Healing with horse power

Racing Hearts is an Equine Assisted Therapies organisation comprising of a dedicated group of mental health practitioners, volunteers, and former racehorses helping children and adults overcome various life challenges.

Lisa Coffey, owner of Racing Hearts and current ambassador for Racing Victoria’s Off the Track Program, discusses how her passion helps others. ‘We're a registered charity with a fabulous group of qualified mental health professionals, who integrate retired racehorses into their therapeutic and evidence-based interventions to provide mental health support to people in the community,’ Lisa explains. ‘This field is known as Equine Assisted Therapy, which emerged around a decade ago. It has a large variety of applications, with more and more research about its efficacy being published. We see approximately 250 clients a week and try to retrain around 50 retired racehorses per year from our Mornington Peninsula base. We're about to expand to another property in Pakenham, where we hope to at least double those numbers. ‘Each session is planned around the client’s specific challenges and needs. Even though most clients have no experience with horses, they often tend to bond very quickly,’ Lisa continues. 'Research has shown that when we are in contact with animals, our bodies release feel-good and relaxation hormones such as oxytocin, serotonin, and dopamine, which will often help the client relax and open up about their challenges. It’s a very cool body hack for a therapist to work with. Horses can also evoke many emotions within the client – and when these present themselves, the therapist can then work on them with the client as per a traditional room-based therapy session.

‘We take care to pair each client with the right horse; sometimes, clients choose and approach a horse; at other times, a horse will approach and stand next to a client. Many people give feedback of love and genuine acceptance because another living being indicates they want to be with them for no gain other than to be in their presence. This kind of non-judgemental relationship is very often something many people are missing in their lives with people. ‘The horses’ behaviour with clients is incredible and often unexpected – some horses lie down in front of clients, while others stand still for an entire hour with them. We know our horses intimately, because they have to be safe with people who don’t always know when they are putting themselves in a potentially dangerous situation. ‘Horses also offer an escape from the pressures of judgement,’ adds Lisa. ‘While it’s natural for humans to judge others, horses only care whether they feel safe with you or not. Retired racehorses are particularly suitable for this kind of therapy assistant role, because they are very alert and aware of people and highly present with each client. Based on some of the ways I have witnessed the horses behave with clients, I firmly believe horses can read things about us that we are never going to be able to discover or measure. Whether it's intricate body language that we might not even recognise ourselves or something else, they are highly attuned animals. ‘Anxiety is a common challenge that many of our clients present with, which is often derived from untrue thoughts that generate negative physical sensations and emotions. By contrast, the horses live entirely in the present. Lacking the ability to plan or worry about the future, they’re far more aware of their bodily sensations, which helps us teach people to decipher what messages their body is trying to give them. We call it "feelings as information", and promote the horses' natural way of being present as a model of healthy behaviour, including clear communication and healthy and safe boundaries. Modelling healthy horse behaviour is also highly effective for neurodivergent clients, who often struggle to engage in a neurotypical world.' Above all, Equine Assisted Therapy helps people engage with their community and form meaningful relationships. ‘Often, a person who has experienced trauma will be repeatedly drawn to unsafe situations or relationships,’ Lisa explains. ‘People develop patterns of behaviour in childhood based on their need for safety or survival, but these patterns are often maladaptive in adulthood. ‘To rectify this, we work closely with those old patterns to better understand how they originally served the client. We then help them understand that the pattern no longer fits, which involves acknowledging the need to form healthier patterns suitable for adult relationships. Through repetition of the new behaviour, the client forms new synapses in their brain and the behaviour becomes a habit and not a forced intention.

‘People come to us with a broad range of challenges, and we help them learn to survive independently as quickly as possible. We run many individual and group programs including a VCAL program for disengaged secondary school teens, many of whom are couch-surfing or homeless, to help them with their mental health and general life challenges and give them the skills to gain meaningful employment. We also see 14 school groups per week from the local Peninsula area and travel further afield with the horses to schools who cannot come to us. Our Awesome Autism program runs every Saturday; it sees approximately 40 children on the Autism Spectrum engage with the horses and learn important life skills. 'Just as we are passionate about helping people, we are just as dedicated to retraining retired racehorses and finding them new homes post-racing. Equine welfare is at the forefront of our business strategy, and we work closely with many stables to assist them and their owners when making the transition into retirement and a new life path. We are very proud to lead the way in this space, with key novel welfare initiatives run through our business.'

Lisa’s interests are a perfect fit for her chosen path. ‘I’ve worked with racehorses since my teens. After qualifying as a counsellor in Ireland, I studied psychology at Monash University when I arrived in Australia. I then attended the Equine Psychotherapy Institute at Daylesford, qualifying as an Equine Assisted Psychotherapist. My life goal is to help as many people and retired racehorses as possible, so to be able to merge the two is incredibly special to me.' As a lover of racehorses, it might not be surprising that Lisa also adores Porsches. ‘I’ve always been drawn to racehorses for their speed, their stamina, their sleek beauty, and their power. A lot of parallels there to what attracts me to a Porsche!

‘On the other hand, if I could drive a fast car every day, I would,’ she quips. ‘I’m always drawn to powerful cars, which is most likely where my love of Porsches began. When I lived in Ireland, I had a 911 which I deeply loved driving; it was a sad day when I had to sell it before coming to Australia!’ We hope Lisa has the chance to step back into an automotive thoroughbred very soon. • To find out more about the vital work done by Racing Hearts, visit www.racinghearts.com.au