Serenity Farm and Stables

Today I'm talking with Teena at Serenity Farm and Stables about equine therapy and the grounding power of nature. You can follow on Facebook, as well.

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00:00
This is Mary Lewis at A Tiny Homestead. The podcast comprised entirely of conversations with homesteaders, cottage food producers, and crafters. If you're enjoying this podcast, please like, subscribe, share it with a friend, or leave a comment. Thank you. Today I'm talking with Teena, and of course I just shut the Facebook page, so I can't read your business name. Tell me your business name again. All right, well my company is Serenity Farm and Stables. We're at a water town, Minnesota.

00:29
We are a facility that specializes in programs that support mental health, healing, and so predominantly working not riding horses, but groundwork, a lot of group therapeutic experiences, individual couples and families. So how did this come about? Because I know that you are educated in all of this. So how did you get to where you are?

00:56
That's a great question. I would say in terms of the equine piece, I have children that were more or less born with a passion for horses. And so that's what got us into the equine world. As my children have now moved on into college, we still had these three amazing mayors and I desired to continue to work with them in a capacity. And that included as an equine therapist. My background was oncology nursing.

01:25
with a component of marriage and family counseling around oncology and family and cancer survivorship, which then led to holistic healing and homeopathics and other things. Ultimately, all of them tied together, though, so beautifully with equine therapy, which is really amazing for trauma release. And so much of our physical experience of suffering comes from suppressed emotions. So.

01:53
They are amazing facilitators for that. Yes, and what you just said about all of our misery coming from suppressed emotion. Folks, let it out. That's the thing I want to say about this, because you cannot suppress everything and manage to thrive. No, they cannot cohabitate, for sure. And a lot of times, which is why the horses are also the most amazing facilitators, because a lot of times, the suppressed emotion we have

02:23
might not even be on the conscious level. And they have the ability to meet us at both conscious and unconscious levels, which is why they do such beautiful and amazing healing work with clients, perhaps on the spectrum, who might not have the words to express their experience. The horses don't communicate on that language level. They communicate on an energetic level. And so they have the ability to understand.

02:51
and transmutate energetic experiences and emotional experiences in ways as humans will never comprehend. Yes, and so this is gonna get real deep if you keep talking that the way that you're talking because most people do not understand how this works. So can you, I don't know, in layman's terms, tell me how the horses help? Okay, so I'll try to...

03:20
You're right, this is deep work and it's what I'm submerged in, so it's kind of how I live day to day. But so how the horses work in a herd scenario is they rely on one another because they're prey animals. And so they can communicate in very, very subtle ways through energy. Just the slight movement of an ear or flip of their tail or the angle of their body could indicate there's a predator to be unaware that they should be in awareness of.

03:50
And so when you take that very strong sensitivity to their environment and you bring it into, for instance, an arena with clients, often when we come in with clients, the clients might have a lot of anxiety or a depressive state or high stress kind of personality. And as such, their heart rate might be very elevated, the respiratory rate might be elevated. And so the gift of the herd is as we enter into their herd,

04:20
meaning like our relationship as a human to them as a horse, often it will help bring down our heart rate, it will slow down our respiratory rate. So that's what we call co-regulation when there's a sort of a movement towards something that is more stable. And so we can apply that to the physical sensations of stress, which I just shared, like the respiratory heart rate.

04:48
But then also our emotional state can come down from a place of trauma and stress to a one of more of a harmonized state. Does that feel more simple? Yes. And I would have been happy to keep listening to the big words because I love words and ones I don't know. I would have been like, what does that one mean? But it makes it really hard for people who are listening because they'll be like, I'm lost and I don't have time to look up the word, you know?

05:18
All that is important is that we understand that we harbor and hold so much emotion in our bodies that show up as a physical expression that might look like illness or pain and that the horses do a really beautiful job at helping us to express at an like whether it's conscious expression through words or energetic expression.

05:46
They help us to bring that to the surface so that it can move and so that we can feel better both emotionally and physically. Okay. So say someone who is on the autism spectrum comes to you for help and wants help, wants the equine part of this. Do they, does the person like...

06:11
sit on the horse, stand with the horse and touch the horse? How does it come into play with the horse? Well, that's a great question because it's all the above. You might have some children on the spectrum that have an obsession with horses and to touch a horse and pet a horse and groom a horse would be their favorite thing in the whole world. And you might have another child who has strong sensory issues where they can't even handle the smell of the barn.

06:40
every child or adult on the spectrum or any client for that matter is completely adaptable to their circumstances. So it can look different every single time. So often what we might have is start in our viewing room, which is a window looking into the arena where we might have the horses who naturally are drawn and curious might come to the window and we'll talk about the horses, you know, and then the next session might be

07:09
an experience where the horses are in the round pen and we look at them through the round pen and then the next session might be grooming and touching. Whereas there might be a kid that first session, we just say hello in the viewing room and then jump right into doing like obstacle courses where the client is leading the little minis or perhaps the quarter horses.

07:33
through some kind of obstacles and just building on their self-confidence, their self-awareness skills, their communication skills, their being in the moment, being a major part of our plan and goal. And that's kind of, so that would be a typical experience, an interaction.

07:57
Okay, so is, okay, I don't know how to ask this correctly. Is your business on your property? Technically, yes. So my daughter lives on the property. We live off-site, that's a long story as to how it came to be. But my passion around really having a submersive experience with animals and nature required us to purchase a

08:26
a land where we could do those things. And so the land that we have our farm on is predominantly all, we have 12 horses on the property. And then we have a beautiful path that kind of is the surrounding of our property. And so we do a lot of retreats around community and incorporating both animals and nature. That's really our mission, creating community.

08:54
in the environment with animals and nature being number one. Okay. The reason I ask is because my podcast is conversations with homesteaders and cottage food producers and crafters. And when I asked you to be a guest, I was like, horses are very much a part of homesteading for a lot of people. So there's a tie in here. And I was just really curious about what you do because

09:23
Not everyone is like, hey, horses are amazing and magical and for the most part, pretty calm. This might help people. Yes. And this is like something, this is what is so interesting to me. My horses, I've had them for over 10 years, but they've always been in a boarding scenario. So this is my first year and a half where we spend so much time together because we own the property.

09:51
And most people don't understand that horses do this all the time. They don't have to be trained to do this work. It's in them. And so there's so many amazing horse owners that don't know that they have this gift. I'm sure many of your listeners do know, but many do not. And so people could just, you know, plant their chair next to a horse and have these amazing healing opportunities right in their backyards. Yes. And the other thing I want to throw in here is that

10:21
I feel like it's an honor when any animal decides that they want to know you, even if it's just a cat or a dog, because animals were not around people back, way back in time. And the fact that somebody was like, oh, there's a baby whatever canine over there.

10:47
and it's hurt and it needs food and needs water, I'm gonna reach out and see if I can help it. And that first canine became friends with the first human. It just astounds me that that even happened. What an honor, you know? Yes, yes. And that they desire such a relationship and they desire such connection with us is very humbling. Yeah, cause they don't need us. Humans could disappear tomorrow and nature would just keep on doing her thing.

11:16
Yes, you're right. Absolutely. So it's just astounding to me. And the other thing is that lots of animals can do the things that the horses do. Not exactly the same way, but there's a reason we have emotional support dogs. And there's a reason we keep cats in our homes because petting a cat and brushing a cat calms you down and makes you feel better. And if they're purring in your lap, all the better. Absolutely.

11:46
Because we all have frequencies of healings. That's why therapeutic touch or hand massage, all of these pieces are so therapeutic. But absolutely the frequency of purring and the joy that petting our dogs or dogs licking us, it is profound healing pieces. I believe that wholeheartedly because I haven't actually had a...

12:12
real bad day in over four years because we bought our place over four years ago and we love it. So I'm pretty good on most days here at our new home. And we have a dog. And there's been a couple of days where some bad things have happened and I've been sad and the dog has come and sat by me and put her head in my lap and looked at me like, do you need a hug? Yeah, well, my little puppy's sitting next to me right as we speak, so I get it.

12:42
So it doesn't surprise me that horse therapy or equine therapy is an actual thing. Um, I have a friend who has horses and I have never been terribly comfortable around horses. They're, they're very big and, and they make me a little nervous cause I was not raised around them. And I didn't have friends that had horses and we were standing in the field a couple summers ago.

13:07
And her horse walked up behind me and I didn't hear it because we were talking. We were animatively talking. And her horse walked up behind me. I didn't know she was there and she bumped my elbow with her nose. And I was like, hi, how are you? And she just looked at me like, hey, how you doing? And I was just so surprised that I didn't hear her, number one, because usually you hear at least a thump when their feet hit the ground, because they're big. Yeah.

13:36
And it was like she just wanted to come up and join the conversation. It was very funny. She absolutely wanted to join the conversation. And then if you were reading into some of the behaviors, I'd be curious about which elbow it was, right-sided versus left-sided. And yeah, that's how they do a lot of, I know this is a big word too, but attunement. Like how do they plug into you and support you? That's where they might select to place their face on your body or the.

14:04
how they interact with us is all very intentional and where they place their bodies in respect to where ours is is also very intentional. Yeah, I think she came up on my right. So I think she nudged my right elbow. I can't remember. It was too long ago. Yeah, which is your giving side, right? So I suppose you wanted to support your giving side because I suspect you are a giver. As often as I can be, yes. So

14:32
I know just enough about horses to be dangerous. I know that if they have their ears back flat, they're probably not very happy. Something is wrong. That's accurate. I know if they have a loose bottom lip, they're relaxed. Yep, true. I swear something about if they are showing the whites of their eyes, they're afraid. That's accurate. Can be, yeah.

15:00
Okay, and that's about all I know. And if they're running and their tails are up, they're usually really excited to be running. Yes, and different breeds will show differently with that too. But you're right. So with horse behaviors, that's the first thing we would do when we would do an individual or group experiences, explain what you just did. How do we understand a horse's behavior so we know for safe in our interactions? But with the horses that we work with, predominantly you'll see them...

15:26
We know when their head is down, that that's a really relaxed state because they're not in a state of wanting to flight. And the same with the soft eyes versus like the white in their eyes showing. We can see often a communication of their ears being pinned when someone is entering their boundary space, which is where we start looking at the great work one can do with establishing and learning how to have boundaries with humans. It's transferable to humans, but we can learn that.

15:55
with horses. And then of course, the flicking of their tail, you know, of course, there's the situation where it's fly season. And then there's the warning tail flicks. So we teach that to all of our, our clients to be sure that they can recognize those behaviors as like give them some space and step away. But our horses are so sort of plugged into this work. It's not uncommon for them to just lay down around us. Like we could be in a group

16:25
three horses laying around us like big dogs, because they're so familiar with the state of being in the present, which is our job, to teach people to do that, to be in their bodies in the moment. And so, yeah, you're not gonna, it'd be very rare that you'd see those aggressive type behaviors in a therapeutic experience. That's more or less when you might see them in the herd, where they're with other horses and they're sort of establishing

16:55
their order where you'll see more of that. Yeah. I love horses, okay? I love them. I think that they are absolutely beautiful. And had I been brought up as a horse girl, I probably would still be a horse girl because I would read, you know, all teenage girls get into books about girls that raise horses. I don't know why, but they do.

17:23
Yeah. And I read four or five of them and I was like, oh, that would be so fun. And looked at where I lived at the time and I had a sister and a brother who were younger than me and two parents who were taking very good care of us, but we were not wealthy and we did not live on acreage and we had no place to have a horse. And I mentioned to my mom, I said, wouldn't it be cool to have a foal? And she said,

17:47
It would be very cool to have a full, she said, but we are not in a position to buy any place big enough to have horses. And that was the end of it. And I was okay with that. I understood completely. It's probably a really good thing that we weren't in that position because I think that I would probably have a ranch at this point. That's how much I really love them. But I'm because I wasn't around them when I am around them. I'm like, wow, that's a big animal.

18:17
That's a very big animal. Well, and there's also minis. You know, we do have a couple of minis that we do, chariot rides and things like that. But I think like I think that's most people's experience. I wasn't able to even have a dog when I was a kid because my parents were not interested. But I would say that how wonderful that now as adults, we get to choose how we want our life to look. And many people that could never have an animal or a horse

18:45
would go and work at like horsing barns to help with chores and things like that. So I love those that got creative when I was a child. I don't think we even had horse people near us. So that wasn't an option. And to be honest, when I was little, I was like a terrified person of horses. I was sort of taught that they, you know, their primary goal was to bite or kick. So, you know, it took a lot for me to be desensitized and only through the, you know, desire of my children did I even want to do that.

19:15
But I've come a long way for sure. And I do think that most people have that calling and desire to have the presence of a horse in their life in some capacity, whether that's a trail ride or just feeding them a carrot or, but I would encourage you, should you ever have the opportunity to come and have a tour of our farm and let me introduce you to some of these horses and you'll be able to remember, recognize that they are such spiritual healing beings and that will feel so

19:45
good to your soul? Oh, yes, absolutely. I just, I give them a lot of respect. Like when I found out that my friend had two horses, when I was introduced to them, I let them come up to me. She had some treats that they love, and she said, do you know how to feed a horse a treat? And I said, yep, flat hand. And she said, okay. And so she put the treat in my hand, and I put my hand out, and one of them came over.

20:13
and sniffed and said hello and took the treat out of my hand and didn't do anything scary. And she was like, they're actually super nice. And I was like, I know, I'm not, I'm not afraid. I just don't want to do anything wrong. And she said, she said, you're not going to do anything wrong. She said, she said, you said you love horses. I said, I do. She said, and you're very careful with them. And I said, I am. And she said, that's all they need. I was like, oh, okay, good.

20:39
And they can read your heart so easily so they can sense, you know, people always say like they can sense your fear and the truth is they can sense all of our emotions. And what they don't love is when we're incongruent. So let's say you have the person who says, oh, I'm not afraid of horses and they come into the space and the heart is racing and the horse can tell that they have fear. That's the part that feels uncomfortable for them because they're saying things with their words that don't match their physical state.

21:08
So if you came into that same pen and said, like, I'm really afraid of horses, but I really want to learn to be comfortable around them, they immediately would drop into that space of peacefulness because your words match your physical state. So those horses could read that your heart was so loving and open and that's where they wanted to join you guys right out of the gate. So that's where I'm like, if I had a friend with two horses like you have, I'd go plant my two chairs wherever they are in the pasture.

21:38
deep conversation with your friend before you know it, all of them would be surrounding you, just so curious and desiring to be part of that authentic communication that you're sharing. Yes. And that's the other thing about horses. They're really curious, like crazy curious. They want to know everything. Yeah. Well, they want to be part of things that feel meaningful. So absolutely, they want to be part of everything. Yup. Okay. So.

22:08
I don't know what else to ask you because this is all very interesting and I'm sure there's like a hundred thousand things I want to know but I don't know which one to pick. There is scientific studies backing all of this, right? Correct. With the equine therapy? Yeah, like the weeds. Go ahead. When did that start? When did people get into figuring this out with scientific backing?

22:37
That's a great question. I know that this work was sort of becoming, we'll say, more trendy in the last 20 some years, I'd say up to 30, but predominantly in the last 20 years, but really has really grown in the last, I'd say, five to 10 years, five being even more so. But actual studies being done, that's been in the last, like actual blind studies, I'd say it was been in the last five years or so.

23:05
The schooling that I did, which is Touched by a Horse, they recently did a study and I do an informal one where I do an intake with all my clients and a post experience. And what my observations and the feedback I'm getting is, so for instance, if you have a client, typically our Friday group is a mental health group and they might come in with their stress levels being at a seven or eight, they're in depression at a five or six and their anxiety at a five or six.

23:35
I would say on average we see a 50% improvement in their symptoms within an hour and a half session. So if they came in with a depression at a six, they'd leave at a three. They came in with anxiety at a five, they'd leave at a two, somewhere in there. So I hope that there'll be more research done as we move forward because it is such a great modality when people have exhausted, we'll say, the typical Western medicine world of...

24:03
medication and counseling if they're still looking for relief of those types of symptoms. It's a wonderful modality that's not really well known yet, but is promising for the future. So I don't know if that answers your question, but... So it's a fairly new study, a field of study. Yes. But, I mean, I'm 54. I don't know how old you are, but I'm 54.

24:32
I've known since I was probably six that nature in all its forms, other than maybe a tornado or a hurricane barreling down on your house, is good for you. I know I grew up in Maine and we lived on an acre of land and a half acre of that was woods like pine trees and poplar trees and maple trees.

24:58
We had a really beautiful dirt road that was about two and a half miles long that connected our, our avenue to the next major road going, I don't know, the opposite direction of the road that came to our house. I can't think of what direction it was. And we used to go, I used to go by myself just for bike rides and hikes out on that road and go hiking on the deer trails. And

25:24
Nothing made me happier than being out in the woods and hearing the wind blow through the trees. And it just, I was a very anxious, very sad, very angry kid. There was a lot going on. Don't want to get into it, but I was just not a happy child. And I would go out in the woods and just breathe, you know? I'd be like, okay, I'm done with whatever it is that's driving me crazy. I'm going for a hike or I'm going for a bike ride.

25:52
and I would head directly to the woods. And if there was water, there was a lake and there was a brook in opposite directions. And if there was water, that made it even better. So nature has a way of bringing you back into yourself and grounding you. Absolutely. Animals are nature. So it makes all the sense in the world that animals help.

26:18
And back in the day, I love that that was your childhood first, because I had a similar one where our days were making forts in the forest. That was like what we did for fun and swimming in the lake and canoeing. But that is the true grounding. Like that is the reset for our bodies. And so with horses who have four feet constantly on the ground, we get the grounding from them and touching them. I'd say we would get the grounding ourselves if we walked around barefoot, but we don't because we live in Minnesota.

26:47
But that is the joy. And I love that kids intuitively know that. I bet when you're a kid, you could walk on gravel, no problem. Now we're so desensitized and tender-footed that we can't do that. But that is the thing. If we could be in nature, breathe in nature's fresh air, especially in the forest with the pines which you had and then the barefoot on the earth, it's so powerfully healing. There's many...

27:15
Most recently, I just watched a documentary and a guy who was able to work through some cancer symptoms just spending a certain amount of time in the forest daily. That was part of his healing protocol. And apparently there's physicians in Japan that that's what they put in their prescriptions is spending 15 minutes in the forest, known as forest bathing. But you're right, nature is the beginning of the healing journey and throwing animals then you just amplify that experience. Yeah, exactly.

27:44
And I don't mean to keep redirecting this to things other than horses, but I feel like it's all a big, I don't know, sphere of healing and help.

27:58
Absolutely. Wow. Could have been circle. Yeah. Circle or sphere. Both good. But that is the thing. There's not one way to healing. There's multiple paths that lead us, and all of us have a very unique and different path to finding that healing. But I do believe that nature and animals are really easy, important pieces that should be included in whichever direction we choose for our emotional and physical healing health. So, I'm going to go ahead and start with you, and then we'll go to the next question. So, I'm going to start with you, and then we'll go to the next question.

28:28
And I love that you intuitively from such a young age was, you know, plugged into those pieces. Oh, it was my escape. It was my favorite thing to do other than be in my house with the chaos that was going on in my house a lot. So, okay. So if someone wants to, I don't know, make an appointment with you or get help from you, do they just...

28:57
go to your website or how does that work? Thank you. The best ways if you go to the web or the email address info at sere That would be a great access point if you want to go to our website and learn more about our farm. That's sere in Watertown, Minnesota. There's also a Serenity

29:27
We have a retreat house on our property, so we often will do half-day or full-day or weekend or onward retreats there so people can stay on site for more acute family healing. And that would be the best way. If you want to follow us on social media, that's great. We have an Instagram and a Facebook page and we're pretty new, so we're just learning this world.

29:56
I mean, I'm new to the farm. I've always, like I said, boarded horses. So we have a high learning curve as we develop this program and this model of healing. So I think that it will shift a lot in the next year or two. Well, that's called growth and growth is good. Yeah. Yeah, I'm sure you're in the midst of growth too. It's like following our passions. We just go where the road takes us. Oh, when you stop growing, you're dead.

30:26
I refuse to be dead yet. I still have at least 50 years to go. Easily 50. All right, Teena, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Yes, thank you for this opportunity and I wish you the best. I wish you the best too. And give those, boop those horse snoots for me. I kind of miss being around horses. Well, come and visit. I think you'll love them. All right, thank you. All right, take care. Bye. Bye-bye.