Horses Roam Park, On A Healing Mission

On her fifth birthday, Ariana Akani made a new friend named Strawberry. If all goes well, Strawberry will return to New Haven and Ariana again in the spring — and perhaps offer her a ride.

Strawberry was one of four horses that roamed Goffe Street Park Sunday afternoon. New Haveners gathered together to learn about the animals and the possibility of bringing an Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) program to New Haven.

A free demo introduced dozens of New Haveners to the Hartford-based nonprofit Ebony Horsewomen, (EHI), which offers equine assisted psychotherapy seven days a week since 1984. The goal of the event was to pitch New Haven on bringing the program here.

New Haveners gathered in the light rain Sunday afternoon to hear from the Ebony Horsewomen team and New Haven leaders partnering with the organization to bring EAT to New Haven.

The demo for youth included learning to groom and walk the horses inside a fenced-in pen set up in the Dixwell park Sunday. The youth learned to groom the horses by brushing them and cleaning their hoofs.

Before stepping into the pen the kids were briefed on some safety rules, like watching their feet in order not to step on or be stepped on by the horse; not running up behind the horses; not yelling.

After dozens of children got to know the horses for an hour, the adults then lined up for their turns with learning about the big but gentle creatures.

Ariana was one of the visitors to the event. Counting her birthday crown, she was almost the height of the Shetland Pony named Strawberry.

Ariana’s hands were sprayed with disinfectant before meeting Strawberry. She then climbed into the pen and introduced herself to her new friend with a gentle caress of Strawberry’s head.

Sisters Evelyn and Alicia Walker brought their kids to the Sunday demo after hearing from their mom, who lives across the street from the park, that ​“there were horses at Goffe Street Park!”

Ariana was joined by her sister and her cousins in the horse pen Sunday. The group learned how to brush the hose and made laps around the pen learning to walk the pony. Sunday was the first time the children had seen a horse in person.

Ariana took Strawberry’s lead rope and called out, ​“Walk, Strawberry.” The duo began trotting slowly around the pen.

“Mom, look it likes me,” Ariana called from across the pen while leading Strawberry.

“I’m hoping something like this could cut the violence,” said Alicia Walker.

Ebony Horsewomen founder and CEO Patricia E. Kelly and Certified Equine Assisted Physiotherapist Melita Arms discussed how EAT works, its benefits, and whom it impacts the most.

EAT can help young people improve confidence, self-esteem, courage, and pride, Arms said.

Arms described EAT as ​“a form of nurturing” for those who have experienced trauma. Participants can range from ages 9 to 60. Many Ebony Horsewomen clients include individuals returning from the military and/or prison. ​“We’re pouring hope into individuals,” she said.

The EAT process begins with getting the client comfortable with the horse, with tasks like grooming and saddling. Engaging in talk with a physiotherapist, clients later learn how to go on therapeutic rides with the horses.

Arms asked the group about the benefits of EAT. Responses from the crowd called out that horses are ​“nonjudgmental” and help build self confidence, pride of self, empathy, and coping skills

“When these young women and men go back to their homes, their homes haven’t changed, but they’re changing. And they’re learning how to deal with things that don’t feel that well,” Kelly said.

As in Hartford, an EAT program in New Haven would need ​“urban horses” conformable with city noises.

Kelly, 74, has spent the last 40 years expanding Ebony Horsewomen in Hartford and beyond. ​“We’re not a program. We’re a herd,” she said.

Kelly founded the program to help youth in Hartford heal from traumas of community violence, family struggles, and societal pressures. EAT was a form of healing Kelly used as a teenager growing up in the Hartford area.

For young men, ​“these horses become their father,” Kelly said.

Riding a horse and staying on that horse have nothing to do with strength, Kelly recalled telling clients. ​“Horses are willing to work with you if you got the right energy. Them big animals, they can teach it better than I do.”

Kelly said she grew up in Jewish neighborhood; her family was the second black family on street. She became close with a Jewish neighbor name Mr. Fisher who had a horse and wagon in his backyard. He taught Kelly how to ride his horse (named ​“Horse”).

“It was therapy for me. Us being the second black family on the street, there were a lot of people that didn’t want us there,” Kelly said. Working with Horse gave her confidence and a purpose, she said.

EAT also helps to build clients confidence through giving them the ​“unique ability to connect with horses.”

“It’s a growing into manhood. Let him speak. You gon’ hear it when he speaks,” Kelly said pointing to the pen of horses Sunday. ​“You got 1,200 pounds at least underneath you. When he speaks, you are going to pay attention, and that begins that growth process.”

The organizing team for the Sunday demo and push to bring EAT to New Haven included Kelly, New Haven equestrian Rebecca Cohen, Beaver Hills alder candidate Shafiq Abdussabur, Yale Economist Malcolm Ashley, and musician Dunn Pearson. Abdussabur gifted each of the organizing team members with a bolo tie at the Sunday event.

The team plans to host three more demos throughout the city in the coming spring, summer and fall to continue to get support for bringing the programming to New Haven.

“The goal is to bring this to New Haven. I think this could be really something amazing. Imagine a New Haven where every other week this is happening in a park around the city,” Abdussabur said.

To bring Ebony Horsewomen programming to New Haven, the team would need to recruit New Haven physiotherapists and clinicians, and find land with enough space for structures to house horses.

Ebony Horsewomen currently recruits from the University of Saint Joseph, University of Connecticut, and Central Connecticut State University. Kelly is working on partnering with SCSU to get students certified as EAT clinicians.

On Sunday the team used a small portion of Goffe Street Park. Kelly said for a EAT program in New Haven, enough land the size of the entire park is needed.

“That’s what these horses do for you. When the world is telling you that you’re nothing that horse is like ​‘man don’t even listen to that.’ That’s what we bring to our children,” Kelly said.

Certified Equine clinician Rebecca Cohen is a third-generation Beaver Hills resident who grew up riding in Westville as a teenager. Cohen has the goal to ​“bring horses back to New Haven.”

She is the founder of an EAT private practice called Stable Ground LLC

“New Haven has land and needs the remediation. We just need help with getting people on board the power of the work,” Cohen said.

Cohen reached out to Ebony Horsewomen and the other organizers initially with the goal to bring EAT to New Haven and to introduce EAT certification to black and brown New Haveners.

“There are alternative ways to heal,” she said.

Kelly placed the lead rope of the Tennessee Walking named Rocky in the hands of State Rep. Robyn Porter. Porter held the rope tight and close to Rocky’s head.

“Stay ahead of him,” Kelly instructed.

“Keep your arm out.”

“Keep your feet away from his.”

“Look where you want the horse to go.”

“Push his head away from your body.”

After a lap around the pen Porter called out ​“hold” to Rocky to get him to stop walking with her. While lightly tugging on the lead rope, Porter called out ​“back” to Rocky while learning to lead him backwards.

“When the whole world secretly tells you you’re nobody, that horse is like, ​‘Dude, can’t nobody do what you do,’” Kelly said.