Healing Horses Singapore

About Healing Horses Singapore

Healing Horses is a privately owned social enterprise mainly focusing on early intervention for young children. Healing Horses is the first indoor & outdoor therapeutic horse riding training Organization in Singapore. We Facilitate Equine Assisted Therapies & Yoga Therapy Classes To Young Children To Adults With Physical, Emotional, And Cognitive Needs.

Healing Horses is a non-government and not-for-profit organization operating to provide an essential service to support families with special needs children. The training duration ranges from 10 sessions to ongoing. The sessions can be planned to suit the varying needs of the parents and the child, including financial considerations. 

Healing horses also aims to provide this service at an affordable rate and offer free lessons to families in need of financial assistance on a case-by-case basis. We will also be offering flexible payment options to ensure that this service is accessible to as many families as possible.

Programme Director of Healing Horses Singapore

Chithra Rogers

Chithra’s passion for horses started as early as her childhood days. She has trained extensively in Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney in Australia. Chithra is highly experienced in horse riding, horse stable management and special needs training.

Her training in special needs comes from years of volunteering and working closely with mild to severe autistic children in various organisations in both Singapore and Australia.

After completing her academic qualifications in ‘Learning Disorders Management and Child Psychology and in Special Education, she is now pursuing her studies in Masters in Special Education to further enhance her ability to effectively reach out and assist families and children facing issues with special needs and other disabilities.

Driven by her strong desire and passion to help children with special needs, Chithra is delivering this first and one-of-a-kind safe and highly innovative indoor therapeutic horse riding school using a mechanical horse. The training uses a holistic approach incorporating medical, emotional and financial needs of the family and children involved.

This way, she wants to make sure that the training is accessible to a wider community and give children the help they truly deserve. To ensure training is current at all time, she continuously upgrades her skills and knowledge and works closely with her mentor, Wendy Torr, the Chairperson of RDANSW Coaching and Safety PanelRDA, NSW-Sydney, Australia. And also being a international member of the reputable organization PATH International , she undergoes several online and on sight courses to keep abreast of the latest interventions.

Chithra Rogers is also an EAL Facilitator from Strides to Success in Indiana, USA where she enrolled in the HorseWork Faciliator Training program. She participated in an immersion course there.

During her Professional Immersion course, She Learned facilitation techniques at Strides to Success in equine assisted learning, learning how they partner with mental health professionals, and to work along with groups ranging from veterans to victims of trauma and also more about the Strides to Success business model.

During her Facilitation Intensive training by HorseWork Education:

The intensive training was solely focused on facilitation techniques essential to equine assisted learning and therapy (EAL/T) practice.

• Theoretical foundations and developing the language to talk about EAL/T
• Foundation of experiential education
• What is the difference between facilitation and instruction
• Facilitation practice, feedback, and direct experience
• Activities purposefully designed to benefit different populations
• Designing activities from the horses point of view.
• Understanding competencies and scope of work
• Understanding how to shift the energy of both clients and horses
• Understanding the roles when facilitating solo or with a education, mental health or professional development professional
• Practice sessions suited for an educational setting, mental health setting and a corporate training setting.

This training is approved for the following PATH CEUs:

• ES-MH/L Core- 34 credits
• Disability Education-34 credits

Visitor Instructor

Laura Buzbee

Laura Buzbee, PATH certified Registered Therapeutic Riding instructor since early 2013. Works since 2012 as assistant barn manager and therapeutic riding instructor at Midland Children’s Rehabilitation Center in Midland, Texas. Also certified in Myofascial Release for equines since 2015. Certified therapeutic riding instructor mentor with PATH international.

Advisor

Blair McKissock

Blair McKissock is excited to serve as an advisor to Healing Horses Singapore and support efforts to bring equine assisted activities and therapies to every corner of the Globe.  She has been in the field of human animal interaction and experiential education for over 20 years. She earned her BS in Recreation Therapy and her Master’s in Education with a focus on human animal interaction and is currently finishing her PhD in Ecopsychology.

She is a PATH Intl. registered therapeutic riding instructor, certified equine specialist, and Master HorseWork Equine Assisted Learning Facilitator.  She is the chair of the equine assisted learning (EAL) community for PATH Intl. and works nationally to establish standards and competencies in EAL.  She is the author of Equiyo, yoga on horseback method and has written several equine assisted resources and curriculum.

She is currently a visiting lecturer at Indiana University and serves as the co-founder of HorseWork, a equine assisted professional development organization.  She is a regular conference presenter, speaker and facilitates professional development workshops supporting the growth of equine assisted businesses.

Debbie Anderson

Internationally known HorseWork Master, Debbie Anderson has been on the cutting edge of the Equine Assisted Learning and Therapy Industry for over 35 years. Debbie has specialized in creating partnership with schools, corporations and many mental health associations.

Debbie is also responsible for founding the first center in the United States to become accredited in mental health standards. Debbie has authored and co-authored many EAL curriculums and resources that are considered industry staples. In addition to being involved on a program level, Debbie dedicated her energy to PATH International for the last twenty years serving on many committees as well as serving on the PATH Board of Directors including four years on the Executive Board.

Debbie is also a well- known conference presenter, motivator and facilitator with the EAAT industry.Debbie is a PATH certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor since 1996 and is also certified as an Equine Specialist is Mental Health & Learning. Additional certifications include Certified Equine Interaction Professional in Education, E3A certified corporate trainer, and EAGALA trained.

Today, Debbie serves as the Founder/Executive Director at Strides to Success with a mission of spreading knowledge and assisting centers worldwide by promoting best practices within the EAAT industry.