Horsing Around at the Wellness Conference

7 November 2021Neve M, Hope ‘23

This past Wednesday, a campus-wide Wellness Conference offered bountiful opportunities for students to recharge, relax, learn and have some fun. Some of the wonderful opportunities the students were offered included apple pie baking, kayaking, art therapy and hangtime with horses.

Hangtime with horses was a beautiful initiative that included developing communication and teamwork skills while hanging out with rescue horses. Roughly 20 ecstatic Brentwood students traveled to Humble Hooves, a vast farm surrounded by lush forests in Cobble Hill. The charming farm is the home of 11 horses, all rescued, as well as numerous chickens, sheep, goats, and a puppy.

Humble Hooves focuses on building connections with animals, horses specifically. They advocate for the “human and horse connection”. Their objective is to learn critical skills from the horses, such as being aware of your surroundings, communicating, and living in the moment. Chichi O, Allard ‘23, spoke to this: “The connections we made between the horses were excellent for learning how to express and reduce stress positively”. These beautiful animals can assess your heartbeat and reciprocate your emotions as you stand before them. Humble Hooves aims to let horses mentor us on our own self-exploration.

The activities at the farm included a teamwork and communication activity involving mini horses, Anna and Mini, and a lively game of “telephone” as well as another teamwork-building challenge crossing a hypothetical river. Learning skills were built into every aspect of these activities.

During the debrief, everyone shared the main values they took away from both activities. Some of the answers included teamwork, communication, safety, respect, and kindness. At the end of the session, the co-owner of Humble Hooves, Tam Merkens, shared a heartwarming story with us, diving into the history of the organization and the dream she pursued. That dream was to own a farm and teach people about the importance of horses and how we can learn from them. While there were a lot of important connections made, there was also a lot of fun. “My friends and I had a really fun time hanging out and playing with ponies” enthused Julia P, Alex ‘23.

The other animals provided wonderful entertainment for all of us as well. A lovable Bernese Mountain Dog puppy came barreling into the excitement at one point, getting lots of cuddling and a little bit of cookie. The puppy brought energy like sunshine to our group, even though it was raining.

I would urge everyone to experience the magic of horse-to-human connections. It was truly a treat to watch everyone grow and have some fun this Wellness Conference activity.

Neve M, Hope ‘23

Where Students Choose To Be