February 26, 2023
HEARTS WITH HOOVES: Local equine-facilitated program helps area youth learn life skills
Jennifer Layton, owner of Layton Horse and Donkey Farm and founder of the nonprofit Hearts with Hooves in Matthews, Missouri, is impacting the lives of local children for the better. Layton is certified in equine-facilitated learning, horsepower reading, and the Stable Moments program, and said the new nonprofit organization began taking kids in August 2022...
By Gina Williams/Standard Democrat
Jennifer Layton, owner of Layton Horse and Donkey Farm and founder of the nonprofit Hearts with Hooves in Matthews, Missouri, is impacting the lives of local children for the better.
Layton is certified in equine-facilitated learning, horsepower reading, and the Stable Moments program, and said the new nonprofit organization began taking kids in August 2022.
The organization’s purpose is to work with horses and at-risk kids and foster kids using horses to teach them life skills, and Layton added that even though the organization launched in August, they have had their nonprofit status since December 2022.
“Now we focus on the kids that are at-risk, that maybe have a juvenile officer or that are in foster care or guardianship,” Layton said.
Layton is very passionate about the organization and shared how the nonprofit helps the kids.
“For example, if a child has tantrums or they have to regulate their emotions while working with a horse, the horse actually reacts to how they’re acting, so they have to self-regulate,” Layton said. “What ends up happening is that they are learning skills—how to make themselves calmer or more assertive around the horses, and that transforms into their everyday life.”
Layton said she was inspired by a life experience she went through, and horse learning and therapy were what helped her, so she was inspired to help others.
“I had a medical situation that was very traumatizing, and I was allowed to be around my horses, and I felt better,” Layton said. “My counselor said, ‘Hey, there’s something about that,’ and she researched it and then told me about equine-facilitated learning with the Herd Institute.”
She continued: “So I went through all of that, and I have been doing that for two years, and now I have already graduated from that.”
Layton explained how the horses have helped her after the trauma she experienced and what she has learned about the horses.
“I have high anxiety, and when I am around the horses, it actually calms me down,” Layton said. “The horse can actually hear our heartbeat from four feet away.
She continued: “So when you’re on top of a horse and you’re nervous, our horses sense that, and they’ll take over and be like, ‘I got you,’ which is similar to how these kids need someone to have their back.”
Layton noted as much as everyone needs a stable lifestyle, the nonprofit organization is attempting to utilize horses in a healthy manner to be a stable part of the children’s lives.
Hearts with Hooves not only gives kids a unique chance to work with horses, but they are also collecting money and holding fundraisers to provide all the kids with brand new boots and helmets.
A guardian of two foster children who are part of Hearts with Hooves, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their identities, said horse therapy had really benefited the two children.
“The kids started in December, and it’s been really good for them,” the guardian said.
The guardian went on to say one of the children had some attitude issues, but the horses had helped the child relax.
“She was having a lot of attitude, and being around the horses calms her; she’ll get upset, and the horses just calm her,” the guardian. “I mean, it’s really been wonderful for her; her attitude has changed 90%.”
The guardian said while many people think horse therapy is strange, it actually works.
“People will say, ‘Horse therapy, really?’ Horse therapy works; it works, I don’t care what anybody says, and it really helps these kids,” said the guardian.
The guardian mentioned the other child has become much more outspoken since they began coming to ride horses.
“It really has brought her bashfulness out; she’s getting to the point where she will speak up for herself,” said the guardian.
The guardian went on to describe how the youngsters also learn a lot about horse care.
“They learn how to groom a horse, clean their hooves, and how to take care of them from head to toe,” said the guardian. “They learn how to tack up their own horses too.”
Layton said the nonprofit is also attempting to supply certain sorts of backpacks and duffle bags for the children. Oftentimes when foster children are placed in a foster home, they are given a trash bag for their belongings or arrive with nothing at all, which is why she likes to give the duffle bags, she said.
Layton said she found a website called comfortcases.org, an organization which helps provide backpacks for foster kids. So she decided to contact them and see if they could help.
“I placed my own order and got in touch with them and explained what we’re doing here, so they are allowing me to buy them,” Layton said.
Layton said her intention is to provide backpacks for all of the surrounding counties that they serve, not the specific counties, but simply counties within an hour’s radius of Sikeston.
“All these kids are showing up to a foster home with a trash bag; if they have anything, some of them show up with nothing,” Layton said. “For me and you, the trash bag represents just a trash bag, but to them, it’s more that they don’t matter; they feel not worthy of having a regular bag.”
Layton has already placed two orders for backpacks and duffel bags, explaining that various sorts of bags are available based on the child’s age and that the bags include toiletries and other items.
“So instead of a trash bag, they’re given a duffle bag, and then they’re given a backpack that’s geared towards their age, whether it be a girl or a boy, so whatever their pajamas are,” Layton said. “So when they get picked up from their home and go into foster care, they have toiletries, a stuffed animal to cuddle, a blanket because we’re trying to wrap them in love, if they’re older chapter books or if they’re younger coloring books, and finally a pencil and a diary.
She continued: “That way were telling them right when we get that kid out of that home: ‘You are worthy, this is a situation that happened to you, you are not the situation.’”
Layton said that their goal is to fill all the social workers’ with backpacks and duffle bags to give to the kids.
According to Layton, 80% of foster children are in prison, homeless or addicted to drugs or alcohol. Layton also said that because of their trauma, the children think they are unimportant, and Hearts with Hooves is attempting to teach the children they are valuable and they can have a happy future.
“When these kids are in these abusive homes or are being neglected, they are being taught to believe that they aren’t worthy,” Layton said. “They have that ‘I don’t matter’ mentality, so we are trying to teach them that they do matter.”
Layton said that the program is open all year and accepts children as young as 2 and as old as 21.
“So we work with their skills; we are teaching them how to self-regulate so that they can have a job,” Layton said. “We teach them that they matter, so maybe they’ll take a bath because some of them have that situation.
She continued: “The kids are told that they’re at fault, and we are trying to tell them, ‘No, that trauma was not you.’”
Layton said at the farm they are in need of volunteers for the program and anyone who passes a background check is welcome to volunteer.
“We need men; we need women to all volunteer at our farm and be mentors,” Layton said. “That way that one person can make a huge difference in that child’s life.
She continued: “And it’s just showing up, even though it’s a big program and we have all these activities, that one volunteer showing up for that one child makes them feel like they matter.”
To learn more about the nonprofit organization Hearts with Hooves or to volunteer as a mentor, contact founder Jennifer Layton at (573) 703-7974 or through the Hearts with Hooves Facebook page.
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