Shy Lowen is a horse and pony welfare organisation with a difference. We specialise in animals who are deemed to have a behavioural issue, are said to be dangerous or are feral. We work with these animals using techniques commonly known as horse whispering to earn trust and rehabilitate them. This work is done without ever using pain (or the threat of pain) and so whips are never used
This work is also done alongside people who are experiencing the effects of trauma and/or addiction. The therapeutic value of this is immense and has been the subject of main stream television documentaries on BBC1 and Channel 4. The documentaries followed the progress of our military veteran service users who are undertaking an addiction recovery programme and a group of teenagers who had been excluded from main stream education for poor behaviour. The emotional mirroring of the horses to the people means that they are able to see their true emotional self reflected back to them without judgement. This is a profound experience and key to healing the emotional wounds that led these people to their present day situation.
Horses and ponies, once rehabilitated, are rehomed using a legally binding loan agreement which means that the person homing them has the horse as their own but are restricted from selling them on to other people. If at some point they no longer want to keep the horse then he/she has to be returned to Shy Lowen.This way the horse is guaranteed a safe home for life.
Some horses and ponies are kept at Shy Lowen to provide horse riding opportunities both to people for whom this activity would be out of reach and also for people who are making a lifestyle choice. The difference in riding at Shy Lowen is highlighted by the name of our riding facility ' No Kicks, No Sticks'. This means that people are taught to ride horses using their balance and energy levels rather than kicking or hitting horses. We are very concerned that children are taught to ride and encouraged to hit animals who do not obey. That message is surely teaching children that it's ok to physically hurt someone who does not do as they wish.
Our message throughout is ' Violence Is Never The Answer'
