MONROE – Hope For Horses teamed up this week with a Seattle YMCA to help foster children and the animals.
The nonprofit on a ranch southwest of Monroe cares for abandoned, abused and neglected horses.
On the way toward recovery, those horses regain trust in people and sometimes help humans heal.
For the first time, 16 foster children were brought from Seattle to the ranch on Tuesday. The children played with horses.
“Horses are very therapeutic; they are very calming,” said Jenny Edwards, the executive director of Hope For Horses.
The YMCA Family Services and Mental Health in Seattle is helping the children find good foster parents as well as heal and grow.
“This is a neat opportunity because they can actually do hands-on with animals,” Laura Rollins, family support specialist for the YMCA.
The children, who range in age from 6 to 17, live mainly in Seattle. Some of them had never seen horses firsthand until Tuesday.
The children smiled, spoke to and touched horses. Some fed carrots to their new four-legged friends.
A 17-year-old boy saw horses firsthand for the first time. He was hesitant to touch a horse called Pete at first.
“He’s not going to bite you. It’s OK,” a 14-year-old girl said to the boy.
The boy petted the horse. He smiled.
“It felt pretty good,” the boy said.
Rollins asked The Herald not to identify the foster children because of privacy and security reasons.
The children helped horses as well, said John Edwards, Jenny Edwards’ husband. Abused horses are afraid of people. Interacting with children helps them regain trust in humans.
“It’s always a good thing for horses to get used to” human contact, John Edwards said.
Horses and children need close attention, good care and food to heal and thrive, Jenny Edwards said.
And they need a lot of love, she said.
Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.
Help the horses
Hope For Horses, a nonprofit group located southwest of Monroe, takes in abandoned, abused and neglected horses and helps them heal. For more information about the group, go to www.hopeforhorses.net or contact the group at 360-453-4040 or at info@hopeforhorses.net.
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