Horse to Visit Quad for Author’s Equine Therapy Demonstration

April 21, 2016

Tim Hayes’ book Riding Home: The Power of Horses to Heal (St. Martin’s Press, 2015) explores horses’ extraordinary ability to help those suffering from deep psychological wounds. Now Hayes, along with Stephanie Lockhart, a visiting instructor at Johnson State College and founder and director of the Center for America’s First Horse in Johnson, will discuss their experience and bring a horse to JSC for a live demonstration on Wednesday, May 4.

Free and open to the public, the event will be held from 4 to 5:45 p.m. in JSC’s outdoors Quad area near the Willey Library and Learning Center (LLC).

Everyone is invited to view a beautiful horse up close and learn how equine therapy is helping people find peace. Hayes notes that children with autism, former soldiers with post-traumatic stress syndrome, those with addiction and others who have experienced trauma could benefit from the event.

In the book’s forward, actor and horse lover Robert Redford notes: “Tim Hayes [is] a great storyteller blessed with passion for his subjects, horse and human. The lessons you’ll take away from this beautiful volume of healing and love between man and nature will stay with you for a long time. Tim Hayes has made this his life work and the world is a better place for It.”

Hayes is an internationally recognized “natural horsemanship” clinician and conducts clinics throughout the United States, Canada, Europe and Mexico. He is a visiting instructor at the University of Vermont and the University of Connecticut departments of animal science and a 1967 UVM graduate. He is a contributing expert consultant and columnist for Equus and Equine Journal magazines and a contributing columnist for The Huffington Post. He and his fiancée, Lockhart, live with their horses in both Vermont and New York.

Lockhart is a “natural horsemanship” clinician and the founder and education program director at the Center for America’s First Horse Inc. The center is home to the largest and most diverse group of Spanish mustangs in the eastern United States and offers “natural horsemanship” and equine-facilitated learning. Lockhart conducts clinics, classes and private sessions in the United States and Western Europe for both English and Western riders of all disciplines and ages from beginners to advanced.

For more information on Riding Home, visit http://www.ridinghome.com/.

For more information on the event, contact Matt Hayes, Johnson State College: 802-635-1408 or Matthew.Hayes2@jsc.edu.