April 2024
- ahylmo2
- Apr 10, 2024
- 4 min read
Welcome, Spring - and our nonprofit partners!!!
Grey horses that are getting lighter every year with every winter coat they shed are not easy to keep clean. Now it's finally spring and Eddie finally got a hair cut and a bath. What do you think?
Spring is that time of renewal that makes us think of clearing the old and letting the new in, for sure. Many of us start to reconsider what we are doing and think of doing something different. Those new opportunities are exactly what EDDIE'S TURN celebrates, for horses and humans alike.
That is why I'm particularly proud of our growing network of nonprofits that we are partnering with to help spread the word about our upcoming film. All those nonprofits will benefit from EDDIE'S TURN once it is complete as they will be able to share the film with their communities to build awareness and increase the support that they need to do their work.
The equine therapy and race horse re-careering communities need all the support that they can get to share what elite athlete horses can do off the track. Working as an equine therapist is only one of many jobs that they can do, but it is one of the most powerful ones.
Every time that I mention EDDIE'S TURN, I connect with someone who has either been touched by equine therapy themselves or know someone who has. If they don't have direct experience, they either know someone who needs it or they could benefit themselves. Those of us who have benefited know how profoundly the healing is that takes place. Lives are changed, both human and equine.
That is why it is so important to me that we make EDDIE'S TURN. Together we can amplify the impact and make a difference for the nonprofits that help horses and humans to embrace change and to change lives.
Who do you know that will be impacted by our film?
Annika Hylmö
Writer/Director
Join us and make a difference that will keep impacting off the track thoroughbred horses and humans who need their equine therapy!
Did you know...?
One of the ways that horse actors are protected on set is that there are clear guidelines for how they are treated on set. One very important aspect of that is that the use of tranquilizers and other sedatives is strictly forbidden if it is only because a horse is working in a film.
Animal handlers can approve the availability of tranquilizing equipment if the handler considers it warranted to have those available on set. In addition, a veterinarian should be on set if the scene that is filmed is potentially dangerous or complicated for the horse. No such scene should be filmed without adequate training and preparation for both humans and horses.
For more information, please connect with Humane Hollywood.
Horses and Healing:
A firefighter arrived. He was broken and bruised, emotionally bleeding from the pain he had witnessed for years. He was tired. Too many deaths, too many tears he’d witnessed. He stepped into the barn and suddenly he was face to face with a large grey thoroughbred. He stopped in his tracks, his breath quickened. This fire fighter’s facilitation team immediately recognized this was no longer a horse but something in this man’s story that had caused him to pause.
They started asking questions about the location, about who or what this character could be in his story. The man stared at this grey horse who had lightening marks down her legs. He took a breath and shared, “She’s the storm. She’s the storm in my head...my anxiety.” As the session continued, ‘The Storm’ turned her body and showed her other side. The fire fighter smiled as if struggling to believe what he was seeing and said, “Well…this side of her is different…it’s like my confidence…it’s spotty.”
"Storm" is also known as Wave (racing name: Dangerous Wave), a powerful mare. See any resemblance to anyone?
The man’s facilitation team asked, “How does anxiety then or ‘The Storm’ ever get let out when confidence is spotty?” The fire fighter looked at what was keeping ‘The ‘Storm in her stall and shared, “Well…you have to let down the wall that’s held up with chains.” His facilitation team then asked how the wall and the chains got put up in the first place? As if a rhetorical question they all knew how.
The firefighter lowered his head and closed his eyes. The calls. The calls he rushed to in the dead of night. The calls where someone took their last breath. The calls one never comes back from. He raised his head and explained, “I need help to learn how to let my emotions out because The Storm (if let out) could run over others.” He repeated again, “I need help learning how to do this.” He looked back towards ‘The Storm’…the big grey, “I need help with this.” Catching his gaze, his facilitation team smiled, “We can help you with this.”
Through the summer, this firefighter continued to come and began to learn how to let out ‘The Storm,’ how to handle ‘The Storm’, and how to not allow anyone including himself to be ‘run over’ by this huge representation of anxiety. Confidence was built, courage was restored, and a renewed perspective on life was established.
Reprinted from Abijah's on the Backside Newsletter with permission.
By providing mental health support for stable workers, military, first responders, and the public, Abijah’s equine-experiential mental health programs provide purposeful retirement for off-track thoroughbreds while creating life-changing outcomes for clients experiencing PTSD, addiction, trauma, depression, and anxiety.
