IN THE COMMUNITY
HOOVES & HEARTS Spirit Winds Ranch offers horse-powered connections to the people who need them the most. B Y J E N N W E B ST E R • PH OT O S PR OV I DE D B Y L AU R E L G R I F F I N
Spirit Winds Ranch near Cochrane, AB is a non-riding facility that focuses on connecting people with horses from the ground. They provide individuals the opportunity to relate to equines without ever having to own one. The ranch specializes in Equine Assisted Learning (EAL), which is a hands-on, learning-based approach to explore individual and team growth. Students and horses are taken through a collaborative series of exercises to explore problem-solving. Students often include at-risk youth, or members of corporations looking to strengthen themselves as a team. The exercises utilized at Spirit Winds are designed to encourage self-confidence and strengthen communication, and as owner Laurel Griffin states, “Our mantra is to create a place of healing that is built on the powerful, spiritual connection between horse and human.” Originally a Pregnant Mare Urine (PMU) operation in the 1990s with over 250 head of horses, Griffin decided to change her course in 2014. “There were a number of kids in the Cochrane, AB area in 8
ALBERTA BITS I SUMMER 2019
2014 who committed suicide. It changed the trajectory of my life and my life with horses. I knew what it meant to have a connection with a horse. And I wanted to do something to help my community,” she states. Around the same time, Griffin also came upon an article that featured the top 10 horse courses to take for connecting horses and humans from the ground. “At my age, I currently don’t have the same energy for equine competition I once used to. But I was riding before I could walk and then there was my involvement in Pony Club. I had ridden with Debbie Garside and Gail Ross,” Griffin recounts. “With my background and knowledge, there were so many things I could offer to my community.” In early 2014, Griffin took a course in Saskatchewan at Cartier Farms, which offered the original creation of an awardwinning, research-based EAL Building Block (™) Certification Program. Having scaled her herd back to three horses in the early 2000s, she went looking for horses that could handle the program.