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Watson and her team of 12 animals work with a range of clients with such varied afflictions as depression, anxiety, eating disorders, post-traumatic stress, ADHD and developmental disabilities, and those who’ve suffered sexual, physical or emotional abuse.

She teaches private sessions for both adults and teens, in addition to running group programs for junior and senior high school students. Her teenage clients tend to be referred by therapists, school boards, health professionals or parents.

Watson considers her horses her co-workers and practices Reiki — a healing technique that uses touch to activate natural healing processes and restore physical and emotional well-being — so her animals don’t burn out.

“When our horses work with people that are struggling inside, whether it’s a physical disability or a mental illness, the horses, to stay calm and present with them, can take on their negative energies,” she said. The healing technique helps the horses release that negative energy.

Her facility includes sprawling outdoor fields and a brand-new large barn, made possible with support from Watson’s aunt and uncle, who own the land and believe in her mission. The couple’s 35-year-old daughter (Watson’s cousin), Jenny Seth, suffers from hypo cephalic cyst condition, similar to cerebral palsy, and communicates through sign language.

Photo by Christina Ryan / Calgary Herald

Though she’s allergic to horses, Jenny loves the animals. Her family members, including mom Lorraine Seth, find joy in watching Jenny ride, touch and interact with the towering creatures. “(On a horse) she can move the way we all move rather than having trouble with mobility on the ground,” said Lorraine Seth.

Watching her niece at work with clients has given her a new perspective on the animals she’s always loved.

“(Horses) just don’t judge,” said Lorraine Seth, who has spent her entire life around horses.

“They’re just so honest with that person. If they like you and they walk up to you and they want to be with you, they don’t care whether you don’t walk well, or you can’t hear like Jenny, or speak . . . The horses are amazing. They sense all these things and they know who needs what.”

In fact, the horses freely select which clients they work with. “We go out to the herd and the horses will actually come out to the person that they want to be with.”

In a recent session with a school group, Watson watched a restless horse bond with a boy who had Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. The typically level-headed horse wouldn’t stand still and wasn’t listening.

“The horse was just testing him and testing him,” Watson said. Though clearly frustrated, the determined boy worked with the horse and, together, they successfully completed a series of exercises. At the end of the session when students were asked what they learned, the boy said, “Patience.”

“For an ADHD boy to have self-acknowledgment of that is huge,” Watson said. “That he had worked through that frustration with (the horse), it was pretty powerful.”