www.reiki.org • Summer 2016 • © Reiki News Magazine 19

SEVERAL YEARS AGO, based on theinformation that I had read in Dr.Temple Grandin’s books Thinking in

Pictures and Animals in Translation1 aboutthe ability people on the autism spectrumhave to better understand how animalsthink, I came to understand that because ahorse’s brain and an autistic person’s brainare very similar, horses can “reach” peoplewho are diagnosed with autism spectrumdisorder (ASD) better than humans can.Based on this newly emerging concept, Idecided to offer riding lessons to peoplewith autism. As a result, we have experi-enced tremendous success over the last fourand a half years, as our autism studentsseem to teach us and bring joy, understand-ing and learning to us all—volunteers,instructors, horses and other students.

I am an animal scientist so Dr.Grandin’s work gave me the scientificviewpoint from which I can understandthe potential of putting people on theautism spectrum together with horses.Reiki and my intuition told me that Reiki-attuned horses would be even more effec-tive in helping people manage their condi-tions. To this end, we have noted severalrepeating patterns in the changes that ourstudents experience. Usually the firstchange that we see involves connection.Our autism students often have difficultyconnecting with and feeling empathy forother humans but seem to learn this skillwithin the first few sessions with the horse.We then watch them turn around and

hypersensitive and often unable to ignorethe “noise” of everyday life that assaultsour senses, our quiet lessons give our Reikihorses, through their usual outpouring ofReiki, the chance to help our students andthemselves find a place to release thestress and excess energy they pick up eachweek. It’s a beautiful thing to behold.

Once we determine that our potentialstudents who are diagnosed as autistic cansafely ride, we enroll them in our program.In addition to this, we teach the parents tolead the horses, creating a bonding experi-ence between parent, horse and child.

We want you to meet some of the intel-ligent, sensitive, talented and remarkablestudents from our autism program.

AmandaTwelve-year-old Amanda was our first

student. Her mom, Lisa, is a Level II Reikipractitioner who has worked with othertherapeutic riding programs and helped usget set up with a year-round program thatwould be specifically designed for youngpeople diagnosed with autism who woulduse our “Reiki horses.” Amanda was diag-nosed with Mosaic Down’s Syndromebefore birth and later, with ADHD (inat-tentive type) and Asperger’s, which oftenaccompany this. Lisa hoped our programwould help Amanda manage stress and

connect with humans. It’s truly beautiful.Over time, many of the students seem todevelop more empathy. The second is inthe area of confidence. They all grow inconfidence as their anxiety and stress lev-els go down, and they seem better able tocope with the task of living everyday life,which for a person with autism can bedaunting. The third change that we oftensee involves sleep patterns. As their confi-dence grows, lessening their levels of stress,some of our students notice improvementsin their sleep patterns, which is an issue formany with this condition.

Why is this so effective? There are several reasons why the con-

nection we have established between ourhorses and our autistic students has been sobeneficial. The first reason is that unlikeeven the most well-meaning humans, hors-es don’t judge. And so by not judging ourstudents, they create a safe space for them.Next comes the ability of Reiki to providea calm, relaxing environment for the stu-dents and the horses to work together in.We have seen that the horses put up withmuch more from an autistic student riderthan they will from other students.

Another important reason for the part-nership’s effectiveness is that because, asDr. Grandin’s writings describe, horses’brains are wired so much like human ones,the horses appear able to develop lines ofcommunication with our autistic studentson a level that the rest of us find difficult tounderstand; yet it is palpable and visible.

Also, since both horses in general andindividuals on the autism spectrum are

Reiki, Horses andAutistic Children

B Y P A M A L L E N - L E B L A N CP H O T O S C O U R T E S Y O F G O R I C A B A R U D Z I J A

1 Temple Grandin, Thinking in Pictures, Expanded

Edition: My Life with Autism, rev. ed., (New

York, NY: Vintage, 2010).; Temple Grandin and

Catherine Johnson, Animals in Translation:

Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal

Behavior, (San Diego, CA: Harcourt, 2006).

The dynamic duo, Taryn and Breaker Dawnshare so much through their connection.

20 © Reiki News Magazine • Summer 2016 • www.reiki.org

and that her time with Star has alsohelped improve her focus.

She finds that in addition to beingphysically stronger from her riding, Starhas shown her how to be stronger mental-ly. “I don’t have as much Asperger’s as Iused to in elementary [school]. I guess Idon’t have as many traits”: she thinks thatshe learned to adapt from watching thehorses. One trait of her Asperger’s condi-tion is that she is extremely observant,and Amanda believes that this is why shecan watch how the horses handle differentsituations and then adapt them to her ownlife. She surprised me when she said thatshe uses the skills from her riding lessonsat school and at home. As an example,Amanda says that she can lower herextrasensory levels on cue now, and herparents agree. Noticing that when horsesbecome stressed, they yawn and snort, shetranslated that to deep breathing for her-self, and she employs this technique sever-al times a day. She also says that she sleepsmuch better than she used to—especiallyafter riding lessons; Larry says she is oftenasleep on the way home! And through theweek, any time that she struggles to sleep,she uses her own Reiki to help. She plansto stick with riding into her adult life asshe loves the peace and sense of belongingthat she feels with the animals.

In Fall 2014, Amanda was able to shareall of this with Dr. Grandin, herself, as sheand I, along with my daughter and someother students, were blessed to travel tomy undergrad university in Truro, NovaScotia, to meet Dr. Grandin. There, wehad the opportunity to inform her that herwork had inspired our riding program.

TarynTaryn started lessons with Amanda

when she was 11 years old. She said thatshe had always enjoyed the calm shenoticed around her neighbor’s Percheronsand wanted to learn to ride because ofthis. Taryn was originally diagnosed with

hypertonia (overall muscle weakness),which is also part of her condition.

We generally allow our horses to picktheir students. Star picked Amanda and abeautiful relationship ensued. Amandatells me they have similar personalitytraits, that Star is the most like her. Les-sons started in September at the begin-ning of the school year. The transitionfrom summer to “school” for children onthe autism spectrum is often difficult.Amanda’s parents were amazed at theeasy transition Amanda experienced thatfall; our jaws all dropped the third weekof lessons when this shy, sensitive youngwoman announced that she planned toattend her first middle school dance.This increased interest and capabilitywith her school experiences and academ-ic work continued to expand and grow asthe year progresssed.

Our riders learn to groom their horsesand work with them to establish a rela-tionship. Amanda and her dad, Larry, callit their “date night” each Friday whenthey work together in lessons. Initially,Amanda’s weak muscles and lack of bal-ance made it difficult for her to pick outhooves, get on the horse and maintain herseat, so we provided volunteers to walkwith Amanda and hold each leg as wetrained her father to lead Star. Each weekwe noticed Amanda’s core strengthimprove. Now, although we still walk withher in case she needs us, she and Star havethings figured out; we are just there forshow. Amanda can give all of the cues toStar and can even trot bareback on herown—sometimes with her arms outstraight relying only on her balance. Andshe enjoys doing that to show us all whata great rider she has become.

When asked what she has gained fromthe lessons, Amanda, who is now a LevelI Reiki practitioner herself, says that sheenjoys the sense of energy and connectionshe gets from the horses. She says she feelsa sense of spiritual belonging with animals

extreme deafness in her left ear and pro-found deafness in her right ear as an infantand with Asperger’s when she was 10.Taryn’s mother, Dawn, was familiar withDr. Grandin’s work and wondered if ourprogram might provide an outlet both forsport and socializing for her daughter,especially as deafness and autism are bothcommunication disorders. She finds theprogram has given Taryn a way to commu-nicate with another being without havingto talk, allowing her to be herself withoutthe pressure of verbal communication. Weall watched Taryn blossom like a flowerthrough her relationship with the horsethat chose her—ironically named BreakerDawn.

Taryn likes Breaker Dawn because sheis easygoing and feels they clicked imme-diately.

I could see Taryn making a connectionwith Breaker Dawn and realized this was adifficult skill for her. I could almost see thewheels turning as she quickly determinedhow to apply this to connecting with peo-ple. She then proceeded to charm all ofthe volunteers and staff who helped withlessons! Taryn had a smooth transitioninto school that year and ALSOannounced to us that she planned toattend her school dance which was held aweek after Amanda’s!

Then one day, Breaker Dawn decidedthat Taryn did not need our help, andbegan gently pushing us out of the wayduring lessons, wanting Taryn to herself.Turns out that she was right—Taryn wasable to begin riding independently wellbefore WE were ready to drop the leadline. Then Taryn’s confidence soared.This growing sense of confidence is some-thing that her mom recognizes, noticingthat Taryn has learned to make small talkand is more in touch with what’s going onaround her.

This awareness holds true for Tarynherself. She says that when she feelsstressed, Breaker Dawn “drains the stress

REIKI, HORSES AND AUTISTIC CHILDREN

www.reiki.org • Summer 2016 • © Reiki News Magazine 21

away” and that when she sometimes hasthose typical teenage disagreements withher family, Breaker Dawn seems to helpher see her way smoothly through those aswell. Dawn (the mom) finds that Taryn isalways really relaxed after her lessons andthat Taryn looks forward to them all week.She loves that Taryn enjoys the opportu-nity to share with other people and findsshe is in her element when she’s here. Les-sons tend to bring down Taryn’s anxietylevel and she is more relaxed physically,mentally and emotionally.

Like Amanda, Taryn is also attuned toLevels I and II Reiki, as is her mom. Tarynuses her own Reiki at night when herstomach feels funny and it helps that andalso helps her sleep.

When I asked Taryn what advice shewould give to kids on the autism spectrumwho were thinking of working with Reikihorses, she said that “some people just feeldrawn to a certain horse and if that horseis drawn to you too, it just clicks. Then itmakes your life easier—maybe not yourwhole life but at least some of it.”

ChristopherChristopher is a 27-year-old man with

classic or profound autism and a commu-nication disorder. Christopher is non ver-bal and lost his vision completely due to

retinal detachment a few years prior tostarting lessons. This loss of vision causedChristopher to be frustrated, loud and vio-lent much of the time. He suffered fromanxiety and migraines and used to selfinjure with head hitting so that he alwayshad to wear a soft helmet, even to bed. Hestruggled with appointments and with justabout everything. Karen, his mother, is aschool intervention worker who workswith children with disabilities just likeChristopher’s, but recognized that tradi-tional therapies and medications simplywere not working for her son. She wasgrasping at straws when she rememberedthat he used to enjoy riding horses in his

youth. And while his visual impairmentand size do not allow him to ride, she won-dered if she could set something up forhim to “be around” horses to see if thatwould help.

At first, she found it difficult to believethat horses could do Reiki for a human—but she was willing to try it, simply to gethim some horse-time in the hopes thatwould help.

It did not take long for Karen’s skepti-cism to turn to wonder, as her frustrated,unhappy son turned a corner that every-one noticed! The first week, after about 15minutes with Rain, Christopher lifted hishands and smacked them down hard onRain’s back. Thank goodness I can com-municate with the animals, as I was readyto tell his mother he was not able to han-dle the sessions and cancel his lesson. Hismortified mother grabbed Christopher’shands and told him the behavior wasunacceptable. Meanwhile Rain did notmove except to turn her head around tome and say “It’s okay. You don’t understandwhat is going on with him, but I do. We

Amanda with Star—a beautiful relationship.

Rain brought wonderful changes for Christopherwhen they started working together.

22 © Reiki News Magazine • Summer 2016 • www.reiki.org

REIKI, HORSES AND AUTISTIC CHILDREN

understand each other. He needed to dothat. Don’t cancel his lessons! I need tokeep working with this boy.” I relayed thisto his mother and while Karen was stillskeptical about horses, Reiki and animalcommunication, she was relieved thatthere would be a second lesson.

At the end of the second lesson,Christopher indicated that he was “fin-ished” with a slightly less violent smack toRain. After Rain looked at me withanother “okay,” I had to assume that it wasprogress. And by the third session, thisagitated and somewhat violent young manwas smiling and gentle with the horse.After a few more sessions, Christopherstopped self injuring and was able toremove his helmet, which after more les-sons led to its removal in bed at night andduring the day. Having had big behaviorproblems at his dental appointments foryears, after his regular Reiki time with thehorses, his dental appointments were somuch easier that his dentist thought thatperhaps he had been prescribed medica-tion. Karen explained that the onlychange she had made was to bring him tohorse sessions with Reiki horses. The den-tist was surprised and skeptical but grudg-ingly admitted that “something” wasworking so keep it up.

And the changes in his behaviors andpersonality are not relegated to his dentalappointments. Karen finds Christopherless anxious and frustrated. He talks, gig-gles and hums and where he used to yellhigh-pitched, negative sounds, now hesounds happy and content. Now Christo-pher tries using language and while he cangenerally only initiate the first sound foreach word, there are several words we canall understand. He is beginning to com-municate in a very different way.

Because of his vision impairment,Christopher generally simply sits withRain though sometimes he even walks heraround the arena. At first, it was with oneof us holding his hand, but eventually he

and Rain walked on their own, each usingthe energy of the other to guide them.

One day, Bev, another animal commu-nicator, visited, and Rain communicatedfull sentences for Christopher to her. Thiswas a miracle as it allowed Christopher toexpress himself more completely than everbefore. Bev described the things Christo-pher loves about his mother in detail,explaining things she does for him thatneither Bev nor I had any way of knowing,but Karen was in tears as she said that shehad always hoped he had felt this way, butnever knew for sure. For the first time inher life, she received words of apprecia-tion from her son. There were not manydry eyes in the arena that day, and Karenlost her skepticism about both Reiki andanimal communication.

Sometimes the horses work together tobring about change. Christopher, who isvery sensitive to changes in the weatherand suffers migraines from air pressurechanges, came to ride on a low pressureday after not having been there for awhile.He was not the happy, relaxed man thatwe had come to know. Star decided tocome in and help Rain that day and therest of the horses stopped grazing andjoined them, lining up outside, facing thearena. They just stood there for most ofthe time Christopher was there. I noticedtheir odd formation and attention as Iglanced out the door and asked Buddywhat they were doing. Bud explained thatChristopher had “a great head pain,” andthat he needed all of their help that day.So all of the horses worked on Christo-pher that day and within 45 minutes, ourhappy and relaxed Christopher was back.We were all just a little amazed at thechange the horses brought about.

Christopher is trying new things againlike music therapy, massage, swimmingand art therapy. He is happy, hummingmuch of the time. Occasionally, he getsquiet and starts making similar hummingsounds to those he makes when he is here

with Rain. When Karen notices this sheasks him who he is talking to and hereplies, “Rai,” so she knows that the two ofthem connect even when he is not here.

Eventually, Karen studied Reiki Level Iand recently studied Usui/Holy Fire IIReiki II. We created a modified Reiki Iclass for Christopher, too, who under-stands everything we say to him despitehis difficulty expressing language. He usesReiki in between his riding classes, and wecan see its effects coming out in his art-work too!

Karen feels that Christopher hasregained a sense of value and worththrough the time he spends with Rain. Henow seems motivated to live his life fully.I certainly look forward to my “Christo-pher” time every week. His workersdelight in him as do his teachers, thera-pists and pretty much everyone he meets.Karen, whose dedication to her son neverceases to amaze and inspire us, believesthat Christopher’s time with the horsesprofoundly changed everything for himand for them and that those changes con-tinue to grow as he continues to spendtime with the horses. She feels she tooreceives much needed therapy from thehorses when she is here and is so gratefulfor all of this.

And gratitude is what we all feel forour Reiki horses and the people who joinus here to experience the uplifting healingthat they share with us. 1

Pamela Allen LeBlanc is an

Usui/Holy Fire ART/Master and

a Holy Fire Karuna Reiki® Mas-

ter. She has a B.S. in Agricul-

ture and an MBA. Following a

successful career in govern-

ment, she now teaches Natu-

ral Horsemanship. She lives with her husband, three

children, 16 horses, three cats, three dogs and a

bunch of chickens, guinea hens and ducks. She can

be contacted by email at pam@hiddenbrook.ca and

through her website at www.hiddenbrook.ca.