Horse’s Name:
Chance
Center:
Bridle Paths
Story of their journey
Chance is a 24-year-old chestnut Belgian Warmblood gelding who was imported from Europe at age 6 to compete as an “A” show hunter, including with former U.S. Olympic show jumper Reed Kessler. He joined the Bridle Paths team in 2014 after a long and varied show career. Chance is an essential part of our adaptive riding, equine-facilitated learning, and equine-assisted psychotherapy work. Every day, he helps participants to take meaningful steps toward growth, learning, and healing, and to build authentic connections, in partnership with horses. He teaches all of us how to conduct ourselves with dignity, grace, humor, and gusto.
During his eleven years at Bridle Paths, Chance has created deep and lasting bonds with many, many people. He has helped young children with attention challenges and sensory seeking behavior to build focus and empathy, and to move in purposeful and comfortable ways. He has taught riders the finer points of steering, posting, and lateral work, sometimes even in the middle of a thunderstorm. He has shown wounded veterans how to build a life of purpose in the face of obstacles and limitations. For teens with self-harming behaviors, he has normalized difficult feelings and helped teens to build clear communication with family members. He has held space with trauma survivors who are working to regain confidence, clarity, and sense of self in a world that can be violent, demeaning, and overwhelming. Chance is able to adjust his movement and his engagement to meet each participant where he or she is, whether that participant is learning simply to be present and to trust, or is learning more advanced dressage skills. In the words of one veteran participant: “Equine therapy is unlike anything else. It’s about bridging gaps and coming undone before you bridge those gaps, and it is deeply uncomfortable at times. It’s the furthest thing from transactional. I have formed an otherworldly connection with this horse called Chance. I think he’s saved my life.”