Photo courtesy of Nicole Perry
Lasell Jaretzki Bartlett Class of 1966
The Ride of her Life
C O N C O R D A C A D E M Y M A G A Z I N E FA L L 2 0 1 2
hen she was recovering from breast cancer sixteen years ago, Lasell Jaretzki Bartlett ’66 discovered something she had known intuitively ever since childhood: being around horses is therapeutically beneficial. At the time, interest in the idea of incorporating horsemanship into physical rehabilitation regimens was growing in the field of physical therapy. But as a licensed clinical social worker, Bartlett was as interested in the mental and emotional benefits to be gained from the presence of animals as the physical benefits. For years, she mulled it over. Sustaining the energy and motivation required to be a successful social worker is challenging enough; developing a program that included horsemanship would be a lot of work, as she was well aware. But more than a decade later, Bartlett is finally seeing this long-held dream come to fruition, combining her mental health and therapeutic riding professions at High Horses in Norwich, Vermont, a professional organization dedicated to improving the well-being of people with a wide variety of special needs. “Working with riders at High Horses has been an ideal way to combine my interest in horses with my passion for helping people who have mental health issues,” she said. “Therapeutic riding can be effective for any disabilities or challenges at all.” Bartlett, who started riding when she was seven years old, worked together with the executive director of High Horses to develop a mental health program. Recently she has been particularly successful in collaboration with a local agency geared toward female victims of sexual and domestic violence. “It’s a collaborative support group,” Bartlett explained. “Each week, we start by having all the participants check in, just talk about themselves and how the week has gone for them. Then we spend time with the horses. We ask the women to observe and discuss horse behavior, and then they make their own choices about how much contact they want. They are welcome to approach the animals, touch them, groom them, lead them around the riding ring, or actually ride them. The emphasis is on choice; each person finds her own comfort level with the horses.” For example, Bartlett said, some participants may find it therapeutic to walk around the ring with a horse but not actually to ride it. “We have well-trained horses with calm temperaments and volunteers specially trained to lead horses or walk alongside them, helping support the group 36
“There is a built-in kind of peace that can come with being close to horses.”
members. Then the women say goodbye to the horses and gather together to talk about what they learned and experienced during the session.” To Bartlett, the connection between mental health and contact with horses comes naturally. “In my early teen years, having a horse meant having a mental health partner in my life. Now, as a licensed mental health professional, I understand that in order to be mentally healthy, there’s a need for strength and balance and confidence and competence: physically, emotionally, and intellectually. If a person can gain confidence and strength and balance while riding a horse, it will automatically transfer to other areas of their lives.” Moreover, said Bartlett, the benefits her clients experience extend beyond the sessions at the farm. “On the one hand, they can come have a great time for an hour and feel like it’s a successful approach, but if they’re not also doing something to bring that feeling of success to the rest of their lives, I feel like I’ve failed.” The bottom line, said Bartlett, is that feeling comfortable around horses can translate into feeling comfortable in other aspects of life. “Horses are scary for a lot of people,” she said. “That’s a good thing; we should be a little scared of horses. They’re quick and big and heavy. But managing fear is one aspect of moving into functioning after being traumatized. There is a built-in kind of peace that can come with being close to horses. What we’re doing in this program is simply making some meaning out of what we already know intuitively about these animals.”