JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind. — Valentine’s Day is just under a week away and Opening Gates held a special party Saturday, but it wasn’t the typical run of the mill celebration with flowers, cards and candy.
It was a pretty party featuring miniature horses.
“We have a kissing booth, we have a dress up booth with the miniature horses, we have cookie decorating – we have a grooming station,” Shara Wiesenauer said.
Opening Gates hosted the valentines-themed bash for fun, but also for funds.
The nonprofit is run 100% by volunteers and they depend on donations to keep their programs afloat.
Those programs include using the furry friends for therapy sessions.
Wiesenauer, a lead counselor at the organization, was a traditional talk therapist before starting this nonprofit. She says with the help of the horses, she’s seen much better results.
“I often times say that I feel like I cheat when I’m here at Opening Gates because the horses are so powerful, and they can draw so much more out of clients than I can draw out of them when I was set in that traditional therapeutic setting. You speak volumes through your body language and through your emotions. That’s what the horses pick up on and that’s what I can see through the horses and I can see what’s really going on with a client,” she said.
For more information on the program and how you can get involved, click here for more information.
►Contact reporter Abby Lutz at alutz1@whas11.com. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook.