About us
Grey Horse Growth and Learning offers both personal development and therapy through the medium of horses. Clients can attend Equine Facilitated Learning sessions for personal growth and social skills development, or one hour sessions for counselling/psychotherapy. Session fees are $125 per hour and we operate a sliding scale for low-income families. Grey Horse sessions can be included within an NDIS plan.
Group sessions are also available for agencies, schools and corporate clients.
Group sessions are also available for agencies, schools and corporate clients.
Behind Grey Horse Growth and Learning 2024
This year four horses are working with Grey Horse - Harley, Ambi, Boston and Jet.
Boston
Boston joined us in late September 2010. Alert, interested and keen to find out what's next, Boston's liver chestnut spots on a grey background are strikingly unusual, making him the perfect Leopard Appaloosa. His soft muzzle seeks out affection from little children and adults alike, and he loves the hugs he gets in return. An old injury to his neck leaves him a little crooked, and with his head cocked sideways he will turn as if to say 'Come on, I'm waiting.' He is beginning now to show his age as his teeth are giving him some trouble, despite regular dental treatment. He has a special diet of soft and easily digestible food, along with the roughage and fibre he needs for gut health. Always reliable, he is the ideal horse for introducing to young people and adults who are unfamiliar with horses.
Jet
Jet's breeders had hoped he was going to be the ultimate trotting superstar. Nurtured and cherished from a foal, as a youngster he began his trotting training. All went well until he sustained an injury that put him out of the running permanently. He needed a new career, and at three and a half came to Grey Horse as a therapy horse. An enormous grey standardbred, he has the breed's kind and generous nature, and likes nothing better than nuzzling up to people and placidly hanging out with them. Highly responsive to direction, like Boston, he makes an alert and sensitive companion. While he was living with Moo at Strathewen, he used to travel to Smiths Gully for sessions. Now, having blotted his copy book by investigating and destroying a range of items, his inquisitive personality makes him an ideal therapy horse and he lives here at Smiths Gully. Originally a dark steel-grey, he is growing paler in colour by the year. Eventually, like his father (Jet Laag) a successful trotting horse, he will become white all over.
Ambi
Ambi is a newcomer to Grey Horse. Arriving in 2023, she has settled in and is now taking her place with the others in the team. Having had an earlier career as an endurance horse, a tendon injury put her out of the sport. Her arabian elegance gives her an immediate appeal and her inquisitive nature means she
is always ready to investigate new situations as well as new people. Gentle
and sensitive, she responds immediately to the energies of the people around her.
is always ready to investigate new situations as well as new people. Gentle
and sensitive, she responds immediately to the energies of the people around her.
Harley
Harley's brown and white harlequin patterns make a striking contrast to the grey pair, Jet and Ambi. But his colouring is in good company with Boston's spots and his long mane, forelock and tail complement his cob stature. An older horse, Harley has had a long career as a riding pony and is now moving into a new stage of his life. He and Ambi, as the new kids on the block, have now found their places alongside Jet and Boston, the more experienced of the horses at Grey Horse. Placid and amenable, he loves a good scratch from clients, but is not above returning the compliment by using them as a scratching post!
Maggie Broom
In addition to her Animal-Assisted Therapy training, Maggie has qualifications in Teaching, Psychology and Counselling, with a PhD in Education (Counselling). Her doctoral thesis was a qualitative study of how people experience belonging, which explored the variety of ways in which people felt a comfortable sense of 'this is where I fit'. She is a member of the Australian Counselling Association.
Her career has included primary school teaching, adult education and corporate development as well as counselling and therapy for a range of individuals, couples and groups. She has a current Working With Children check and Level 2 First Aid.
In 1984/1985 she spent a year travelling through Australia in a covered wagon pulled by her two Clydesdales, Sam and Strider, with her dog, Bess, for company. In the early 2000s she and Rascal competed in Endurance Rides, with Rascal achieving Endurance qualification in 2006.
Her lifetime interest in horses continued with active participation in Riding for the Disabled with Tiny and Rascal (2006-2022), and like Jet, her hair continues to grow whiter by the year.
She has a special interest in working with people on the autism spectrum, and has an increasing interest in both small-t and big-T trauma and how it influences people's lives.
Her career has included primary school teaching, adult education and corporate development as well as counselling and therapy for a range of individuals, couples and groups. She has a current Working With Children check and Level 2 First Aid.
In 1984/1985 she spent a year travelling through Australia in a covered wagon pulled by her two Clydesdales, Sam and Strider, with her dog, Bess, for company. In the early 2000s she and Rascal competed in Endurance Rides, with Rascal achieving Endurance qualification in 2006.
Her lifetime interest in horses continued with active participation in Riding for the Disabled with Tiny and Rascal (2006-2022), and like Jet, her hair continues to grow whiter by the year.
She has a special interest in working with people on the autism spectrum, and has an increasing interest in both small-t and big-T trauma and how it influences people's lives.
Animal-Assisted Certification
Over the past three decades, equine-assisted psychotherapy has grown in popularity in both the United States and Europe, especially the UK and Germany. Now it is finding its feet in Australia.
A US-based professional body, EAGALA (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association), trains and accredits practitioners world-wide and is recognized by the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States. EAGALA practitioners complete training in two parts.
Maggie Broom has completed Part One, Part Two, 'Tools for the Trail' and Advanced Training, enabling her to become a certified EAGALA practitioner in January 2009.
She has also completed seven days of Equine Facilitated Learning training with Franklin Levinson (2009, 2010, 2011), a one-day seminar on Animal-Assisted Therapy with Mary-Ellen Sherrill (2009) and twenty-two days' ongoing training with the Gestalt Equine Institute of the Rockies (2009-2011), including a day's workshop each with Richard Weis and Mel Fleming.
Other influences on her work with horses include Carolyn Resnick (on-line 'Extended Circle' training April - July 2010), Georgia Bruce (two-day clicker training July 2011), Barbara Rector (one-day workshop 'Adventures in Awareness' June 2011), Maurizio Patti from Nevzorov Haute Ecole (three-day training December 2010), Monty Roberts (one-day clinic, 2015), Peggy Cummings (2-day clinic, 2015), Buck Brannaman (3-day clinic, 2016; 6-day clinic, 2018). Recent clinics attended include Warwick Schiller (2-day clinic, 2023), Elsa Sinclair (2-day clinic, 2023).
In 2018 she attended the Horses in Education and Therapy International conference in Dublin, where she presented a paper on the different benefits of mounted and unmounted equine work. She continues to seek professional development opportunities each year, both in the counselling and equine fields. Covid saw a halt to sessions over 2020, and Grey Horse was able to open up again in 2022.
In addition, she has completed her Level 1 Coaching certificate with Riding for the Disabled and was President and an active coach at St Andrews RDA for many years.
Maggie Broom 2024
A US-based professional body, EAGALA (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association), trains and accredits practitioners world-wide and is recognized by the National Institute of Mental Health in the United States. EAGALA practitioners complete training in two parts.
Maggie Broom has completed Part One, Part Two, 'Tools for the Trail' and Advanced Training, enabling her to become a certified EAGALA practitioner in January 2009.
She has also completed seven days of Equine Facilitated Learning training with Franklin Levinson (2009, 2010, 2011), a one-day seminar on Animal-Assisted Therapy with Mary-Ellen Sherrill (2009) and twenty-two days' ongoing training with the Gestalt Equine Institute of the Rockies (2009-2011), including a day's workshop each with Richard Weis and Mel Fleming.
Other influences on her work with horses include Carolyn Resnick (on-line 'Extended Circle' training April - July 2010), Georgia Bruce (two-day clicker training July 2011), Barbara Rector (one-day workshop 'Adventures in Awareness' June 2011), Maurizio Patti from Nevzorov Haute Ecole (three-day training December 2010), Monty Roberts (one-day clinic, 2015), Peggy Cummings (2-day clinic, 2015), Buck Brannaman (3-day clinic, 2016; 6-day clinic, 2018). Recent clinics attended include Warwick Schiller (2-day clinic, 2023), Elsa Sinclair (2-day clinic, 2023).
In 2018 she attended the Horses in Education and Therapy International conference in Dublin, where she presented a paper on the different benefits of mounted and unmounted equine work. She continues to seek professional development opportunities each year, both in the counselling and equine fields. Covid saw a halt to sessions over 2020, and Grey Horse was able to open up again in 2022.
In addition, she has completed her Level 1 Coaching certificate with Riding for the Disabled and was President and an active coach at St Andrews RDA for many years.
Maggie Broom 2024