The Healing with Horses Foundation in Tobago has, for over 15 years, provided a transformative space for horses and horse-lovers to connect in an exchange rooted in mutual respect and care.

For its founder, German-born Veronika Danzer-La Fortune, much of her life has revolved around the majestic animal. A 2004 visit to Trinidad and Tobago would, unbeknownst to her at the time, plant the first seed for the project to take form. 

“I came to Tobago the first time in 2004, I was invited by jazz and blues singer, Jean Lyons… she is my guardian angel, I call her now,” she tells Your Caribbean Guide. “She invited me to play mas with her with Silver Stars in 2004. And this is how I met Trinidad and Tobago. So after three days playing mas in Trinidad, I had the opportunity to relax for three weeks in Tobago. And you know, at that point, I was 29. I was looking for a shift in my life. We all know that feeling. I want to shift in my life and after feeling so embraced and so welcomed by the culture here and by the local people, and of course, I met Lennon La Fortune, my husband who is from South Trinidad, Moruga. I decided I would move here.”

Back at home, Veronika had already gained experience working with horses, functioning as a horseback riding coach. Working at a horse musical, she would tour with the animals across Europe and the US. After starting a new chapter of her life in Tobago, one special horse would beckon her.

“Jennifer is literally the founder of Being and Healing with horses, not me,” she intimates. 

“With her… to build that trust and that relationship, I needed to learn to be patient and to have time, which I never learned as a horseback riding teacher and coach in Germany. We drilled horses to be a certain way. We drove horses to do something and to perform for us, but we never asked the horse to just be a horse and be our friend. So that was the intro with Jennifer. And after six months giving her starch mangoes, julie mangoes and Crix she decided, okay, Veronica, I’m your friend. So that’s the funny story of how Being and Healing with Horses was created.”

With members of their community quickly showing interest, the initiative flowed naturally.

“They would ask, what do you feed Jennifer? Can I help with grooming her? Can I give her a bath? And this is how Being with Horses was created because Jennifer was not a riding horse. We were able to be with Jennifer. But you know she was not ridden before. A couple months later, we adopted another horse, Chivari. And a couple months later again we adopted colour Quinton and then Princess Shirley was born by us so it all grew.”

Today, the group provides several immersive experiences that allow people, including those who live with disabilities, the opportunity to be exposed to equine nature therapy.
“We share our passion and give people a beautiful experience with the horses, riding them through the village along the goat racetrack along the wetland along the mangroves, for a long beach ride and then basically the last thing is that we swim the horses 25 minutes through Buccoo Bay which is really, really thrilling because while you are with the herd who is so content and happy, you feel that they would do it anyways without you and you actually don’t have to drill them, you don’t have to control them you just go with the flow. I think that’s what we all do in Trinidad and Tobago anyways right?” Veronika shares.

On both sides of the exchange, she says it’s important to lead with acceptance of all, revealing that many of the horses in their herd are those who have been rejected from competing for one reason or another.

“We are working with differently-abled animals which were discharged from the racing industry, from the competitive world where they do show jumping and massage. They were unwanted because of their behaviour or because of their disability or maybe otitis. Maybe we just got a horse who had a surgery done and can’t jump anymore and can’t raise any more, but you know that they would still love to share their time by being groomed and being walked in being walked in the ocean. And maybe still carrying children and adults in the ocean. You know, but there wouldn’t be athletes anymore. So we accept animals who are differently abled as well as people,” Danzer-La Fortune says.

Their herd is free to roam 16 hours a day in open paddocks and corrals, and all of the horses are controlled in a non-invasive way.

“They are (our) family members. So you know, the key is to put yourself in an animal’s place, how do you want to be treated? And then if you treat that horse with so much love and respect and attention, the horse gives freely to you, a form of trust which helps you to connect and also helps the horse to connect. So the horses are all ridden here bitless. They don’t have a mouthpiece in, you know, attached to their bridle. In the conventional way and in the competitive way and when you look at the mounted branch, when you look at the racetrack, they all have a bit in the mouth.”

 A bit, she explains, is a tack that goes into the horse’s mouth to communicate signals from the rider.

“So if you pull on the reins, it gives the horse a slight pressure on the gum. So the bridles we created, they give the horses still guidance, but without a harsh matter of controlling. The horse still feels the pressure if you pull hard on their nose. Or if you want to go left you pull the horse left and then the horse knows Hey, she wants to go left. I’m going left.”

The most popular service they currently offer is a two-hour swim session with the horses, for which tourists and locals can pay a fee of $100 USD or $720 TTD. This, Danzer-La Fortune, says has largely helped to sustain the business, given there are high overhead costs for proper management and care of the animals.

 “To maintain a horse, to have it in a healthy standard, it costs about $3500TTD a month,” she explains.
There are also more affordable options such as a two-hour session in which visitors are taught how to interact with the herd, at a price-point of $350TTD.

“That’s a very good question, how we sustain ourselves because you know, we haven’t been supported by the government monetary wise,” she adds. “We are supported by land. The government gave us the opportunity to let the horses graze up in No Man’s Land for example, the government allows us to have beach rides, the government allows us to house the horses up a focal point. So we need to find ways how to be sustainable,” Veronika adds.

This has also included downstream ventures such as selling horse manure, a product she says became popular during the pandemic period as interest peaked in starting small kitchen gardens.

Veronika was conferred The Order of Merit, Germany’s highest honour, for the transformative work her business and NGO have facilitated.

Beyond the accolades, her work remains a form of therapy for her own life. “Like on a Sunday, on our day off. I just go in my cocoon with my animals because I feel like you know, this is where I can recuperate, and this is where I can recharge again because when we go out in society sometimes people judge us for our look or the way we speak and the way we behave. But you know, we are all different, just like the animals in the herd, and everybody just wants to be accepted. So that brings me back to the form of being and healing with horses,” she ends.