We accomplish our vision and mission by developing curriculum in partnership with synergistic community programs and through offering equine psychotherapy. Equine psychotherapy is a collaborative effort between a horse, the client, and a therapist which primarily involves experiential ground exercises in a safety-conscious environment where clients learn the rules of horsemanship. During the process of teaching horsemanship, often issues that an individual struggles with present themselves, which provides an opportunity for intervention. Adele and Deborah McCormick, authors of Horse Sense and the Human Heart, have said it best: “We treat the teen’s relationship with the horse as living theater, wherein sooner or later his personal internal dynamics unfold.
The mission of Rocky Mountain Equi-Rhythm: Horses Balancing Hearts is to use the healing power of the horse-human relationship to assist at-risk populations in imagining, creating, and living lives of purpose, meaning, and achievement. Our vision is to enable people to develop and maintain right relationships with themselves—as body, mind, and spirit—and with their families, nature, and the community.
Our primary clients are at-risk youth and adults who have involvement in the Boulder County human services and education system. Youth participants in the program may come from a variety of settings including schools, juvenile justice, social services, and mental health and other non-profit entities. Participants with a history of cruelty to animals, sexual perpetrator behaviors, arson, or any aggressive or violent behaviors that involve use of weapons are not permitted in the program.
Additionally, a summer horse camp is sponsored by Rocky Mountain Equi-Rhythm as we believe that all children can benefit from working with horses. The focus for summer horse camp is on the equestrian tradition of riding and working with horses in combination with experiential exercises that focus on the human/equine relationship. Rocky Mountain Equi-Rhythm Summer Camp is available to all children in Boulder County and the surrounding communities.