An Equine-Assisted Therapy Program for EMS Providers Builds Resilience, Communication, and Emotional Intelligence

Tim Sampey, a retired Chicago firefighter/EMT, had moved through a number of ranks in the department, including deputy fire commissioner of operations. His career encompassed serving in various roles during civil unrest in Chicago and the COVID-19 pandemic.

As a second-generation firefighter with other family members in the profession, Sampey was cognizant of its positive impact and its challenges.

“When I saw my first dead body, I lost my lunch,” he says. “I was bothered by it. And now I'm in a business where I’m going to see this all the time. At first, it was hard. There was no one to talk to.”

Throughout his career, Sampey responded to calls of drug overdoses and murders in Chicago’s neighborhoods, which became the norm on calls.

The Emotional Tool of Emergency Services

He helped out during 9/11, where the first human remains he found was a female hand with a wedding ring.

Sampey struggled with the emotional toll of constantly seeing injuries and death. He moved through it by keeping busy at his side job and raising his family.

“I was the face of the firefighter when it came to showing up at the morgue or putting together an honor guard,” he says of his rank. “I would be an advocate if you just witnessed something traumatic.”

Sampey notes that firefighters, emergency medical workers, and police officers commonly bottle up their emotions after traumatic events and are expected to toughen up as people regard them as heroes.

They may struggle with emotional trauma, stigma, and bureaucracy in accessing mental health care. Sampey was cognizant that some resorted to suicide.

Recognizing the Need for Help

Sampey recognized the need for help in others below his rank and at times would tell them they must seek help and had no choice in the matter.

“Because whatever is carried by you, you're going to take that out on your family, whether it's anger or drug or alcohol abuse or you just have something in you where you’re going to be irritable,” he says.

Sampey retired in November 2022, and then moved to Sarasota County, Florida

One day, he was driving down a road near a horse ranch and stopped to visit it out of curiosity. That random visit would change the trajectory of his life.

That ranch is the Easterseals Ranch of Easterseals Southwest Florida, a member center of the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International (PATH). The 62-acre ranch hosts 21 horses and equine-assisted learning programs designed to partner humans and horses in a therapeutic environment.

One program – Operation1Stride -- is a six-week equine-assisted therapy (EAT) program designed to empower first responders and veterans to lead horses and build trust and connection, communicating with the horses through energy and body language toward the goal of improving their overall well-being.

Free of charge to participants, the program is funded by Easterseals as well as donations from businesses and a local church, which helps to pay for veterinarian care and other expenses.

Equine-Assisted Therapy

Studies show hippotherapy is a treatment modality effective in helping those with physical or mental challenges when applied by an experienced therapist with the aid of a horse.

Patrick Frost, Easterseals Ranch manager notes in 2022 Tom Waters, president and CEO of Easterseals Southwest Florida, approached him with the desire to start a program for veterans and first responders.

Frost is a former mounted police officer from the United Kingdom and is well acquainted with the relationship between a horse and a human plus the challenges of first responders, including being told to have a ‘stiff upper lip’ and ‘keep calm and carry on.’

Frost enlisted the help of Mary Ann Robins ESMHL (Equine Specialist in Mental Health and Learning), Lori Johnson, CTRI, ESMHL, equine program coordinator, InStride Therapy and certified therapeutic riding instructor and Sharon Yeager, a certified life coach, also PATH-certified.

The program is designed to:

• Improve communication and interpersonal skills
• Increase self-awareness and empathy
• Expand ability to regulate emotions and cope with stress
• Boost feelings of well-being and empowerment
• Strengthen connections and relationships
• Build confidence and assertiveness
• Learn to trust oneself and others more
• Advanced creative thinking and emotional intelligence
• Enhance decision-making and problem-solving skills

Program topics include intention, trust, connection, self-regulation, non-verbal communication, energy fields, patience, choice, compassion, boundaries, perseverance, confidence, courage, and goal-setting while partnering with the wisdom of the horses in guided activities, exercises, and grounding experiences.

The Operation1Stride Horses

The horses are evaluated for their temperament and ability to handle stress before being selected for the program. Horses are teamed with individuals based on their sensitivity and natural dynamics.

Operation1Stride staff notes that horses live in the present moment and bring themselves into relationships authentically. They are highly attuned to human emotions and challenge humans to stay congruent with our feelings when relating to them.

In return, they offer humans true acceptance, unconditional love, and non-judgmental and honest feedback, teaching humans to be more aware of the connections between mind, body, and emotions by processing breath and body sensations.

While Sampey had stopped by the ranch to volunteer, he would soon avail himself of its services.

Sampey says as he transitioned from a full sprint to slowing down after retirement, that which he had suppressed during his career started to manifest itself.

“You start remembering fires and overdoses and car crashes. Your shield starts coming down. But as the shield comes down, more things started coming out that I really didn’t want to come out, but at some point, in time you have to get out,” says Sampey, who had never sought help during his employment.

As one who rode horses as a child for fun, Sampey says he was open to hippotherapy. The horse is akin to a fire truck – large and commanding of respect.

Sampey would be paired with a horse named Rambo, then with A.J. ‘Almond Joy.’ He says the program worked for him because he felt the staff understood him. Not only is the Operation1Stride program staff licensed therapists, but Robins’ family members are in fire-rescue service.

“That’s a bonus because she understands the trauma of the firefighter, the EMT, the officer, the military,” he says. “There’s not a lot of places that put that all together.”

A Transformation From the Program

Operation1Stride instructors note a transformation of participants from the third to the sixth week, with increased smiling and confidence and participants reporting finding peace through equine therapy, feeling connected and relaxed and experiencing personal growth and improved relationships.

“We start with the fundamental aspect of how do horses communicate with each other and how do they show connection, love, friendship and bonding,” says Johnson. “We put a bunch of horses in the arenas, let them play and they have a great time.

“The veterans and first responders observe the horses. Then we build from communication, trust, friendship, love, and teach them how to lead a horse. How do you build a connection? How do you create the boundaries everybody needs in life – the horse needs boundaries, you need boundaries.”

Robins notes horses are afraid of people – they are the prey and people are the predators. Eventually, participants are taught how to read a horse’s energy and use their own energy to communicate with a horse.

“You can’t lie to a horse,” Robins notes. “They can read us. They can sense our emotions, our intentions. Gradually, all of those walls the participants have built up over the years start to melt away. They’re starting to have self-confidence with the horse.”

Without necessarily having prior experience with a horse, participants are soon learning to walk a horse along with a line, eventually taking the line off of the horse.

“You can imagine how wonderful, very powerful and how therapeutic all of this is,” says Robins. “They’re having fun while they’re doing it. They’re laughing. We’re putting music on and dancing and having a good time.”

Participants learn to breathe with the horses by placing their hands on them and listening to their heart, Johnson notes.

“We teach them how to lower their heart rate to the horse’s heart rate. We all become in sync with each other. It’s amazing how relaxed everybody can get. They can take those skills and transfer them in life,” she adds.

To date, about 50 participants have been through the program. Many socialize outside of the program and some return to volunteer.

In the program’s second level, participants delve deeper into life skills such as self-regulation, meditation, guided activities, and team-building over six weeks. Yeager created a journal with poems and writing prompts.

“In bringing back past participants over the year, Maryanne asked what they learned from their horse. We were there for a couple of hours. It was incredible,” says Frost. “It culminated with the ultimate stage of the veterans getting on the horse.”

The program ends with a picnic celebration, graduation presents and pictures.

Johnson says the first time Sampey brushed a horse, it was like he was washing a fire truck.

“We had to slow you down,” she told him with a smile.

Robins tells Sampey when he trotted with Rambo, “Rambo was a hardcore Rambo and he was right by your side. You are partners trotting along. It was just beautiful. We didn't want you to stop.”

Sampey recalls a sign on Rambo warning that he is known to bite, yet he licked Sampey’s face.

“There was a lot of love there,” Johnson adds.

As in the support he offered colleagues in Chicago, Sampey did the same at the ranch.

“You are so good with the group because you always helped people,” says Johnson. “You were vulnerable with your comments in our sessions and they looked at you as a leader. Their walls came down and you always supported them.”

Staff members note some of the program outcomes include being able to transition to the other side of trauma to laugh and have fun again.

“Part of the strength of this program is that by the time they've completed this, they have gotten a 1,200-pound animal to trust them, to follow them, be their partner,” notes Kent Jimison, development officer.

“If you can do that with an animal that large, then dealing your personal life with humans to me becomes a lot simpler. You’re able to translate those skills and learning into helping to improve your life and helping to mitigate some of the issues that you're dealing with.”