Enrich a Life with Equine-Assisted Group Programs
Choose Your Goal
We encourage you to seek out the equine-assisted therapeutic program that best suits your needs—whether that’s healing, life-enhancement, skills development, or another goal.
Unlike horsemanship lessons, our group programs are generally conducted un-mounted and designed to teach horsemanship skills over time.
Life Skills Classroom or Vocational Groups
Participants help with various horse care aspects that can be translated to daily life skills. Examples include horse bathing, feed-tub and water-bucket washing, following directions, peer interactions, and more.
Behavioral Health Classroom or At-Risk Youth Groups
Students will build relationships with their project horse and learn how their behavior affects others. Lessons learned include teamwork, boundaries, communication, responsibility, and accountability. Participants will learn to lead the horse, perform liberty exercises, and more.
Trauma or Mental Health Groups
Activities are performed with horses that address themes like self-esteem, healthy boundaries, relationships, communication, self-talk, and control. Horses are prey animals, and there’s a strong tie between how they interact with humans and their environment and how survivors of trauma feel and cope in their everyday lives.
Leadership Groups
Because horses are herd animals, they have deeply engrained instincts around leadership. Various exercises and activities conducted at Greystone Manor TRC can open dialog to discuss and explore leadership topics and various everyday life settings.
Then Choose Your Program
Therapeutic services for individuals and groups are packaged as custom experiences that make a difference. We invite you to discover the many ways we can help you enrich your everyday life with communal and activity-based equine services, including caring for and handling our amazing horses.
Every group program is led by a certified instructor who will work closely with horses and participants to ensure that each pair has the best possible experience! From physical exercise to mental growth to social development, every group program is tailored to the specific needs and interests of participants.
Whether it’s through your own participation in a therapeutic program at Greystone Manor TRC, the gift of your time through volunteerism, or a monetary contribution, you can make a difference in someone’s life.
Equine-Assisted Learning
PATH International defines Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) as an experiential learning approach that promotes the development of life skills for educational, professional, and personal goals through equine-assisted activities.
In an EAL setting, the experiential approach integrates equine-human interaction that is guided by a planned learning experience to meet the identified goals or desires of the participant(s).
At Greystone Manor TRC, we strive to develop customized EAL opportunities for not only our current students, but also individuals and groups of underserved populations or with special needs within the community, as well as other organizations and agencies with missions that align with ours.
Behavioral Health Classroom or At-Risk Youth Groups
Students will build relationships with their project horse and learn how their behavior affects others. Lessons learned include teamwork, boundaries, communication, responsibility, and accountability. Participants will learn to lead the horse, perform liberty exercises, and more.
Special Interest Groups
By assessing the needs of our students and surrounding community, Greystone Manor TRC develops group programming opportunities designed to connect individuals and foster an atmosphere of community, growth, and learning.
Each group has clearly defined goals and outcomes targeting the needs of the group and individual participants. These opportunities may be scheduled as a one-time event, such as a clinic, or set-up as a recurrent program over an extended period of time.
Community Collaborations
Greystone Manor TRC partners with other organizations and agencies in the community to develop specialized curriculum and experiential opportunities to the populations they serve.
Scheduling and types of activities offered to these groups varies greatly and is determined by the unique needs of each group and the goals they’ve outlined in collaboration with GMTRC staff.
Or Try One of These Recurring Group Programs
Alongside our custom group programs, we offer these regularly scheduled group programs:
Silver Saddles
Silver Saddles is a 4-week program designed to allow participants to experience the incredible bond between humans and horses. The group caters specifically to individuals age 55+ looking to enhance physical, intellectual, and personal growth, as well as facilitate positive community connections.
Participants can expect to learn and experience the basics of horse behavior, care, and handling, all while developing a positive relationship with their horse and fellow group members.
The group is led by GMTRC’s certified instructors who will aid in pairing each individual with one of our well-trained horses and guide the group through progressive activities and experiences each week.
This group does require a moderate level of exercise including standing for periods of time and walking on uneven surfaces. If you have questions about whether this group is an appropriate fit for you, we encourage you to contact us.
Heroes and Horses
Heroes and Horses is a six-week, unmounted program. You can expect a blend of informational, discussion-based learning, delivered with lots of hands-on application time with our amazing herd of horses. Participants will learn a variety of horsemanship skills, while absorbing some of the many life lessons that horses have to teach us.