A different kind of healing

At her home-based retreat local Brenda Tanner uses horses to help breast cancer survivors regain their lives.

In a tiny pocket of the picturesque Hunter Valley wine country a small herd of horses are working their magic. Women, bearing the physical and mental battle scars of breast cancer, are finding inner peace through a unique equine therapy retreat.

Within the serene backdrop of the Brokenback Range and adjoining vineyards, the women spend hours with the horses as a means of reconnecting them with their untapped emotions. In an Australian-first the Who Am I Now program is using the healing power of horses, to help women recover from the gruelling months of treatment following a breast cancer diagnosis. Interaction with the horses is assisting the women to reconnect with themselves and develop new resources to move forward with life.

“I thought I’d lost so much through breast cancer, but this program showed me how much I have gained,” 34-year-old Rebecca Angus says. “The retreat made me realise how resilient I have become through this experience. I feel it has restored my confidence to move on from my treatment and start living life again.” The program is being run by trained equine therapist and owner of Equine Encounters Australia, Brenda Tanner from her property, Kalagari, at Broke.
For more information go to https://www.equine-encounters-au.com.
To help support the program via donations https://www.gofundme.com/breast-cancersurvivor- therapy.
Story by Frances O’Shea, photography courtesy of Equine Encounters.   
Read more in issue 94 of Hunter&Coastal Lifestyle Magazine