Grace Stables work with children who are ‘at risk’ in our local community, using the wonderful healing power of horses.

Grace Stables was started by Tilly and Cindy MacGregor to reach children and families in the community using horse therapy. Horse therapy has been proven all around the world to help people address and overcome challenges in their daily lives. They provide a lovely rural setting 20 minutes from Rotorua where the children can enjoy the peace and quiet while building a relationship with their appropriately selected horse.

During 2017 I had a couple of boys who were classed as ‘at risk’. They suffered from different behavioral issues, learning difficulties, social and emotional difficulties. Through discussion with our school SWIS, we were able to find this program and enroll our students for a term. They would head out to the farm once a week. At the end of the term, I was invited out to see what the students had been doing. It was great to see the confidence, passion and enthusiasm changes that had occurred in just 9 weeks. For a couple of the boys, they were a lot less angry, more willing to try new things, and a bit more patient toward other students.

Below is the link to accessing the service: