Animals have been used in many therapy programs in recent years as a way to improve people's mental health and life skills.

Now, a Nevada County couple is using horses and even miniature horses from their Rock-n-Horse Ranch toward those ends.

Trish Browne-Gross and husband Randall Gross use the miniature horses for therapy and fully grown horses in a program called Horsing Around, which teaches at-risk youth and others about life priorities, relationships, career, health and dreams.

The miniature horses recently made the rounds at Golden Empire Convalescent Hospital, led by children.

"We thought it had quite an impact," Browne-Gross said.

"A man in a wheelchair in the hallway who never spoke or interacted with anyone stuck his hand out and petted one of our miniatures as he walked by and said 'Appaloosa.' It was pretty touching.

"The kids get a lot from the elderly people," Browne-Gross said. "If you put them in a room together, nothing's going to happen.

"But if the horse is involved, it's different, because there's something to talk about," Browne-Gross added.

"I thought the residents would enjoy seeing the ponies," said Helen Vanderhoof, activities director at Golden Empire. "They see a lot of dogs and home animals, but not miniature horses.

"It put a lot of smiles on faces and gave them a good attitude the rest of the day. ... It gave them a stimulus and something to talk about," Vanderhoof added. "You want to keep their social life going and you want to let them know they're not just here to eat, sleep and watch TV."

Therapy sessions

The Horsing Around series was learned by Browne-Gross from Greg Kersten's OK Corral in Utah, an equine-assisted psychotherapy learning center.

The series begins with participants getting into a corral with a few loose horses, Browne-Gross said. So far, they have done church and employer groups and a few couples counseling sessions.

"We'll start with a conversation with say, priorities," she said.

Soon, the horses amble over and begin interacting with the participants.

"The horses react to the differences in body language and what's being said," Browne-Gross said. "Basically the idea is to get the horses to read the people and discuss a topic, like dealing with a difficult person.

"If they're BS'ing about their situation, the horses react to that, they'll block the person from the rest of the group," Browne-Gross said.

That might lead to a conversation about why a stubborn horse won't move, Brown-Gross said.

"We might say, 'You can't change the horse, but do you still love him?'" Brown-Gross said.

When the person says yes, "Then we ask, 'Can you do that with a person?'

"It's not about just being with the horses," Brown-Gross said. "We constantly take it back to the people in their life."

Another exercise involves putting up barrels and other objects in the corral, "that represent things in their way," Brown-Gross said.

"They take the horses and navigate through the obstacles," just like they have to in life, Brown-Gross said. "The whole thing is to not give up."

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To contact Senior Staff Writer Dave Moller, e-mail davem@theunion.com or call 477-4237.