approved for it, we can easily apply for it again next year to impact EVEN MORE veterans.

WHAT WE NEED:

⭐️ References that make our grant application POP

⭐️FROM: People who reach veterans. We need people to refer veterans to us to show we can take advantage of this grant.

THINK - County Veterans Affairs offices, local mental health providers, Veterans themselves or family members of veterans, leaders of veteran community organizations

⭐️ Please SHARE and send this to someone you know would be a great voice to send to these officials.

⭐️ I can provide a fact sheet and other info as well as an easy fillable template but free styling it is also an option!

I want nothing more than to give back to my fellow brothers and sisters in arms, past and present. The deadline for submission is fast approaching. Please send people my way. ❤️

04/17/2026

🐴 What actually happens in an equine-assisted therapy session?

One of the biggest questions parents ask is: “What will my child be doing?”

Every session is tailored to your child’s needs, goals, and comfort level—but sessions often include things like:

✨ Grooming and connecting with the horse
✨ Ground-based activities that build confidence and communication
✨ Practicing coping skills and emotional regulation
✨ Learning boundaries, trust, and problem-solving
✨ Processing feelings in a calm, outdoor setting
✨ Guided therapeutic activities with a licensed therapist

Many sessions are done on the ground and do not require riding experience. The focus is not horsemanship—it’s healing, growth, and emotional wellness.

For some children, talking face-to-face in an office feels hard. Working alongside a horse can make therapy feel safer, more natural, and more engaging.

If you’re wondering whether your child would be a good fit, feel free to message me. I’m happy to answer questions. 💛

📍 Located in Lu Verne, Iowa
📩 Message me to learn more

04/16/2026

💛 When a child is struggling, parents will do anything to help. But sometimes traditional office therapy just doesn’t feel like the right fit.

That’s where equine-assisted therapy can be different.

For many kids and teens, being outdoors, moving, and connecting with horses creates a space where they feel safer, calmer, and more willing to open up. Therapy can feel less intimidating—and more natural.

Equine-assisted therapy may help with:
✨ Anxiety & stress
✨ Emotional regulation
✨ Confidence & self-esteem
✨ ADHD & focus
✨ Social skills
✨ Grief & life changes
✨ Trauma & difficult experiences

Many parents ask about cost, so I want to be transparent: your session fee supports more than the hour you see. It includes professional mental health care, treatment planning, a safe and private setting, and the daily care of our therapy horses—their feed, veterinary care, farrier visits, and wellbeing.

Our horses are deeply cared for partners in this process, not props. Their calm presence can help children practice trust, confidence, boundaries, and coping skills in ways that often feel meaningful and lasting.

If your child hasn’t connected with traditional therapy—or you’re looking for a different kind of support—I’d love to talk with you about whether this could be a good fit for your family.

📍 Located in Lu Verne, Iowa
📩 Message me to learn more or ask questions

04/14/2026

✨ Hi, I’m Marissa… and I created something different because I believe healing doesn’t always happen within four office walls.

I’m a Licensed Independent Social Worker (LISW), therapist, and the heart behind Stable Heart. My passion has always been helping people heal, grow, and reconnect with themselves—but I’ve also seen that many people need more than a traditional office setting to truly feel safe, grounded, and open.

So I followed a dream of combining mental health therapy with the calming, powerful presence of horses. 🐎

What started as a vision has become a space where children, teens, adults, families, and veterans can come to slow down, breathe, and experience therapy in a way that feels natural, supportive, and deeply meaningful.

⸻

🌿 At Stable Heart, I offer equine-assisted psychotherapy and mental health services designed to meet people where they are.

Because healing can happen in conversation… but it can also happen while standing beside a horse, learning to regulate emotions, building confidence, practicing boundaries, or simply feeling present in the moment.

Sometimes the most important breakthroughs happen outside.

⸻

💫 If you (or someone you love) have been feeling:
• anxious or overwhelmed
• stuck in stress or survival mode
• disconnected from yourself
• emotionally exhausted
• struggling with confidence or relationships
• like traditional therapy just hasn’t felt like the right fit

You are not alone. There is another way. 🤍

⸻

✨ I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation to see if equine therapy may be a good fit for you or your family. No pressure—just a conversation.

📍 Lu Verne, Iowa
🐎 In-person equine sessions available
⌛️No wait-list!

⸻

Grounded healing. Honest connection. Hope in motion. 🌿

Stable Heart LLC
Marissa Larson, LISW

04/09/2026

❤️

There’s a common misconception about partnering with horses in therapy. People often think that somehow, the horse does the healing.

But horses aren’t magic fixers. They don’t “solve” us, correct us, or make our pain disappear.

What they do is something far more powerful. They invite us into relationship. A relationship where nothing is hidden. Where what’s happening inside of us shows up in real time. Where there’s no pretending, no performing, just honesty.

And in that space things can be beautiful and things can get messy.

There are moments of deep connection with the horse where people begin to experience what it feels like to be seen, heard, and responded to in a way that feels safe and real.

And there are moments of rupture: misattunement, frustration, disconnect.

But it’s in the repair, in choosing to stay, to soften, to reconnect, that something begins to shift. Not because the horse “fixed” anything, but because, in relationship, we experienced something different, something that happens in healthy relationships.

It’s something real, something embodied, something that can go deeper than words.

For clients, this can be the first time connection feels safe. For practitioners, it’s a reminder that healing doesn’t come from doing more, but from being with.

The horse doesn’t fix.
The relationship transforms.

04/09/2026

If your 4-H group wants me to come do a presentation or if you want to plan an evening at the farm let me know!

04/01/2026

Marissa has completed specialized training in Rhythmic Riding through Natural Lifemanship. It is truly a life changing and healing experience gaining the trust of a 1,000+ pound animal and allowing yourself to relax eyes closed on horse back to regulate your nervous system. If you are ready to take the leap reach out to us! ❤️

Educational Monday

Why does rhythm help us feel calm?

Rhythmic, patterned, repetitive input (often called RPR input) plays a powerful role in regulating the nervous system. This type of input is structured, predictable, and consistent—and those qualities are exactly what the brain and body look for when trying to determine if we are safe.

Our nervous system is constantly scanning for cues of safety or threat. When experiences feel chaotic, unpredictable, or overwhelming, the system can shift into protection (fight, flight, freeze). In these states, reasoning and problem-solving take a back seat to survival.

This is where rhythm comes in.

Rhythmic, Repetitive, predictable patterns—like steady walking, rocking, or slow breathing—provide sensory input that is organized and consistent. This helps the brain process information more efficiently and sends signals that the environment is stable. As a result, the nervous system can begin to downshift out of survival states and move toward regulation.

From a physiological perspective, rhythmic input:
• Supports regulation of the autonomic nervous system
• Can help decrease heart rate and muscle tension
• Promotes more organized brain-body communication
• Provides a bottom-up pathway to calming (body first, then mind)

This is why practices like:
– Walking at a steady pace
– Brushing or grooming a horse in even, repetitive strokes
– Rocking, swinging, or gentle bouncing
– Breathing in slow, consistent patterns

are often so effective. They are not just “calming activities”—they are experiences that help the nervous system re-establish predictability and safety.

Over time, repeated exposure to rhythmic, patterned input can increase the nervous system’s flexibility—making it easier to return to a regulated state after stress.

In other words, rhythm doesn’t just soothe in the moment—it helps build the capacity for regulation.

03/30/2026

03/24/2026

Love Tim and Tanner. They are so rich in knowledge in this work.

Safety matters. Yet the way we create safety can sometimes place pressure on the very horses we depend on.

What if there was a way to create safer sessions while also supporting the long-term wellbeing of our horses?

Join Tim Jobe and Tanner Jobe for a conversation about Connected Horsemanship and the role horse brain development plays in creating safer, more sustainable equine-assisted work.

Explore the idea of safety that grows through relationship. Register for the webinar → www.naturallifemanship.com/webinars

03/19/2026

Hello everyone! We welcomed a sweet new addition to our farm a couple of weeks ago. We are anticipating being back up and running part-time in about 2 weeks from now as long as weather cooperates. Please reach out in the meantime time if you have any questions!

03/19/2026

❤️

Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Wednesday

This post picks up from Saturday. The quest continues…

Team member: “You want to understand why he left the food and came to you.” The team member pauses. “Can you ask him?”

The client cuts their eyes toward the team member then the horse standing next to them. The horse draws in a deep breath then lets it out. The client raises their head and looks more closely at the horse. After a few minutes the client places their hand on the horse’s neck. When the horse does not move away, the client leans in toward the horse and places their shoulder next to the horse’s shoulder. The horse shifts their weight toward the client, leaning in more.

The therapy team waits.

After a while the client speaks. “No one has wanted me before.”

Team member waits to see if the client will say more, but the client has gone silent. The team member replies, “You feel wanted.”

The client wipes their face with their sleeve then says, “Why does he want me?”

Team member: “You really want to know why he wants you.”

The client nods ever so slightly.

Team member: “It’s really hard for you to see it.”

Client looks up, “See what?”

Team member: “See why he wants you. Why he choose you.”

Client shrugs, “He could have anybody.”

Team member: “I suppose so, but he chose you.”

Client: “What if he is wrong?”

Team member: “Wrong about what?”

Client looks down at the ground and mumbles, “Me.”

Team member: ““Are you wondering what might happen if you disappoint him?”

Client nods.

Team member: “What do you think will happen?”

Client: “He will leave.”

Team member: “You are really concerned that if you disappoint him, he will leave.”

Client kicks at the dirt. The therapy team feels the client’s nervous system shifting.

Team member: “Let’s walk.” The other team member asks the horse to follow. The horse walks next to the client as they all walk around the pasture. After a few minutes the client places their hand on the horse’s neck as the walk.

Team member: “I have a weird question. If this horse does something that disappoints you, will you choose a different horse?”

Client looks over at the horse. “No. Everyone makes mistakes.”

Team member: “Is it possible your horse feels the same about you?”

Client: “I guess. But why would he?”

Team member: “I think only he can answer that. Are you willing to give him time to give you an answer?”

Client: “You think he will answer?”

Team member: “I do. It won’t be in words, but he will answer.”

Healing attachment wounds takes time and a willingness from the therapy team to hold the pain while “holding” the client. This looks like allowing the client to be in the painful moment, while the team is one hundred percent present and regulated and at times providing rhythmic, patterned, repetitive input. Their presence and openness as well as the rhythmic input they provide gives the client comfort while allowing the client to move in and out of their experience.

This is hard work. As humans who got into the field to eleviate pain, sometimes holding the pain and being present feels inadquate. When there is immense pain, we want to take it away, rescue the person from it, but doing this can have unintended consequences. For instance, if the therapy team tried to rescue the client, they could inadvertently tell the client that the pain is too much for them. In response the client would either hide their pain going forward or stop therapy.

Attachment wounds or imbalances in safe haven and secure base as we like to refer to them, heal in relationships. That can be relationships with people such as the therapy team or witih a horse or both. In this example, the client being chosen by the horse activated the imbalance and it also began the journey of healing it.

02/02/2026

Hello again everyone! I am in the process of applying for the VA Adaptive Sports Grant for their Equine Services specific grant. I am in need of letters of support from referral partners who would be willing to vouch we need something like this in our community for veterans.

Who I’m looking for: VFW/American Legion leaders, DAV, veteran peer groups, community veteran organizations, mental health clinicians who have vets on their caseload, etc.

What I need: Someone willing to fill out a simple template email I have made and send it back.

How this will benefit veterans: this will allow me to provide free or reduced equine therapy sessions to struggling veterans, more group meet-ups, group therapy, etc.

If you have an idea of who I can contact please let me know. If you fit one of these categories and are interested please reach out to me and I will be happy to discuss it more with you! Please share and help me get these services to a much needed demographic! ❤️🇺🇸