We run group sessions as well as individual sessions Tuesday - Thursday during term time supporting vulnerable young people across Edinburgh. The aim of our sessions is to increase the self-esteem, confidence and mental wellbeing of all participants as well as allowing them to learn new transferable skills that we hope they can carry with them through other areas of their lives into further education or employment.

​

Our current programmes:

​

Nature & Nurture 

​

Our Nature & Nurture sessions are currently available to children aged 5-11 from Primary schools in North Edinburgh. These sessions are delivered over a six week block and allow children to interact and learn about horses and ponies and take part in outdoor learning activities. The sessions are designed to encourage children to care for nature and learn about the importance of our natural and built heritage with the hope of giving them the knowledge to want to contribute to making Scotland a greener place to live. Children will learn to work well as part of a team, develop new skills and increase confidence all whilst having fun.

 

Hoofs2Hope

​

The Hoofs2Hope project is a new programme we have been developing with the experiences we have had  of working with young people aged 11-18 over the past two years. Over 75% of the young people we have supported have been experiencing difficulties in a mainstream education setting with some only attending school as little as a few hours a week whilst others have been completely disengaged from education for several years. 

​

Hoofs2Hope has been designed to allow young people a safe, nurturing environment within a small group setting where they will have the opportunity to interact with horses throughout the day whilst completing their school work, taking part in a variety of different confidence building workshops, develop new skills as well as opportunities to study SQA approved horse care courses. 

​

1:1 Wellbeing Sessions

​

We offer a small number of 1:1 sessions for those who would find a group setting difficult these sessions are tailor made to the needs of each individual but always involve a variety of equine related activities and outdoor learning experiences. 

​

 

All of our sessions incorporate Equine Assisted Learning, Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) is a unique learning experience that uses horses as active participants; it does not involve riding and no prior experience with horses is required.

​

There is extensive research to show that EAL is an effective learning tool with many proven benefits. These benefits include but are not limited to increased self esteem,  cooperation, emotional regulation and behaviour control as well as reducing irritability, agitation and impulsivity.