SOME ‘naturally born therapists’ have arrived in Tempo.
Shenanigan Stud Therapy Herd is offering the local community and further afield a chance to bond with some four legged friends.
The herd consists of two ex racehorses, Bella and Briar, and four Shetland ponies, Juno, Pixel, Mai and Toffee.
Jo Wheatley, originally from England, was left in a state of loneliness and despair when her late partner Phil passed away a week before the world was put into lockdown in 2020.
Jo was left by herself with only her two ex racehorses to keep her company and get her through the grief.
“His death left me full of grief trying to work out what to do with my life and if it wasn’t for the two racehorses I don’t think I would have been able to get through any of it,” Jo explained.
Jo felt the positive effects of spending personal time with the horses and decided to expand her herd.
She rescued a family of Shetland ponies who had been previously kept by a horse hoarder who owned over 50 of their little friends.
Once Jo rescued the ponies she kept them in the middle of her village and it wasn’t long before they started to grab peoples attention.
“Everyone was locked down and it gave great benefits to everybody in the community where we were living, they could just go over, see them and the horses come over and know exactly what to do and it was fantastic for people who had grief, PTSD, mental health issues, so I set it up as a therapeutic heard.
“We had regular visits from children who are being homeschooled, who had issues with the main education system, we had several people come along who suffered with bipolar so if they were really low it would lift them out of it and if they were on a high it would also give them a sense of calm and it was magical to see it all happening,” she explained.
Jo had been on the look out for her forever home and she felt that Fermanagh ‘perfectly suited the bill’, she bought a cottage just outside Tempo and was all set to get the horses over but the night before they were set to travel, their house in England was broke into and the six horse passports were stolen.
Now that the horses are settled and have made Fermanagh their home they are ready to get back helping others.
“We will be formally setting it up as a community interest company, any one in the community and the whole of Northern Ireland are welcome to come over and spend time with the horses, there is no riding, its just come over, hang out and feel the benefits, they know what to do and they step in and get on with it,” said Jo.
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