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Kimberly Mendoza started off with a dream.
“I wanted to spend time with my horses and I wanted to help others.
I had this dream to create a win-win situation by rescuing horses,”
she said.
It just so happened that there was a group of Premarin mares that
simultaneously became available, and Mendoza found a place to set up
Stable-Spirit in Alvin. She incorporated Stable-Spirit as a non-profit
in March of 2004. The name — Stable-Spirit — just came to
her, she says.
“The pharmaceuticals are still making Premarin, but the drug
is waning in popularity, so the mares are being displaced,” Mendoza
said.Premarin is a hormone-replacement product for women made from the
urine of pregnant mares.
“We managed to procure two of the mares and one was pregnant.
That was a big job — gentling them, and raising that baby,”
she said.
Since opening up the horse therapy business, she's had two dozen clients
come through horse therapy. Stable-Spirit deals with troubled adolescents
and adults, as well as businesses interested in leadership training.
Mendoza leads a full life. She's a single parent and home-schools
her daughter, in addition to having a graphics business and the horse
therapy enterprise.
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Mendoza was to receive a check for $40,000, but her benefactor, Dr.
Dale Allen of Bay Vision in Friendswood, died in a private plane accident
this past July 5.
“We now have a therapist on board, and a couple of therapists
contracted, as well as an equine professional,” she said. “We've
all been through the EAGALA (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association)
training. They're out of Utah, but they do trainings around the world
— Europe and Scotland, in particular.”Mendoza claims that
there's something uncanny about horse therapy. “When you invite
nature in, you get miracles,” she says. “It's almost like
the horses are intuitive teachers.”
Mendoza says that equine assisted psychotherapy (EAP) is a new therapy
and that “What's so powerful about it is that these animals are
prey animals.” They're hypersensitive, said the founder. They're
instinctively wired to read the intentions of others. In the wild, they
have to be on guard for mountain lions jumping on their backs. They
have that flight — not fight — instinct, says Mendoza.
“They really are gentle and they're masters at reading body language,”
she says. In addition, they mirror back whatever the client is feeling.
“What we're hoping our clients pick up out here with these beautiful
animals is that if they change their approach, they get different results.”
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As if to illustrate her point, Mendoza asked this reporter to pick
out a horse from the herd of eight to bridle and walk around the pasture.
“Rio,” third in the pecking order, a gorgeous nine-year-old
chestnut gelding, majestically walked over. “Must be my red hair,”
I said.
After a few minutes, and “Rio's” curious patience, this
reporter figured out the halter placement and took the animal for a
stroll.
Afterwards, there was a debriefing. Mendoza said, “There's no
right or wrong. I observed that you kept your sense of humor and when
you didn't get any assistance, you proceeded with the problem until
you figured it out, but it doesn't matter what I think. What matters
is that you felt you did well and that you saw this experience as an
indication that you have good problem solving skills.” Lesson over.
“Rio” nudged this reporter's pockets for a reward.
Mendoza says she has also worked with the Cadwalder Behavioral Clinic
in Tomball, which also uses equine therapy.
Stable-Spirit is recruiting “people passionate about horses and
therapy” for a few board member positions, said Mendoza. If interested,
call her at, or e-mail at katie@stable-spirit.org.
To learn more about the organization, visit the Web site at www.stable-spirit.org.
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