It’s easy to drive right past the bucolic pasture tucked between houses on a winding road in Anaheim Hills. But once you locate the unassuming entrance to Canyon Acres Ranch, suburbia suddenly becomes backcountry.
With its barn, stables, four horses and 10 chickens, Canyon Acres Ranch acts as a salve to the children who visit. There, Tustin-based Seneca Orange County offers Guided Animal Intervention Therapy, or GAIT.
GAIT, the only equine-assisted program of its kind in Orange County, serves children with emotional disorders. Most of the participants live in foster homes. Others have been adopted out of foster care, but still experience distrust, anger and depression.
“Sometimes, traditional talk therapy doesn’t work for children who have been victims of intense domestic violence,” said Jo Flores, an equine mental health specialist at Seneca. “Talking about their trauma triggers anxiety. The horses give them a different outlet.”
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