Cuddy Brae Equine Assisted Therapy

18/09/2025

Hello again 👋🏼 it feels like so long since I've posted. Somewhat to do with having some leave, where i travelled back to Scotland. And somewhat to do with feeling i had nothing major to talk about 😆.

This little moment happened this morning though, and it caught my attention enough for me pause and observe.

Little Buzzy boy has always been the most dominant and dare i say it, he can be pretty aggressive with it, too. However, over time he has really softened to Milly. He used to give her such a hard time, as I'm sure a few of you can remember. But here we are today witnessing quite a different relationship. I do believe Milly has brought a lot of this to the table. I'd like to tell a human-centric story here, where i picture Milly as the one who has won Buzz over despite the odds, however this isn't how horses operate. I think it's more a case of Milly feeling comfortable grazing/eating close to others, gently pushing against Buzzy's strong spacial boundaries, which has allowed for their bond to continue to form over the years.

Why am i talking about this? Because it gives space to think about our own relationships, and how they have evolved over time. How we ourselves evolve over time. What we bring to our relationship with self and with others. 💜

28/03/2025

We have had such a warm summer, and unfortunately, the grass in our paddock has hit an all time low.

Milly has voted with her hooves, and has taken her self off on not one, but many escape artist walks. Initially it was just over the fence, down the lane way, which many of us have walked with her. But unfortunately this escalated on Sunday, when Milly went missing for two hours. As much as she was oblivious of our worry and she had managed to keep herself safe, it's not something we'd like to see repeat.

With all of this in mind, we have decided to move the ponies and Cuddy Brae sessions down to a grass filled paddock in Olinda.

I will send an email to everyone this weekend with instructions on how to find us from this coming week (Mon 31st March) onwards.

26/01/2025

The school term is about to commence again. Sessions for many will begin again this week.

We have welcomed a few new clients to the paddock during the holidays, and one little person asked me when will the ponies be more active.

The answer is, they don't really become more active, unless perhaps they're frightened by something or become really excited by something.

But for the most part this is them. Being calm and settled is a sign for them that all is well in the world. I for one enjoy sitting with them in their calm.

If you crave a slice of calm in your week and would like to find that with our mini herd, please get in touch.

22/11/2024

I'm just going to leave this photo here so that we can all remember that time (probably 24hrs) when Milly was white post having a X3 shampoo shower 😆 because lets face it, we all know this won't last.

06/11/2024

Spring has well and truly sprung in the paddock. We have been looking at the lifecycles of mozzies, ladybirds, frogs and plants, as well as observing the flowers and blossoms. We've been finding owl pellets this week, too, and we've even been visited by a mother duck and her 5 ducklings.

30/10/2024

Erm...i think Milly doesn't like her new fly mask 🤣

11/10/2024

Miss Milly enjoyed a thorough grooming today. It's always a satisfying time when you can see the results of your hard work. And hopefully Milly feels better for it too.

09/10/2024

Today I had some help to create a magical space to sit beside the pond. Perhaps the faeries will move in here, too... 🧚🏿‍♂️🧚🏼‍♀️🧚🏽

06/10/2024

There have been lots of conversations and news reports talking about NDIS changes, when it comes to funding equine assisted therapy and animal assisted therapy.

For all clients of Cuddy Brae Equine Assisted Therapy, there is good news. Participants can still use their NDIS funding to access therapy with me.

Please see below for a more detailed breakdown of why.

Equine Therapy and Animal-Assisted Therapy:

Participants can utilise equine therapy and other animal therapies if these are all delivered by qualified allied health professionals e.g Occupational Therapist and Speech Therapist etc. Therefore it is charged under the therapy line item and the animals and outdoor environment are incorporated into the therapy activities to promote engagement and effective therapy - also known as Equine assisted learning/therapy or animal assisted learning/therapy. To ensure it’s funded under the NDIS you just need to ensure it’s delivered by the qualified allied health professional as per the NDIS Guidelines.

It’s important to note: Participants are not getting “animal therapy”. They are getting Occupational Therapy or Speech therapy and working towards their therapy/NDIS goals. The animals and nature may be incorporated into activities to assist with achieving their allied health therapy goals (Just how clinic based therapist incorporate a lot of other stimuli to achieve their goals. Just because it’s not based in a clinic ‘room’ setting doesn’t mean it isn’t OT or speech therapy).

Update - the NDIS are currently updating their NDIS operational guidelines to provide clearer context for all providers.

We hope this helps!

23/09/2024

Isn't this just wonderful!

19/09/2024

Little Milly-Moo having a nap after finishing her hay.

There are so many wonderful things that the horses can teach us, but i think my favourite of all is their ability to move through their feelings/emotions and come back to homeostasis.

They rest and relax often throughout the day, and can jump into an alert state very quickly if needed, then always coming back to their calm state again.

18/09/2024

I'm feeling very inspired by these words today.