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Local equine-assisted therapy gives healing, confidence
STILESVILLE — While it may appear like a farm next to Rising Hall along U.S. 40, the Lakeland Center is devoted to giving families peace of mind through therapy with horses.
With ideas and initiatives always in the wings, and with a host of clients, the nonprofit is eager to foster partnerships. The goal now is for the community to know that it is still here serving those in need.
The farm has been headed by Christy Menke since it was formerly Hope Haven Horse Farm. It was rebranded in 2017, greatly to emphasize its growth and focus on research in therapeutic riding, but also to differentiate it from other similarly named organizations.
“We need to re-get out there and say, ‘Hey guys, we’re here,’” Menke told the Banner Graphic on a recent visit to the farm.
Equine-assisted therapy involves a range of activities and interaction with horses aimed at addressing physical and mental-emotional issues. Its efficacy, though, is not considered to be well-documented study-wise.
Before Covid, the farm served up to 125 clients. The farm had close to 400 in 2023 alone, as multiple unique programs have been established.
Therapeutic or “adaptive” riding hones on physiological needs, which include balance, fine motor skills, endurance and muscle memory. The other portion is mental health, stimulating the behavioral and social development.
Menke related that she was contacted by Old National Trail Special Services in 2020, as struggles with e-learning and the general state of being had taken a toll. Through 2023, the farm worked with many children on this front.
“That’s a lot of groundwork and positive self-esteem building,” Menke said. Most of those kids, she added, could not find anything positive about themselves at their starts. That certainly changed.
The farm mostly serves Putnam County clients but has also reached to Cascade and Eminence high schools. The crux of this is that the organization is rural and sees an important mission within as such.
Joking that the farm is more or less a “land of misfit toys,” Menke noted that the farm’s horses are older and previously were workers, or were even abused. Their “second job” is lent to the core of therapeutic riding, in which they mirror behavior and connect with their riders.
“They don’t see the disabilities,” Menke provided. “They do see the emotional, to the point that they will hug these kids like nobody’s business. They see their heart, they see their soul.”
When doing the exercises and building on different skills, the client and the trainers have a fun time with it. The impetus is constantly educating about how these exercises empower their growth.
As a testament, one client with selective mutism began talking to their family after the first day of lessons. Six months afterward, they began talking at school.
“It was the lessons, it was the love, it was that power of the horse therapy,” Menke recalled. “Emotionally and behaviorally, there’s a positiveness that we build on, ‘You can do this. You can overcome this.’”
Alexandra Hunt, who manages the farm’s marketing, added that its horses are composed and will be the anchor the clients need, especially in adverse scenarios.
“You have those horses that are specifically tailored to being able to handle kids doing backflips off of their back,” Hunt said. “The horse is just gonna stand there and be this horse of calm, and not feed from the anxiety.”
In the context of working with behavioral and social development, the farm, for Menke, should not be kept in a “bubble” of being only for special needs.
The farm has collaborated with 4-H to provide mentors for clients, and has hosted camps where visitors tend the horses. The farm also has a partnership with the equine program at Rose-Hulman, in which students are designing technology to track biofeedback.
Being a nurse herself, Menke has put a premium on the research. She and a local physical training student went so far as to design a scribe mechanism to document data points.
“We wanted measurable outcomes,” Menke said, commenting that horse therapy research outside is unreliable. “I’m coming in going, ‘No, they haven’t improved, so what do we need to change?’”
The import behind this growth and investment for Menke is to meet the community’s needs where they are at. Adapting is being inclusive with the farm’s mission to affect positive change for its clients.
“The first thing is community,” Menke said to that. “For me, I think it’s just getting people to know, hey, we’re still here, and we’re actually doing some pretty incredible stuff.”