Stable Foundations

We have a new girls group starting in January!
Space is limited so register NOW to secure your space!


Foundations in Confidence:
Building Social Skills & Self-Esteem through work with horses
An 8-week equine-assisted therapy group for 7th & 8th grade girls. No horse experience required.
Date: 1/14/25 – 3/4/25 (weekly on Tuesday)
Time: 4:30pm – 5:45pm
Where: Stable Foundations Equine Therapy, 1900 Center Drive, Casselberry, FL 32707. 407-493-9656
Cost: $250.00

Facilitators: Lorisa P. Lewis, MS, LMHC, Adrienne Van Es, LMHC, Tessa Vorhees, Registered Clinical Social Worker Intern

Fun, interactive activities with horses

Guided discussions designed to explore real-life situations.

A safe and non-judgemental space to grow and learn

Opportunities to practice communications, problem solving and collaboration

Direct, hands-on work with horses

Space is limited, so sign up early to secure your spot!

Contact: Lorisa Lewis, LMHC
Phone: 407-493-9656
Email: [email protected]
Register by: January 10, 2025

Send a message to learn more

I will never be able to describe the power of time spent cleaning stalls.

During this time I have made some of the biggest decisions in my life. I have silently thought my way, step by step, through some of the biggest disasters of my life. I have ugly cried my way through heartbreak all while cleaning stalls. I’ve thrown bags of sawdust in range as I thought about all of the sh*tty things going on in my life. Each stall has oddly given me a place of comfort as I stood, fork in hand, feeling empty during the times I’ve felt so alone. It has taught me to appreciate the serenity of the quiet. Realizing the ones in my life I can count on and the numerous fake people who are only present when convenient for themselves. I’ve enjoyed a free gym membership, as I’ve sculpted my back and shoulders into “he man”, just sifting away. I’ve stumbled my way, dry heaving, with sunglasses ....cleaning stalls through morning sickness, because god forbid my best friend be forced to stand in a dirty stall. Today I spend my morning cleaning stalls and processing my life. I’m mentally making life changing decisions, as I write this post, knowing that whatever I decide, it will be the right one, as it was made in a stall.

I understand that there are those who think us horse people should get “real” jobs. And that all we do is spend our days “playing” around. I’m genuinely sorry that you have never been exposed to a lifestyle that teaches you discipline, how to love unconditionally, put something other then yourself first, bust your ass for the things you want and need, kept humble by a 1200 lb animal, the real meaning of “hard work”, early mornings and late nights spent caring for something other than YOU. Those are things a “real job” will never give you.

Some of you haven’t cleaned stalls .....and it shows.

- Aubrey Burwell

The Subtle Realm

When around horses we quite naturally enter “the subtle realm”. And, if we do so consciously and with intention then we can enter ever more deeply.

The Subtle Realm is where our usual physical five senses become gently expanded and we start to access our “extra-sensory” capacities: Our intuition, empathic capacities, energetic sensitivity, gut feelings and hunches, and even at times at the level of psychic inter-species communication.

Everything within ourselves and between us and the horses and other people, becomes softer and more fluid. Intuition takes a more prominent role instead of our planning, logical reasoning part of our brain being in charge. We shift from being much more left-brained into our right hemisphere where we begin to make deeper connections, both within and around us. Emotions can flow more freely too, offering up their wisdom and insights into the true depths of our longings, feelings and desires.

We are capable of picking-up so much more information from within ourselves and in the environment as a result.

The heart softens and also expands, swelling for a time beyond its usual capacities and tendency towards protectiveness. Opening instead of staying closed. As a result, our connections reach a truly sacred level, where time and space are suspended and anything seems possible. And, we enter a raised level of conscious awareness of our body, mind, soul and connection to others.

This realm is not honoured in our culture and so many of us had to quash these capacities as children as neither were they welcomed in our families. Therefore, having opportunities and places where such qualities are not only welcomed but also encouraged is vital for our own restoration and ability to thrive as we now harness these gifts instead of denying them.

Horses naturally inhabit this exquisitely beautiful realm, and if we approach them and their environment in the right way and with sufficient sensitivity and willingness to learn, then we too can be blessed for a time with a sense of deep expansion, inner peace and harmony. It truly is a blissful realm, so quiet and different to the usual din going on in our minds and the outer world. We enter the realm of the horses and in so doing, realise this is also our true realm, it’s just that we humans have long forgotten and forsaken it in the pursuit of one-sided progress.

So, let yourself come back to your original true state and allow the horses to lead you home…

©Angela Dunning
The Horse’s Truth
www.thehorsestruth.co.uk
EFL; Practitioner Support & Writing

To read more articles specifically for equine-facilitated practitioner & personal growth; support my work or access member-only content please visit: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/angeladunning

Author of: 'The Horse Leads the Way: Honoring the True Role of the Horse in Equine Facilitated Practice'.

Image by Fantastyczna Pasja, licensed via Shutterstock