Horses saved from the knackery are helping set the lives of vulnerable people on the right track.

Healing Hooves founder Jodie Alderton says horses can see through our ego and into our soul. (ABC Local:Damien Larkins)

Healing Hooves is nestled in the hills of Nerang, on the outskirts of the Gold Coast.

The charity rescues neglected horses and uses them in therapy programs for homeless, at-risk and autistic youth as well as adults with mental illness.

The farm is home to a menagerie of animals including almost a dozen horses, Shetland ponies and donkeys; some old, some blind, others just have trouble getting around.

Healing Hooves founder Jodie Alderton says many of the animals would otherwise be destined for the slaughterhouse.

"We actually pick up some that we see possibility [in]," she says.

"Usually a horse actually chooses us."

The equine-assisted therapy programs help build self-esteem, community and family bonds in a safe environment.

"Horses can actually see through our ego... they can see into our soul," Jodie says.

"They can actually see if we're in pain and the horse will come up to person that's needing love at the moment and feeling isolated.

"They have a sixth sense basically."

Sparing the horses

Jodie's own turbulent childhood led to her connection with horses.

Her parents were only teenagers when they had their first child and by the time Jodie was 10, her home was a source of regular conflict and pain.

"I was lucky to be around horses... my sanity come from just sitting in paddock with horses," she said.

"If I was sad they would come over and just nurture me."

She wanted a way to mirror her own positive experience, to help others on the Gold Coast.

"It certainly works for some of the youth, because you can go off the rails really easy," she says.

The programs are now being expanded to help young people in the juvenile justice system and foster care.

Courses for horses

Healing Hooves facilitator Emma Gander helps create and deliver the therapy programs.

She says the feedback is amazing, particularly for the teen empowerment courses.

"It's a bit of an outlet to help them overcome situations that they may not be confident [with] at school and coming into those early teenage years," she says, "Issues such as bullying and self-doubt."

The results differ from person to person and sometimes take a while to appear, but Emma says that's part of the surprise and joy of the job.

"That's what the magic about it is," she says, "The horses have that healing ability and they tend to know intuitively what that person needs."

The clients learn life skills that they can draw on later down the track.

Backing the right horse

Volunteer Lisa helps feed and care for the horses and found Healing Hooves when her two children were diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome.

"It was also on my son's diagnosis... that I found out that something was different with myself," she says.

"I was then later diagnosed by another specialist with Asperger's as well."

Seeing the benefits her children gained from the program, Lisa decided to join in.

She says she's discovered a new, positive outlook on life.

"We all think we should be more than we are but once you open up your heart and your eyes and you mind you realise that you can be a benefit just by helping within community," she says.

Watching the animals play, fight and interact has helped Lisa appreciate that the glass can be half full.

"They don't judge, they don't hold grudges, they just are," she says.

"They're just the most beautiful healing animals."