About Us

People + Horses

At Walkabout Farm our equine assisted activities are performed through accommodations to the individual in order to achieve desired effects on targeted outcomes. The most effective ways to enhance learning services through interacting with horses and the equine environment are not yet known to us, scientifically speaking. In fact, we do not know much about the ways in which one of the most common and popular equine experimental learning activities – therapeutic horseback riding is best implemented to facilitate an effective experience for populations who vary in age, risk status, regulatory ability and prior horse exposure.

As such Jennifer Semach, our founder and lead instructor, will work closely with the participant, caregivers and their health care team to establish an individualized approach based on the role of each participants affective and physiological regulatory abilities, physical strengths and weaknesses, risk status and psychoeducation plan. Each session is progressively shaping their moment-to-moment experiences and responses to equine assisted activities, especially activities that challenge the participants perception of their current abilities.

Understanding the dynamic interplay between participants regulatory characteristics and responses in the context of a mounted activity or non-mounted grounding exercise can help our team anticipate, recognize, respond or redirect signs of participants anxiousness, negative cognitions, unregulated emotion and behavioural reactions, to assist in their personal development and resiliency. Our mounted activities do not incorporate standard horseback riding instruction. Most sessions are conducted on a lead line and accompanied by side walkers.