Lived experiences of parents of children with disabilities engaged in a support group incorporating equines.
A 10-week equine-parent circle lifted caregiver mood without any child drills.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Black et al. (2022) asked 12 parents of kids with mixed disabilities to join a 10-week group called Taking the Reins. Each week parents met, talked, and did simple ground-work with horses—no riding. Researchers recorded the talks and looked for common themes.
What they found
Parents said the horses and the group gave them three big gifts. They felt heard and less alone. They saw themselves as strong caregivers again. They left each session calmer and ready for home life.
How this fits with other research
King et al. (2021) and Lee et al. (2020) also used parent interviews after group programs and heard the same warm words: “I feel better, I belong, my kid benefits.” The pattern shows parent-only groups reliably lift mood.
McKinlay et al. (2022) paints the opposite picture: parents feel ignored and stressed when schools leave them out. Heather’s equine group flips that script by putting parents at the center, proving the tone flips when services invite them in.
Todd (2007) warns that grief stays silent when support ends. Heather’s study answers that gap with a living, breathing support space—horses replace silence with connection.
Why it matters
You can’t pour from an empty cup. When moms and dads spend ten Tuesday nights with horses and peers, they refill their own tank. No new child data is needed—just give caregivers a place to talk and groom a pony. Copy the model: pick any calm animal, set a circle of chairs, and let parents speak first.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Parenting a child with disabilities comes with significant challenges to parental quality of life, often resulting in decreased physical, mental, and social health when compared to parents who raise typically developing children. AIMS: To address the needs of this population a 10-week interdisciplinary support group, based in attachment theory and incorporating equines, was developed called Taking the Reins of Self-care. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Designed to utilize the human-equine bond, the support group facilitated development of self-care strategies to increase quality of life of 6 parents of children with disabilities in the United States OUTCOMES AND RESULTS: Qualitative phenomenological analysis of field notes and parent interviews revealed the following themes: confirming the horse as an emotional confidant, creating a safe haven, re-affirming identity, nourishing the emotional self, and meeting the challenge. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Analysis of Taking the Reins of Self-care substantiates the value of complimentary therapeutic approaches, attachment theory and the human-equine bond, and supports further investigation of the benefits of specialized parental support groups to enrich the experience of raising a child with disabilities.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2022 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2022.104294