Misty Meadows Equine Learning Center’s website home page proclaims, “Changing lives, one horse experience at a time.” The program on this Center’s breathtakingly beautiful property offers transformative experiences that go far beyond learning how to walk, trot, and canter with a horse. Its mission is to create a nurturing environment where horses and humans can connect more deeply.
Misty Meadows collaborates with many organizations across the Island. When asked to explain why, executive director Sarah McKay smiles. “It’s about relationships, connection, community, passion, and mission.”
Partnerships abound, with the likes of the Island Autism Group, Island Wide Youth Collaborative, and Kinship Heals, to name just a few. The programs reach youth and adults of all abilities and interests. What their offerings have in common is a horse-centric approach, where every act is filled with compassion and respect for the animal.
Holistic horsemanship programs include riding skills, unmounted partnership exercises, horse care skills, and the ability to understand, interpret, and adjust to how horses see the world.
Therapeutic horsemanship programs are designed for people with special needs who may require additional support to participate safely and effectively in activities. The benefits of partnership with horses are far-reaching and include social and emotional development, physical gains, and cognitive improvements.
Jada Randolph, youth advocate with Kinship Heals, The Northeast Native Network of Kinship and Healing, can attest to the impact. “When I started as a youth advocate, Kinship Heals had already brought Tribal girls to Misty Meadows. I witnessed a calm, supportive atmosphere where they could be themselves while caring for each other and horses. Over time, the girls’ relationships with one another and the horses have become more robust, and they are even more tuned into how others are feeling.”
In unmounted equine enrichment experiences, participants learn the many techniques Misty Meadows uses to enrich its herd, which includes a nonverbal communication method based on herd behavior. “It’s about getting to better understand what they are saying and feeling,” McKay explains.
She continues, “The therapeutic thread weaving throughout all our programs is seeing through the lens of the horse, understanding it from their perspective, and then translating that back into our perspective. It’s about awareness, observation, compassion, communication.”
One of Misty Meadows’ longest collaborations has been with the Island Autism Group, providing therapeutic riding experiences. McKay tells me that science reflects the therapeutic benefit of riding in the connection of the horse’s and human’s spine. “There also have been studies putting a heart monitor on a horse and a human and seeing how the horse can co-regulate the human heart. It’s just incredible to understand how sensitive they are. Once you see things in a certain way, you can’t unsee them.”
Some participants who are not interested or eligible to ride engage in vocational unmounted work. “These individuals come to the farm, are supervised, and help to clean paddocks and move hay bales, which is meaningful for us and impactful for them. And this builds their skills,” McKay says. “As students roll out of high school and the system, having these physically organized activities is really key for them. It’s lovely to see those folks work together and be proud of what they do.”
Island Wide Youth Collaborative comes to Misty Meadows at the end of the school week. McKay points out, “Friday afternoons are a tough time after school. We have a combination of mounted and unmounted activities. They work with their staff to build self-regulation that can also help them.”
“It’s also been great to work with the Boys and Girls Club regularly and see those kiddos come after school — to see how much it means to them to have something other than a confined space.”
Misty Meadows works a lot with Camp Jabberwocky. They acquired a fully accessible lift and ramp with a Tower Foundation grant. The equipment allows them to transfer someone from a wheelchair to the back of a horse. “That was a big game changer,” McKay comments. Misty Meadows also just received a new Martha’s Vineyard Community Foundation Grant that will enable them to renovate the bathroom for accessibility.
“It’s awesome to see these individuals step up and be themselves and find their way, as opposed to us saying, ‘No, this is the box you have to fit into.’ It’s encouraging to empower and allow people to be themselves, whatever that might look like. We see that all the time, whether it’s a transformative or therapeutic experience. The horses have the ability to meet us where we are and help transform us for what we need to do — whoever and wherever we are.”
For more information about Misty Meadows’ programs, visit mistymeadowsmv.org/programs-overview.
