We use Parelli’s Natural Horsemanship principles as our guide. It’s entirely built on creating a relationship of trust with your horse. Horses are like mirrors: if you come into the arena upset or angry, they will pick up on your emotions and reflect them back at you. You have to be completely intentional when you work with them. In people with severe trauma, relationships can be really hard to navigate. You need to build trust with the horse and learn how to relate to it authentically. This strips the work of building healthy relationships down to the bare essentials. We can then help the residents "hear" what the horse wants to "say" to them. This skill then takes them out of survival mode, and because horses can’t talk back, they offer an opportunity for God to step in. I have other functions on the Ranch; I help staff navigate their responsibilities, and I work day-to-day with the residents to build life skills such as self-care, spiritual maturity and building confidence in different environments. But my goal is to help our residents open that door of trust to be able to love again, and for God to speak through the horses as He did for me. I’ve included a photo of Cheyenne with her favorite horse, Prince, our oldest horse at age 31. You can read more about Prince here. | 
