Pilbara Heart Horses

What the horses do,
how the horses make us feel.

Yaandina Community Services

Where I disappear ever 3 months.

Immersive learning with such powerfully attuned women!

Grateful to my husband and family for holding the fort in Karratha.

Connected… to the country, to the horses.
The story told, in 4 beautiful photos. Yaandina Community Services

📸 Wickham & Karratha Family Photographer

Yarning in the garden…

Today is National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Children’s Day, a day to celebrate the strength, pride and the unwavering potential of the next generation of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander leaders.

The focus this year is on Living Our Truth which recognises the importance of truth-telling as a foundation for identity, belonging and cultural strength.

Truth-telling is also the starting point for finding solutions to the challenges still faced by Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander children and their families, such as intergenerational trauma, racism and systemic inequality.

At HOPE we support solutions that are that led by Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander communities, grounded in culture and support children to remain connected to kin, community and Country.



SNAICC-National Voice for our Children

Apparently it is Equine Assisted Services Day 🐴💛 Ill have to pop this one in my calender..

So, naturally, we had to get involved.

“Equine assisted services” is a big umbrella term. Underneath it sit lots of different approaches, including:

🐴 Equine assisted learning
🐴 Equine assisted coaching
🐴 Equine wellbeing coaching
🐴 Equine assisted counselling and psychotherapy
🐴 Therapeutic riding
🐴 Personal development and emotional wellbeing work

They are not all the same, and they should not all be presented as though they are.

Different services need different training, boundaries, qualifications and levels of responsibility.

At Equimotional, our approach is equine wellbeing coaching.

That means we support people to explore things such as:

💛 Emotional awareness
💛 Confidence and self-belief
💛 Relationships and communication
💛 Boundaries
💛 Coping strategies
💛 Self-awareness
💛 Resilience
💛 Connection

We work in a trauma-informed, strengths-based and non-pathologising way.

We do not diagnose people.

We do not pretend horses have magical powers.

We do not place responsibility for someone’s healing onto the horse.

The horse is a partner in the experience.

They can help create opportunities for reflection, curiosity, connection, choice and learning. Sometimes that might look like a carefully planned activity. Sometimes it might be a quiet moment at the field gate. Sometimes it might be realising that the horse has wandered off because your carefully prepared session plan was apparently not on their agenda 😂

The value comes from the relationship, the environment, the practitioner’s skill and the meaning the person takes from the experience.

For us, good equine assisted work should always include:

🐴 Clear boundaries
🐴 Honest claims
🐴 Consent and choice
🐴 Safeguarding
🐴 Horse welfare
🐴 Appropriate training
🐴 Respect for the person in front of us

So, happy Equine Assisted Services Day from all of us at Equimotional to all the clients , horses & facilitators!

Many approaches.

Many possibilities.

And always, horses as partners, not therapists. 💛🐴

Love Charlie & Flick

The horses they can hear,
the horses they touch our hearts.

It’s winter in the garden,
the soft sun touches our face,
we share moments that bring back
long lost memories.

We yarn together,
we stand a little longer,
we feel a little deeper
today.

We wander the winding pathway,
partnered with hoofs of hope,
we discover emotions stirring inside
that we can share,
without a word.

The horses they can hear,
the horses they touch our hearts.

Yaandina Community Services
Written by Faime Chappell
Photo credit Wickham & Karratha Family Photographer

https://www.ngaardamedia.com.au/news/roebourne-gathers-at-old-reserve-to-honour-elders-birthday?fbclid=IwZnRzaASzCOdwZG9mAWZkaWQWUJwA8TmZ0kHvVTg2IVpTFb0pf6Jo6mV4dG4DYWVtAjExAHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR6j2w-lwtWqfTxKdAYV6ZEnCSYmtbW4aaIFXwDT9Jrx0DQvbFxgfh2ItPZqZQ_aem_BTXyM5XaGEWhlddu3VoI0A

Roebourne gathers at Old Reserve to honour, respect Elders’ Birthday — Ngaarda Media It was all smiles at Old People’s Birthday at the Old Reserve in Roebourne on Wednesday - a day dedicated to celebrating our Elders and their contribution to community.