Healing In Harmony: Harmony Acres Equestrian Center

When Stacy Mendell’s clients meet her for therapy sessions at Harmony Acres Equestrian Center, they’re welcomed by a crowd of hooved therapeutic assistants. Mendell is an animal-assisted therapist who uses horses and other animals at Harmony Acres to heal clients through the power of human-animal bonds.

“Our mission is to create a place where people and animals come together for the purpose of healing, so our vision has really been to create an animal-assisted therapy center that serves the entire community,” says Christy Douglass, licensed therapist and executive director of Harmony Acres. In addition to animal-assisted therapy, the organization also provides services such as therapeutic riding and recreational programs for children and military veterans.

A Harmony Acres client spends quality time with Doc. Photo by Christy Douglass

Animal-assisted therapy allows therapists to use one tool — an animal — to encourage social, emotional, cognitive, physical, spiritual and psychological changes in their clients through relationships and interactions with the animal.

“We work with a lot of people whose needs maybe aren’t being met through traditional therapy services,” Douglass explains. “For example, we work with both military veterans and children who have experienced a great deal of trauma, and talk therapy isn’t always the best method to work with people who have experienced trauma. The horses really know right where to start. They aren’t going to go somewhere that people aren’t ready for. They just deal with what’s on the surface and help people make positive gains from that point. It just creates a much more comfortable entry point for therapy, and it seems to be more impactful.”

“Animals take the edge off in a healthy way. They might do something funny, or out of character, or they may reach out in a certain way,” Mendell adds. “I had a person setting up cones to do an obstacle course and she would give the cone to the horse and the horse would set it down, and she didn’t know he was going to do that. He was helping her build it, and it felt like they were working through it as a team.”

The sessions begin with building a relationship between the client and the animal. The therapist’s job is to guide the interaction while allowing the animal to provide a challenge for the client or show them a skill they didn’t know they had.

“Once you bring an animal into the experience, you’ve got this human-animal bond that’s operating as part of the therapy, so people are more trusting,” Mendell explains. “When you go to traditional therapy, part of having a successful experience is what we call the therapeutic alliance. It’s building rapport and feeling connected and safe. Animals reduce the time it takes to build that rapport dramatically.”

Using animals in therapy also encourages clients to attend sessions more frequently, because they’ve created a trusting connection and friendship with the animal.

This is Fawn. Photo by Jenna Kretschman

Harmony Acres also provides services to individuals with physical and cognitive disabilities.

“Putting them on the back of a horse is extremely empowering for people who can’t walk, because then the horse becomes their legs and they’re able to experience things from that position of empowerment,” Douglass says.

Long-time volunteer Barbara Price has worked with the organization since its inception seven years ago and has personally witnessed the impact of animal-assisted therapy at Harmony Acres. Price recommended a friend with multiple sclerosis to begin working with the horses, and it changed her life.

“It made a huge difference. It made her feel present, and it made her feel like a person again. It was the highlight of her life,” Price says. “Because of the way it helped my friend, I know how much the animals can help people. Animals make you feel confident and kind, because the animals themselves are confident and kind. It contributes to a lot of healing. As a volunteer, I’m being helped just as much as the actual clients are.”

Harmony Acres has more than 75 volunteers, about 20% of whom are military veterans who have discovered the organization through programs they’ve attended at the facility and decided to get involved. Volunteers assist with everything from therapeutic riding sessions to fundraising to animal care and facility maintenance.

“The atmosphere we have out here is really significant. It just creates a community where people feel supported and important, and they can start to learn new things about themselves,” Douglass says. “Not only what the volunteers give, but what the volunteers receive, is just extremely impactful for them.”

Volunteer Calvin Cage, a military veteran, with Boots, a 40-year-old mule. Photo by Jenna Kretschman

One of Harmony Acres’ newest and most adored residents is Boots, a 40-year-old mule whose family couldn’t keep her amidst a divorce. The family faced pressure to euthanize Boots due to her age, despite her good health and happiness. Instead, the family reached out to Harmony Acres for help.

“As soon as we met Boots, we knew she was meant to be part of our facility,” Douglass says. “She has the biggest heart and a very loving presence. The second people show up, they’re just drawn to her. She creates that sense of peace and calm. Boots doesn’t even need to be part of an actual therapy session to make a therapeutic impact and for people to have that instant sense of comfort when they walk on the grounds.”

In addition to Boots the mule, Harmony Acres is home to a variety of animals, including horses, ponies, goats, donkeys, rabbits, sheep, llamas, alpacas and cats.

“Animals have been with humans for so long, and we’ve evolved together as partners and companions. When we lose touch with that, we lose touch with ourselves,” Mendell says. “It feels like magic when you do the work, but it’s not magic — it’s that human-animal bond.”

In July, Harmony Acres wrapped up a three-year-long capital campaign that involved purchasing their current 24-acre property in Loma, Colorado and building an indoor arena, interior office space, accessible restrooms, client waiting space and new animal pens.

To learn more or get involved with Harmony Acres Equestrian Center, visit harmonyacresec.org.

Originally published in the Fall 2021 issue of Spoke+Blossom.