Three horses come to greet guests across the red dirt of Viola and Weldon Wichman's ranch in Hoʻolehua, Molokaʻi. The horses have a special, new job: helping residents navigate trauma and find healing.
“This is Kilo and his brother Kegel,” says Anela Montemayor, a Molokaʻi resident who’s become certified in Equine Assisted Learning. “And then Miss Pepper, she was the spicy one out of the group, and she has taken a liking to kids, so she likes to work with the littles.”
Since February, team members from The Spirit Horse Ranch on Maui have been offering monthly sessions on Molokaʻi. It’s a partnership with hosting nonprofit Hoʻaka Mana, and the Wichman ranch, whose horses form the program’s foundation.
“It's very rewarding to see how people were very closed in the beginning, and now they're starting to, like, really open up,” says Montemayor.
She explains the sessions have become popular.
“We started out with like maybe four or five, and now we're completely booked.”
Spirit Horse founder Paige DePonte began the program during the pandemic, when her family’s ranch was closed to the public.
“I would talk to the horses a couple times a day, and really felt a significant change,” she explains. “I'm a complex trauma survivor, and I'd done all the things and all the healings. However, this great sense of peace and healing started to come about by just being with them and talking to them.”
She started researching horse therapy programs and earned several certifications. She originally focused on working with youth.
“You can learn in the first one minute with a horse who this child really is, and what they've been through without them even saying anything,” she says.
After the wildfires, DePonte offered free sessions to survivors.
“The horses meet us where we're at, not as a person, they meet us where our trauma is at,” she says. “They'll meet your heartbeat where it's at, lift their heartbeat to that speed, and then they will bring you down to a coherent speed. And it's amazing. The science — I'm all about science.”
Though sessions may eventually lead to riding, most of the work is on the ground — interacting with the horses, guided by facilitators.
“We probably have 30 different types of things that we do in different modalities,” says DePonte. “It's very individualized, because trauma is individualized. What you and I experience is going to be internalized as individuals.”
At the gate of the corral, handlers call to Kegel, who comes ambling over.
After a briefing on horse safety, DePonte opens the gate for a session with keiki.
“Alright, we’re going to go in, we’re going to let him be at liberty, and the girls are going to take the lead — Aunty Anela and Aunty Sophie are going to run your session today.
Facilitator Sophie Pierce guides exercises with Kegel.
“So the goal is to cross the finish line with everybody’s footsteps over the finish line at the same time, so you really have to be paying attention to each other and the horse,” she explains to the keiki participants.
There are other activities, too — like moving Kegel into a large box formed with pipes on the ground, but without talking, touching the horse or luring him with treats.
After the session, facilitators share observations to help participants process what they learned.
Kanoelani Davis, executive director of Hoʻaka Mana, says she’s happy her organization can host this opportunity for the Molokaʻi community. It’s free of charge, thanks to grant funding.
“What we wanted to share was the Equine Assisted Therapy, and that was a big part of this — people understanding that it was more than quote unquote, ‘the magic of horses,’" she says. “It was also this other scientific part of working with horses and the mana that they give.”
The partnership began after Hoʻaka Mana's culturally grounded crisis counselors were working with Lahaina fire survivors and participated in a team-building session at The Spirit Horse Ranch. Davis says that as she learned more about what they do and the science behind it, she felt good about inviting them to expand the program to Molokaʻi, which DePonte had already been exploring.
Being able to create a new job on Molokaʻi and hire Montemayor is another huge positive for Davis.
Working with horses is new to Davis, but she says it speaks to Native Hawaiians’ connection with animals and their environment.
“This is all a learning experience for me, too,” she says. “It's beautiful to be around the horses. For one, it's beautiful to watch the horses interact with our people, interact with our families.”
She says the opportunity has attracted ʻohana, individuals, keiki and kūpuna from a variety of backgrounds.
“I think the horses keep it very diverse for all of us.”
The program isn’t just helping the humans; it’s healing for the horses, too. As retired rodeo and 4-H horses, this type of connection work is giving them a new perspective, says DePonte.
“The horses are totally into it, like they knew instinctively when we were here, that something was different,” she explains. “They are totally on board, and they’re learning too.”
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