A Place of Horses and Healing



Image

Community Votes Winner

Learn More


Our Mission

To provide a safe, peaceful place for people and horses to experience kindness, hope and healing through equine assisted activities, as well as just relaxing at the stable.

Image

Survivors of
Human Trafficking

Angel Reins Stable is a place of horses and healing located in Central MN.   In addition to providing a loving home for rescue horses, our programs serve (at no charge) veterans, survivors of human trafficking, young girls ages 13-17 and others suffering from PTSD, depression, anxiety, grief and more.

Support An Angel
Learn More
Image

Serving Military Veterans

Angel Reins Stable is proud to partner with area Veterans, providing a peaceful place for them to relax and heal. Serving Veterans with Equine Assisted Therapy is not only an honor, but a privilege.
Support An Angel
Learn More
Image

SERVICES WE OFFER

Image

Angel Reins Pegasus Program
Where Spirits Soar, Hearts are Healed and Hope Shines Bright

The Pegasus Program is a 10 week program  unique to Angel Reins Stable.  Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) is utilized providing an emotionally safe space for clients to relax and heal.  The program is designed to empower each participant with greater self-confidence, self-esteem and self-awareness.

EAL helps teach

  • Boundaries
  • Self-Awareness
  • Trust
  • Confidence
  • Leadership
  • Teamwork
  • Verbal and non-verbal communication skills

Angel Reins Stable utilizes EAL with a team approach, which includes a qualified Equine Specialist and horses working together with the client in a safe enclosed environment.

EAL is very effective because it embraces the science that humans learn best by doing. The model prescribes a hands-on approach where participants are given the space to project and analyze their situations, make connections, and find their own solutions. Since the solutions are personally experienced in conjunction with intellectual understanding, they tend to be deeper, more profound, and longer lasting.

THE UNIQUE ROLES OF HORSES IN EAL

Horses are intelligent prey animals: To evade predators, horses have evolved to be extremely sensitive to their environment. They instinctively analyze and react to our body language and other nonverbal cues providing us with valuable feedback and insights for other areas of our lives.

Large and Powerful: It’s hard to ignore a horse with their size and presence. We can’t just control a powerful horse. Approaching horses help us reflect on how we approach our relationships and how we can face other big or overwhelming things in our lives.

Non-judgmental and unbiased: Horses react only to the participant’s behavior and emotions and are not biased by the participant’s physical appearance or past mistakes. Participants describe this as being crucial to the therapy and aids in the increase of self-esteem and self-confidence.

Feedback and mirroring: Their nature as prey and herd animal makes them hyper-vigilant and sensitive, thus making them keen observers. This means that their feedback is provided earlier and more consistently than with a human therapist. The horse has an innate tendency to mirror a person’s behavior, physical movements, and emotions, which help the person be more aware of him or herself.  It allows the person to “feel felt”. This feedback can then be translated by the equine specialist and discussed to help participants have better insight and understanding of self.

Recent studies conducted by the Institute of HeartMath provide a clue to explain the bidirectional “healing” that happens when we are near horses. According to researchers, the heart has a larger electromagnetic field and a higher level of intelligence than the brain: A magnetometer can measure the heart’s energy field radiating up to 8 to 10 feet around the human body. While this is certainly significant it is perhaps more impressive that the electromagnetic field projected by the horse’s heart is five times larger than the human one (imagine a sphere-shaped field that completely surrounds you). The horse’s electromagnetic field is also stronger than ours and can actually directly influence our own heart rhythm!

Horses are also likely to have what science has identified as a “coherent” heart rhythm (heart rate pattern) which explains why we may “feel better” when we are around them. . . .studies have found that a coherent heart pattern or HRV is a robust measure of well-being and consistent with emotional states of calm and joy–that is, we exhibit such patterns when we feel positive emotions.

A coherent heart pattern is indicative of a system that can recover and adjust to stressful situations very efficiently. Oftentimes, we only need to be in a horse’s presence to feel a sense of wellness and peace. In fact, research shows that people experience many physiological benefits while interacting with horses, including lowered blood pressure and heart rate, increased levels of beta-endorphins (neurotransmitters that serve as pain suppressors), decreased stress levels, reduced feelings of anger, hostility, tension, and anxiety, improved social functioning; and increased feelings of empowerment, trust, patience, and self-efficacy.”

Angel Reins leaves me speechless. The horses are gentle. If there is a door for Grace, it is this place.

KW, Survivor