Summer Camp Registration
Grounding & Resilience
with Horses
A FREE restorative experience for first responders to support grounding, connection and resilience at Furnace Brook Farm Therapeutic Equestrian Center
Maximum 15 participants
Date: Sunday, September 13 (11:30AM* - 2:00PM) *Participants are welcome to come to the farm as early as 11AM*
Location: Furnace Brook Farm Therapeutic Equestrian Center
To reserve your spot: Click spencer@AmazingGraceEquineHealing.com OR emily@emilyhealing.com
First responders carry experiences that do not always end when the shift is over. Repeated exposure to crisis, responsibility for the lives of others, cumulative stress and personal or departmental loss can remain present in the body and nervous system.
This 2.5 hour experience offers first responders an opportunity to step out of operational readiness and into the quiet, grounded presence of horses.Through gentle movement, breath and grounding practices, guided meditation and time in the presence of the herd, participants are invited to slow down, reconnect themselves and experience a different kind of support— one that does not require explanation or disclosure.
Horses meet us in the present moment. Their responsiveness, sensitivity and nonjudgemental presence can help create the conditions for greater steadiness, connection and awareness.
No meditation or horse experience is necessary. There is no riding, and all participation and interaction with the horses are choice-based.
What to Expect
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Gentle, accessible movement
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Breath and nervous-system grounding practices
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Guided meditation in the presence of horses
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Choice-based connection with the herd.
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Quiet reflection and optional group sharing
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Respectful environment with no pressure to speak
about personal experiences.
Important Program Boundaries
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Participation is voluntary.
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There is no riding and no previous horse experience is required.
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Participants will not be asked to recount traumatic experiences.
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Every horse interaction is optional
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Observation-only participation is welcome.
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This experience complements — but does not replace — peer support, EAP services, chaplaincy, or licensed behavioral-health care.
Details
Comfortable clothing and closed-toe shoes are required. This is a non-riding offering and no pervious experience with horses, movement or meditation is needed.
This program is intended to compliment existing mental-health and peer-support resources. It is not psychotherapy, clinical treatment or crisis intervention.
Facilitators
Emily RiverStar Peterson
Trauma-Responsive Educator
Shamanic Healer
Creator of Human Horse Harmonics (3H)
Emily Peterson, known as RiverStar, brings over fifteen years of expertise in somatic trauma healing, nervous system regulation, and embodied spiritual practice to this program.
As a trauma-responsive educator, shamanic healer, yoga teacher, and breathwork facilitator, she has led TIMBo—Trauma Informed Mind Body—groups and professional trainings across multiple continents and has facilitated groups for Veterans with military sexual trauma and Active Service men and women.
Emily also created the original seed intervention and community facilitator training for the Mandela Yoga Project’s somatic movement-based public health intervention, later leading facilitator trainings in Boston, Kenya and Rwanda.
Having grown up in the company of horses, Emily spent many years away before returning two years ago to work with a herd of rescue horses. In this healing capacity, she discovered that they were healing her, just as they had done in her youth.
This experience initiated her into what she calls “Relationship as the Path.” The horses mirrored her long-held belief that healing transcends symptom management; it is about restoring relationships—within the body, between people, with animals, and with the living Earth.
This philosophy became the foundation of 3H—Horse, Human, Harmonics. For Emily, horses embody love, beauty, freedom, strength, and a profound connection to Spirit.
Emily also offers individual healing sessions with or without horses and resides in Boston with her partner, Marc, and their two beloved pups.
To read more about Emily and her work, visit Emily Peterson Healing.
Spencer Steere
Commonwealth of Massachusetts Licensed Riding Instructor
Certified Holy Fire Reiki Master & Animal Reiki
Level 1 and 2
Author of By Your Side: An Unexpected Path to Healing Low Self Esteem Through Equine Grace
Spencer Steere has spent her life in the company of horses — riding casually as a child, then competitively as an adult with River Wind Farm, showing in the Amateur Owner Hunters and Jumpers.
In 2010, she won the Massachusetts Horsemen's Council Adult Medal Final with her longtime partner, Amazing Grace. She later turned in her amateur card to teach young students and beginner adult riders at the farm.
Volunteering at Furnace Brook Farm Therapeutic Equestrian Center, a therapeutic barn, deepened her belief that horses are natural healers — blending her personal spiritual practice with her professional life and leading her to found Amazing Grace Equine Healing.
Today she is a certified Holy Fire Reiki Master and Animal Reiki Level 1 and 2 practitioner, sharing her love of equine grace through private sessions and continued community service at Furnace Brook.
Spencer is also the author of By Your Side: An Unexpected Path of Healing Low Self-Esteem Through Equine Grace. She lives in Marshfield, Massachusetts, with her husband, Carl.
To learn more about Spencer and her work, visit Amazing Grace Equine Healing.
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