CINCINNATI — A new therapy facility is opening in East Price Hill, and it's focused on equine-led learning and activities.
Horses on the Hill (HOTH) held its grand opening March 25, and the new facility along Ross Avenue on Cincinnati's west side sits upon roughly 10 acres.
The facility was developed by Bloc Ministries, which is a faith-based non-profit that "focuses on healthy, personal relationships and activities that help to build hope, purpose and vital life skills," according to its website.
The facility has been under construction for about a year and half. While it won't be taking therapy appointments for a few months, Bloc Ministries, which is celebrating its 25th year, is already housing three horses: Jackson, Nacho and Buddy. Two ponies and a donkey are expected to join the horses in the future.
According to Bloc Ministries' website, the learning environment "serves economically disadvantaged youth and families, as well as abused women and individuals in recovery." Children as young as four or five will be able to participate in the facility's activities.
Those that participate at HOTH will interact with horses, partake in barn management chores and experience nature to promote physical, spiritual and emotional growth.
Stephanie Young, the director of mental health with Bloc Ministries, said the the use of equine-led learning and therapy is "very powerful."
"What we do with that is use the horse to help teach skills of self-regulation, emotion regulation, mindfulness," Young said. "So in approaching a horse, you have to be in control of your energy, of your emotion. They pick up on everything, so it's a mirror and it's beautiful."
The facility will begin with equine-assisted learning, which means the facility's handlers are trained in mental health and equine assistance but don't have therapy licenses.
She also said that equine-learning and therapy is much more than riding horses — in fact, that's a common misunderstanding.
"You may never get on the back of a horse," Young said. "It's so much more about developing a relationship with this very strong, sensitive animal — developing trust."
Young said equine therapy is sometimes a preferred method because with some people, the horses as more welcoming and easier to build trust with than other individuals. The hope is once those bonds of trust are built, participants — especially those with trauma — will be able to trust people in the world again.
Other than equine-assisted activities, HOTH will focus on urban farming and work-to-ride.
Urban farming will connect people to their food with farm-to-table education, training in how to grow your own food, learning how to cultivate land and more. The work-to-ride programming is geared toward at-risk youth from local schools and after-school programs. Students will partake in horse care, barn chores and assist in the community garden.
Across the U.S., there aren't many equine therapy centers in inner-city areas, according to a study Bloc Ministries did with Xavier University. Dwight Young, the executive director of Bloc Ministries, said that's one reason they wanted to develop HOTH.
"We felt like it was worth it, particularly for our neighborhood" he said. "So, Cincinnati now has one of those probably seven or eight in the United States urban core."
For more information about Bloc Ministries' Horses on the Hill facility, click here.
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