In this episode of Equine Assisted World, Rupert Isaacson speaks with Lucy Dillon, who runs the equine unit at ChildVision in Drumcondra — right in the center of Dublin, Ireland.

ChildVision (formerly St. Joseph’s School for the Blind) provides services for children and young people with visual impairments and complex needs. Unlike most equine‑assisted programs located in rural areas, Lucy’s program operates in the middle of a major city — serving populations who would otherwise have little or no access to horses.

Lucy shares the realities of running an urban equine therapy program: balancing horse welfare with limited space, designing programs for children with visual impairment and multiple disabilities, and maintaining high standards of horsemanship within a therapeutic setting.

The conversation explores Lucy’s path through traditional British horse training, riding schools, equine education, and professional qualifications before transitioning into therapeutic work. She discusses how the structure and discipline of classical horsemanship become essential foundations for safe and effective equine‑assisted programs.

Together, Rupert and Lucy examine how horses support children with sensory and neurological challenges, how urban equine programs can remain sustainable, and why good horsemanship remains the backbone of any meaningful therapeutic practice.

If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How Lucy Dillon built and now leads the equine unit at ChildVision in Dublin
• What makes an urban equine therapy program fundamentally different from rural centers
• How children with visual impairments experience horses and equine environments
• Why horses can support sensory integration and body awareness in visually impaired riders
• How to design equine programs for children with multiple disabilities and complex needs
• Why strong horsemanship foundations are essential in therapeutic riding
• How Lucy’s background in traditional British riding schools shaped her approach to therapy work
• The importance of horse welfare when programs run in limited urban space
• How urban programs provide access for communities who would otherwise never encounter horses
• Why therapeutic programs must balance clinical needs with genuine horse knowledge
• How equine units operate within larger educational and medical institutions
• The daily logistical realities of maintaining horses in a city environment
• Why joy, fun, and relationship with the horse remain central to therapeutic outcomes

🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode

• [00:00:44] Introducing Lucy Dillon and the ChildVision equine unit in central Dublin
• [00:05:31] Lucy’s early path through British horse training and equine education
• [00:13:04] Working in traditional riding yards before moving toward therapy work
• [00:22:40] How horses help children with visual impairments experience movement and space
• [00:34:10] Designing equine programs for children with multiple disabilities
• [00:46:18] Why strong horsemanship matters inside therapeutic riding programs
• [01:02:14] Managing horse welfare and logistics inside a city‑based equine facility
• [01:15:22] The realities of maintaining horses for therapy in a dense urban environment
• [01:32:40] Why access to horses matters for children growing up in cities
• [01:47:12] What makes equine‑assisted work sustainable over the long term

📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources Mentioned

Lucy Dillon – ChildVision Equine Unit (Dublin) Search: Lucy Dillon ChildVision Dublin https://childvision.ie/what-we-do/equine-assisted-activities/

New Trails Learning Systems – Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co

Rupert Isaacson / Long Ride Home https://rupertisaacson.com

Patreon Support https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

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In this deeply personal and wide‑ranging episode of Equine Assisted World, Rupert Isaacson speaks with longtime colleague and friend Karla Brahms of Wellenreiter in the Odenwald, Germany — a region steeped in myth, forest, and living horse culture.

What begins as a conversation about equine‑assisted practice unfolds into an intimate exploration of grief, love, resilience, and the sacred role horses play in helping humans navigate life’s darkest passages.

Karla shares her evolution from decades of forest‑based therapeutic riding with children into her current work integrating NIG (Neuro‑Imaginative Gestalt) constellation methods with horses. Through spontaneous drawing, embodied awareness, and equine presence, she helps clients access inner wisdom beyond intellectual processing.

The conversation then turns to the death of her husband, musician Jan, and the profound grief that followed. Karla speaks openly about ritual, laying out the body at home, identity loss, and how horses — through presence, warmth, and simple being — helped her remain anchored in the present.

This episode explores what modern culture has lost around death and ceremony — and how horses may help us reclaim a more honest, embodied relationship with grief.

If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How Karla integrates forest‑based horsemanship with therapeutic work
• What NIG (Neuro‑Imaginative Gestalt) is and how drawing with the non‑dominant hand accesses embodied insight
• How horses interact during constellation processes and reflect emotional states
• Why standing on symbolic drawings creates somatic awareness and shifts perspective
• The role of the “meta position” and third‑person dialogue in therapeutic work
• How horses respond to grief, exhaustion, and emotional truth in clients
• Why allowing horses to say “no” builds deeper reliability and trust
• How herd stability, lifestyle, and environment influence therapeutic safety
• What grief does to identity — and why losing a partner means losing the “we” as well
• Why ritual, washing and laying out the body, and conscious farewell matter
• How animals help regulate grief through presence and daily responsibility
• Why grief is not only about death, but also about identity shifts, diagnosis, relocation, and life transitions
• How creative acts (like knitting, drawing, or movement) can become grief rituals
• Why asking “why” is less helpful than learning to trust the unfolding

🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode

• [00:00:44] Introducing Karla Brahms and the magical forest setting of the Odenwald
• [00:05:20] “Follow the child” — why forest‑based work restores nervous systems
• [00:09:58] Discovering constellation work and integrating horses into NIG practice
• [00:18:50] A yawning horse reveals hidden exhaustion in a client
• [00:27:39] “They’re not only carrying our bodies — they’re carrying our souls.”
• [00:43:00] The importance of solid horsemanship behind therapeutic freedom
• [00:53:38] When horses leave the herd — and how grief changes equine behavior
• [01:11:00] Jan’s passing and the sacred act of laying out the body at home
• [01:16:40] Losing the “we” — identity shifts in widowhood
• [01:27:00] The taboo of grief in modern culture
• [01:55:25] Knitting as ritual — creating a seven‑meter “snail shell” through grief
• [02:04:25] Letting go of “why” and choosing trust instead
• [02:10:23] Celebrating love and life through the annual forest reggae gathering

📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources Mentioned

Karla Brahms – Wellenreiter (Odenwald, Germany) Search: Karla Brahms Wellenreiter https://wellenreiter.de

New Trails Learning Systems – Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co

Rupert Isaacson / Long Ride Home https://rupertisaacson.com

Patreon Support https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

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📊 Affiliate Disclosure

Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

In this grounded and deeply moving episode of Equine Assisted World, Rupert Isaacson speaks with Christine Doran, founder of Triple H Ranch in the Chicago area — a rare ecosystem that combines a full‑scale horse rescue with equine‑assisted work for humans.

Christine shares how her path into this work began as a teenager through a moment of spiritual clarity, and how that calling evolved into more than two decades of frontline work with abused, neglected, and discarded horses. Rather than separating rescue from therapy, Christine describes an integrated model where horses are not “fixed and then used,” but supported as whole beings whose own healing journey becomes part of the therapeutic relationship.

Together, Rupert and Christine explore what it means to witness suffering without becoming hardened, how faith, humility, and structure play a role in sustainable rescue work, and why some of the deepest lessons in equine‑assisted practice come from horses with the hardest pasts.

This episode is an honest look at abuse that still exists in modern America, the quiet heroism of long‑term rescue work, and the possibility of creating true second chances — for horses and for people.

If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How Christine’s calling into equine‑assisted work began at age sixteen
• Why Triple H Ranch combines horse rescue with therapeutic programming
• What real horse neglect and abuse still look like in the U.S. today
• How rehabilitating horses and humans can be part of the same ecosystem
• Why patience, time, and humility are essential in rescue‑based programs
• How faith and purpose sustain long‑term frontline animal welfare work
• What horses with traumatic pasts can teach practitioners about trust
• The ethical responsibilities involved in turning rescued horses into partners

🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode

• [00:00:44] Rupert introduces Christine and the rescue‑plus‑therapy model of Triple H Ranch
• [00:02:14] Christine recounts asking for a “large flashing sign” about her life’s purpose
• [00:03:16] Discovering how horses were used to help heal troubled youth
• [00:55:00] Faith, calling, and what sustains people in long‑term rescue work
• [01:03:01] Why true rescue means changing systems — not just saving individual horses
• [01:11:54] Facing real abuse and neglect without becoming numb or hardened
• [01:28:14] The cumulative toll of neglect — and why it’s still hidden in plain sight
• [01:41:44] Burnout, moral injury, and the cost of witnessing suffering over decades
• [01:59:00] What “second chances” actually require — for horses and for humans

📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources Mentioned

• Triple H Ranch (Chicago area): https://www.hhhranchil.org/
• New Trails Learning Systems – Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co
• Rupert Isaacson / Long Ride Home https://rupertisaacson.com

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📊 Affiliate Disclosure

Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

What if the core of equine‑assisted work isn’t a method, a certification, or a discipline — but the shared act of creating a new story together?

In this wide‑ranging and deeply human conversation, Rupert Isaacson speaks with Betsy Kahl — senior PATH instructor, social worker, horsewoman, and long‑time collaborator in the Horse Boy and Takhin Equine Integration work. Drawing on decades of experience across therapeutic riding, classical dressage, social work, and the performing arts, Betsy reflects on where equine‑assisted practice has come from, where it is now, and where it may need to go next.

Together, Rupert and Betsy explore the often‑unspoken layers beneath equine‑assisted work: grief and loss, belonging and exclusion, the tension between mainstream systems and lived wisdom, and the role horses play in helping humans keep moving when life threatens to stall. From theater arts and role‑playing to adaptive riding, veterans’ work, and the quiet intelligence of in‑hand training, this episode weaves together disciplines that are too often kept apart.

Rather than arguing for a single approach, this conversation invites practitioners, riders, and listeners to reflect on what unites all good equine work — care for the horse’s wellbeing, respect for individual capacity, and the courage to remain present in uncertainty. It is a dialogue about humility, creativity, and the radical idea that healing — for horses and humans alike — is relational.

If you work with horses and people, or if horses have helped you navigate grief, transition, or identity, this episode offers both grounding and challenge.

If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How therapeutic riding, classical dressage, social work, and theater intersect in equine‑assisted practice
• Why horses help humans move through grief without getting stuck in the past
• How theater arts and role‑play create safe containers for emotional processing
• What it means to “create a new story together” in equine‑assisted work
• Why horse welfare is foundational to human safety and healing
• How loss — of people, horses, or dreams — shapes equine relationships
• The difference between siloed systems and integrated horse cultures
• Why belonging matters for practitioners as much as for participants
• How in‑hand work can remain a lifelong anchor when riding changes
• What equine‑assisted fields can learn from humility, improvisation, and presence

🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode

• [00:02:51] Betsy introduces her background bridging PATH, dressage, and social work
• [00:07:02] Growing up with horses who taught lessons, jumped, and worked in adaptive programs
• [00:12:37] From theater arts to social work: learning to listen, respond, and stay present
• [00:22:37] Shakespeare, non‑speaking students, and performance as a safe container
• [00:31:00] The arena as a stage — and why presence matters more than perfection
• [00:39:02] Creating new stories together across disciplines and populations
• [00:48:50] Veterans, classical systems, and horses as co‑creators
• [01:09:00] Equine welfare as the shared ground beneath all methods
• [01:25:00] Grief, aging horses, and continuing the story when things change
• [01:34:00] Why horses help humans keep moving through loss
• [01:36:00] Belonging, inclusion, and the future of equine‑assisted work

📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources Mentioned

Betsy Kahl – Wonder Horse Ranch Email: betsy@wonderhorseranch.org

New Trails Learning Systems – Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co

Rupert Isaacson / Long Ride Home https://rupertisaacson.com

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Long Ride Home
https://longridehome.com
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New Trails Learning Systems
https://ntls.co
https://facebook.com/horseboyworld
https://instagram.com/horseboyworld
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📊 Affiliate Disclosure

Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

In this powerful and far‑reaching episode of Equine Assisted World, Rupert Isaacson speaks with Brandy Tomhave, Executive Director of the Native American Humane Society and an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation.

This conversation goes far beyond animal welfare. Together, Rupert and Brandy explore how animals—especially dogs and horses—serve as bridges between cultures, as carriers of medicine, and as essential companions in communities shaped by historical trauma, systemic neglect, and extraordinary resilience.

Brandy shares her journey from decades of Native American legal advocacy into animal welfare, describing how colonial systems, poverty, and misunderstood cultural differences have deeply affected both people and animals on reservations. She explains why animal wellness cannot be separated from human wellbeing, and how concepts like relationality, balance, generosity, and One Health have long existed in Indigenous cultures.

From the lived realities of reservation life to the ethical challenges of modern animal rescue, from horses as cultural relatives to dogs as potential lifelines in communities facing suicide and mental health crises, this episode invites listeners to rethink what it truly means to be humane.

This is a conversation about humility, listening, ambiguity, and the radical idea that being a “good relative”—to animals and to each other—might be the most important work we can do.

If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• Why Native American identity is political and sovereign—not racial
• How colonial trauma affects animals as well as people
• Why many “rescued” reservation dogs were never abandoned
• How dogs and horses function as spiritual, emotional, and cultural relatives
• What “One Health” really means from an Indigenous perspective
• Why poverty‑based narratives often do more harm than good
• How animals can act as bridges between divided human communities
• The ethical tensions around wild horses, land use, and survival
• Why animal welfare systems must be culturally grounded
• What it means to be a “good relative” in animal‑assisted work

🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode

[00:03:12] Brandy explains Native American sovereignty and why it shapes everything else

[00:08:45] The Flagstaff shelter visit that changed Brandy’s life

[00:16:16] The historical parallel between removing children and removing dogs

[00:19:00] Why animal wellness is one of the few areas free from federal control

[00:25:33] Dogs and horses as ambassadors between cultures

[00:35:00] Relationality: animals as relatives, not property

[00:39:02] The link between animal abuse and future human violence

[00:44:31] Animals as companions in communities facing suicide and trauma

[00:51:28] “Be a good relative” as a guiding principle

[01:02:08] What animal‑assisted practitioners worldwide can learn from Native wisdom

📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources Mentioned

Native American Humane Society https://nativeamericanhumanesociety.org

New Trails Learning Systems – Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co

Rupert Isaacson / Long Ride Home https://rupertisaacson.com

🌍 Follow Us

Long Ride Home
https://longridehome.com
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New Trails Learning Systems
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https://facebook.com/horseboyworld
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https://youtube.com/newtrailslearningsystems

📊 Affiliate Disclosure

Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

In this episode of Equine Assisted World, Rupert Isaacson speaks with Katja Mehlhorn — psychologist, academic, and founder of Horse Kids Groningen in the Netherlands. Katja bridges two worlds that rarely meet: university‑level research and deeply embodied, nature‑based equine‑assisted practice.

From her early work in PATH programs in the United States to building a highly individualized, child‑led practice on a Dutch farm, Katja shares how curiosity, movement, imagination, and horse welfare shape everything she does. Together, Rupert and Katja explore how neuroplasticity, safety, and play support learning in children who struggle with anxiety, school refusal, autism, and social‑emotional challenges.

This conversation ranges widely — from teaching maths through Formula One role‑play on horseback, to helping traumatized clients rebuild self‑worth by caring for horses, to using landscapes, wildlife, foraging, and even horse poo as gateways to regulation and learning. Along the way, Katja reflects on leaving a secure university career to grow her farm‑based work, and on what the equine‑assisted field must do to stay ethical, relevant, and humane.

If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How curiosity and play create safety and open the brain for learning
• Why following the child matters more than following a protocol
• How movement and balance activate neuroplasticity through the vestibular system
• Ways to introduce maths, numbers, and academics without fear or pressure
• How horses provide emotional feedback when children cannot verbalize
• Why horse welfare, fitness, and variety of work are essential in equine‑assisted programs
• How in‑hand and classical groundwork benefit both horses and humans
• Why nature, foraging, animals, and landscape are powerful therapeutic tools
• How rescue horses paired with at‑risk youth can transform both
• What equine‑assisted practice can offer to struggling schools and post‑COVID students

🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode

[00:03:35] Katja describes her first experiences volunteering at a PATH center and witnessing profound changes in children

[00:09:18] Using Formula One racing games on horseback to gently reintroduce maths and numbers

[00:16:00] Teaching balance through playful exercises inspired by weighted “Russian doll” toys

[00:18:38] The role of vestibular activation in long‑term learning and neuroplasticity

[00:27:01] Reading horses’ calming and stress signals to understand what children cannot express

[00:32:57] Integrating fitness, trick training, and in‑hand work into therapy sessions

[00:40:17] How helping horses heal can rebuild self‑worth in traumatized clients

[00:43:00] Research findings from Brook Hill Farm showing improved school outcomes for at‑risk youth

[00:50:55] Using landscape, imagination, wildlife, and foraging to reconnect children with nature

[01:21:12] Why longer sessions allow children time to truly arrive and regulate

📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources Mentioned

• Katja Mehlhorn / Horse Kids Groningen https://katjamehlhorn.nl
• Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co
• Long Ride Home / Rupert Isaacson https://rupertisaacson.com
• 
  

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Long Ride Home
https://longridehome.com
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New Trails Learning Systems
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https://facebook.com/horseboyworld
https://instagram.com/horseboyworld
https://youtube.com/newtrailslearningsystems

📊 Affiliate Disclosure

Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

In this episode of Equine Assisted World, Rupert Isaacson speaks with Suzie Latchford, founder of Heal With Horses in Ontario, Canada — a long‑running equine‑assisted program working with autistic children, families, and communities in a demanding four‑season climate.

Suzie shares how Heal With Horses grew organically over more than fifteen years, often without a clear roadmap, and what that growth revealed about sustainability, invisible structure, horse welfare, staff leadership, and practitioner wellbeing. What begins as a conversation about weather and logistics becomes a deeply honest exploration of burnout, menopause, identity, delegation, and the hidden costs of purpose‑driven work.

Rather than presenting easy answers, this episode offers lived experience from someone who has stayed in the work long enough to feel its strain — and to find ways through it. From following the child and respecting nature‑led limits, to building mobile animal programs and planning for succession, Suzie reflects on what it really takes to keep equine‑assisted work ethical, human, and sustainable over decades.

If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How following the child builds communication and trust before any therapeutic goals are imposed
• Why nature‑based limits — weather, seasons, and animals — can support regulation better than rigid schedules
• What invisible structure looks like in real equine‑assisted programs, and why it matters
• How long‑term practitioners experience burnout, including emotional, physical, and hormonal factors
• Why delegation, staff leadership, and succession planning are essential for program survival
• How mobile animal programs extend equine‑assisted work into seniors’ homes, schools, and community spaces
• What sustainable horse welfare looks like in cold climates through herd living and 24/7 turnout

🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode

[00:01:40] Suzie reflects on the unplanned beginnings of Heal With Horses and how Horse Boy Method shaped her early direction

[00:06:53] Navigating winter cancellations, financial strain, and client expectations in extreme Canadian weather

[00:16:26] A clear, lived example of “following the child” through imagination, animals, and choice

[00:32:37] Suzie speaks candidly about burnout, depression, and losing joy in work she once loved

[00:40:00] An open discussion about menopause, identity loss, and rebuilding self‑trust

[00:50:00] How stepping back allowed younger staff to step up — and why delegation matters

[01:25:24] The mobile animal program: bringing pigs, goats, and bunnies into nursing homes and universities

[01:41:00] Redefining success beyond money, productivity, and traditional metrics

📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources Mentioned

Heal With Horses (Canada) https://healwithhorses.ca

Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co

Long Ride Home / Rupert Isaacson https://rupertisaacson.com

🌍 Follow Us

Long Ride Home

• https://longridehome.com
• https://facebook.com/longridehome.lrh
• https://instagram.com/longridehome_lrh
• https://youtube.com/@longridehome

New Trails Learning Systems

• https://ntls.co
• https://facebook.com/horseboyworld
• https://instagram.com/horseboyworld
• https://youtube.com/newtrailslearningsystems

📊 Affiliate Disclosure

Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.