How riding therapy changes lives

At Whisper Horses teaches children in vulnerable positions not just to ride - they learn to find peace, courage and self-esteem.

The offer, which is run by Helene Danielsen i collaboration with Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq, gives the children a safe space where they can practice social skills, experience small victories and take valuable strategies with them further in life.

At Whisper Horses teaches children in vulnerable positions not just to ride - they learn to find peace, courage and self-esteem.

The offer, which is run by Helene Danielsen i collaboration with Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq, gives the children a safe space where they can practice social skills, experience small victories and take valuable strategies with them further in life.

From children's legs

Helene Danielsen grows up with a mother who works with children and young people autism – and Helene becomes a natural part of the working environment early on.

- My mother was always at work. Either she had us at the institution, or she also brought the children home, says Helene.

The insight is only really realized many years later, when Helene together with Pia Marie Larsen and Marie Louise Frederiksen found Viska Horses – a place created precisely with riding therapy in mind.

One offer will be made

After five years of targeted work and planning, Viska Horses opens its doors in 2020. What begins as a vision to create an alternative to the traditional ones leisure facilities, is quickly developing into a place where children can find peace, courage and self-esteem in the interaction with the horses.

- The most important thing for us was to create a place that was inclusive for everyone - and especially for those who needed it the most, explains Helene Danielsen.

Today, five years later, Helene stands with a feeling of both pride and humility. Around 100 children have already been through the riding therapy courses, and many of them have taken big steps, which neither they, their parents nor their teachers had thought possible.

- This is where I really feel that all the work makes sense, says Helene.

Cooperation with the municipality, riding therapy gives wind in the sails

I In the summer of 2025, Helene is contacted by Kommuneqarfik Sermersooq, who wants to expand the collaboration they have with Viska Horses and want to invest more in the area. For Helene, the inquiry feels like a milestone.

- I was just about to fly when the municipality reached out. It was a giant pat on the back and a sign that what we do really makes a difference, tells Helene Danielsen.

I the middle of August begins the collaboration between the intervention area and Viska Horses for seriously. The municipality quickly selects 12 children, aged 7-17, for a municipality-supported riding therapy course at Helen.

- The children have different relational behavioral challenges, but common to them is that they are either on the verge of dropping out of school – or have already dropped out, for very different reasons, explains Helene.

The riding therapy becomes a much-needed breath of fresh air in the children's everyday life - something completely different space than the many psychological interviews they are otherwise used to. Here they meet someone else form of calmness, responsibility and relationship that many of them have not experienced before. The children comes once or twice a week, and Helene adapts the time with the horses to each individual child.

- Some children get the most out of just going with me and doing practical things - because example feeding the horses. Others could ride from morning to night. And then there is those who would rather groom and cuddle the horses to get physical closeness, but without that demands are made the other way, says Helene.

The courses last three months, after which the municipality assesses whether they should be extended with an additional three months, so that the riding therapy in total can extend over one half a year. Fortunately, the collaboration between Helene and the municipality works very well well, and everything indicates that all 12 children who are starting now will get their course extended - not least because of the clear impact measurement that the municipality values very highly.

- When the courses are extended, it is not just about time, but about the children experience of self-esteem and mastery. These are small but decisive victories - like that able to do something they otherwise didn't think they could. For children, not so often experience that feeling of succeeding, these are huge moments that give them courage and desire to try more, explains Helene.

Seen from a municipal perspective, it is about the children not only having enjoy the riding therapy here and now, but also gain self-esteem, a sense of mastery and courage with him further into life.

Horses as therapists

Helen used to say that the horses are the therapists, not her, and therefore there is a big task in pairing the individual child with the right one eight Icelandic horses.

- One of the children, for example, has been paired with the horse Gunna. She is one experienced horse who reads body language and energies in a very special way and adapts to the child.

- The child here needs small challenges while riding to get the most out of it, and each time he learns something new - at the same time with Gunna remaining gentle and calm, Helene says with a smile.

Helene is neither a psychologist nor a therapist – on a daily basis she works as a hairdresser, when she does not facilitate riding therapy.

- As a hairdresser, I am used to reading people, having conversations and meeting people - and I love that. Of course, my upbringing has also given me a special insight into the target group, but in reality it is the horses and the children who make the big deal work. My role is just to support them, and I really like to do that, says Helene with a laugh.

Helene works closely with the intervention area in the municipality. After each session she carefully notes her observations so that they can be included in the evaluation of the effort and is used to document how the riding therapy affects the children.

The children in the center

Among the 12 children who go to riding therapy at Helene's are a boy who always comes together with his mother. For the sake of their son's future, they wish to remain anonymous, but the mother still wants to share her experience of how big a difference it makes riding therapy makes in the son's life.

- The first time I brought my son, I was both nervous and scared, and the same was he We knew nothing about the big animals, but we slowly began to brush the horses and get to know them. After only a short time I could feel how much my son looked forward to coming out here - and it was a joy there rubbed off on me, she says.

The riding therapy becomes in this way not just an offer for the children, but a space where both children and parents experience new aspects of themselves and find peace, togetherness and self-esteem together with the horses.

- We feel completely safe with Helene and the way she works. She has learned my son to breathe calmly – because when he is calm, so is the horse calm and obedient. We have been able to take that home with us in everyday life: If he stays angry or has a seizure at home, I remind him to breathe like together with the horses - and it works and is very fascinating, she adds a clear calm in the voice.

In this way, the riding therapy becomes not only a place where the children learn about horses, but also a space where they develop strategies to deal with feelings and find peace in their everyday life.

- Even if it's only an hour once a week, it's incredibly calming to witness my son's development - and at the same time experience my own learning as parent, she says.

They most children who attend Helene participate in a one-to-one course where the focus is on their individual needs and development. Some children gradually become too put together in small groups so that they can practice social skills in a safe environment. For this family, however, it is important that time with Helene is only about her, the son and the horse.

- The peace he gets when he is just with the horse and Helene is incredible – it means the world to us. I am so glad this offer exists. Min son was previously associated with the youth centre, but after that, we have been missing something that could really reach him. It is precisely here that the therapeutic is combined with that corporeal in a way that gives him both joy and development, she adds warmth in the voice.

The mother hopes that the son will be able to continue riding after the course and take them valuable qualities with him – calmness, self-esteem and presence – that he has learned together with the horses.

From vision to reality

For five years ago, Helene and her colleagues started a dream: to create a place, where riding therapy could make a real difference to children who need one special offer. Today, the dream has come true - and even in a way, that exceeds her own expectations.

- This was the dream from the start, so I'm really grateful for how it has evolved. And this is the first time I actually get paid to be out here, because I am now a project employee in the municipality - otherwise the place has always been run together with a lot of other volunteers who work with the right heart place. It's big, says Helene with a smile.

Exactly this combination of commitment, structure and professional support makes riding therapy not only becomes a place for personal development, but also a space where the children practice social skills and rediscover the joy of community – aspects that also seen from a municipal perspective can strengthen their opportunities in school and free time. As a project employee in the municipality, Helene also has access to resources and professional colleagues who act as sparring partners, which ensures that each program gives the children as much as possible. What began as an idea borne of commitment and desire to help, has today become a place where the children meet understanding, challenge and support – a place that makes a real difference in their life.