Horse Wise

The wisdom of resilience, emotional understanding,  true connection, and social confidence – straight from the horse's mouth.

Offered in partnership with the Devon Recovery Learning Community.

Tutors: Marie Free & Danuta Karpinska

FREE Entry – Open to everyone age 18+ 

Course of 5 weekly classes, Booking is for all 5 sessions:

Dates: Tuesdays on Sept 12th, 19th, 26th and Oct 3rd & 10th  2023

Time: 2pm to 5pm

Location: Horse & Heart, Teign Valley, Dartmoor

Classes are offered to people with experience of mental health  difficulties, their family and friends, and the professionals who  support them.

Come and learn what your emotions are about, and how to truly find  resilience and recovery within yourself through the wisdom of horses.

Animals have got an innate instinct for resilience and recovery and  by learning from them we can discover an amazing skill set to help us on  our own journeys.

What do our feelings mean and what are we supposed do about them?  Animals teach us that there is a reason and a place for everyone and for  every feeling, and they show us how it all fits. Animals also hold a  completely non judgemental, loving space and enable everyone to be  exactly as they are: many people find it easier to open their hearts to  animals than to other people.

Through connecting with the horses of the Horse & Heart herd  and through guided exercises and games for awareness, this course will  enable you to find and explore your own potential for emotional  intelligence, empathy, resilience, positive leadership, and co-creation  through play: a toolkit for recovery.

Surrounded by the love of horses, this is a gentle approach with no  expectation to achieve anything, and you will not be pushed to interact  with the horses more than you wish to. Whether you would like to play  with a horse at Liberty or would simply like to watch from a safe  distance, you will learn skills that will be valuable to you for the  rest of your life. It is also a great space to get over a fear of  horses!

Everyone is welcome, no particular experience required, and no need to be “horsey”.

* There may be a possibility to carry on for another 5 sessions of further learning at the end of this course if there are enough students to make a group.

The tutors

The Horse & Heart horses have many years of experience of working with vulnerable people, and they have facilitated the most extraordinary results in people's recovery, confidence and re-building of self, as well as teaching skills to create social bonds in the community.

Marie  is a qualified and experienced Holistic Horsemanship instructor and recovery practitioner. She has dedicated her life to bringing the wisdom of horses into  the hearts of people, and her passion is to share the skills of self-empowerment and resilience that horses teach.  She has been leading groups for many years with love and care, always in an  atmosphere of acceptance, inclusion and relaxed fun infused with deep  heart-learning.

Danuta has been co-tutoring DRLC courses with Marie for a while now, and she is an honorary member of Horse & Heart. Her background as a yoga teacher and her interests in Nature and ancient connections bring a lot of wisdom to her guidance of students, and she holds a gentle and compassionate space for all.

Students 

Please note:

Students must sign up for the 5 sessions of the course. If you miss  the 1st session, you will not be able to join the group afterwards. There are only 6 places on this course so please only book if you are fully  committed. 😊

Students must have their own transport and bring their own packed lunch / snacks. 

All info and directions given upon booking. 

This event takes place outdoors, with access to a toilet and shelter in a barn. 

Sadly we do not have an easy access loo yet, but we're working on it – watch this space! 

To book your place please click here and you will receive all info & directions by email.

See this course on the DRLC website – click here.