In this deeply personal and wide‑ranging episode of Equine Assisted World, Rupert Isaacson speaks with longtime colleague and friend Karla Brahms of Wellenreiter in the Odenwald, Germany — a region steeped in myth, forest, and living horse culture.

What begins as a conversation about equine‑assisted practice unfolds into an intimate exploration of grief, love, resilience, and the sacred role horses play in helping humans navigate life’s darkest passages.

Karla shares her evolution from decades of forest‑based therapeutic riding with children into her current work integrating NIG (Neuro‑Imaginative Gestalt) constellation methods with horses. Through spontaneous drawing, embodied awareness, and equine presence, she helps clients access inner wisdom beyond intellectual processing.

The conversation then turns to the death of her husband, musician Jan, and the profound grief that followed. Karla speaks openly about ritual, laying out the body at home, identity loss, and how horses — through presence, warmth, and simple being — helped her remain anchored in the present.

This episode explores what modern culture has lost around death and ceremony — and how horses may help us reclaim a more honest, embodied relationship with grief.

If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How Karla integrates forest‑based horsemanship with therapeutic work
• What NIG (Neuro‑Imaginative Gestalt) is and how drawing with the non‑dominant hand accesses embodied insight
• How horses interact during constellation processes and reflect emotional states
• Why standing on symbolic drawings creates somatic awareness and shifts perspective
• The role of the “meta position” and third‑person dialogue in therapeutic work
• How horses respond to grief, exhaustion, and emotional truth in clients
• Why allowing horses to say “no” builds deeper reliability and trust
• How herd stability, lifestyle, and environment influence therapeutic safety
• What grief does to identity — and why losing a partner means losing the “we” as well
• Why ritual, washing and laying out the body, and conscious farewell matter
• How animals help regulate grief through presence and daily responsibility
• Why grief is not only about death, but also about identity shifts, diagnosis, relocation, and life transitions
• How creative acts (like knitting, drawing, or movement) can become grief rituals
• Why asking “why” is less helpful than learning to trust the unfolding

🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode

• [00:00:44] Introducing Karla Brahms and the magical forest setting of the Odenwald
• [00:05:20] “Follow the child” — why forest‑based work restores nervous systems
• [00:09:58] Discovering constellation work and integrating horses into NIG practice
• [00:18:50] A yawning horse reveals hidden exhaustion in a client
• [00:27:39] “They’re not only carrying our bodies — they’re carrying our souls.”
• [00:43:00] The importance of solid horsemanship behind therapeutic freedom
• [00:53:38] When horses leave the herd — and how grief changes equine behavior
• [01:11:00] Jan’s passing and the sacred act of laying out the body at home
• [01:16:40] Losing the “we” — identity shifts in widowhood
• [01:27:00] The taboo of grief in modern culture
• [01:55:25] Knitting as ritual — creating a seven‑meter “snail shell” through grief
• [02:04:25] Letting go of “why” and choosing trust instead
• [02:10:23] Celebrating love and life through the annual forest reggae gathering

📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources Mentioned

Karla Brahms – Wellenreiter (Odenwald, Germany) Search: Karla Brahms Wellenreiter https://wellenreiter.de

New Trails Learning Systems – Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co

Rupert Isaacson / Long Ride Home https://rupertisaacson.com

Patreon Support https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

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In this grounded and deeply moving episode of Equine Assisted World, Rupert Isaacson speaks with Christine Doran, founder of Triple H Ranch in the Chicago area — a rare ecosystem that combines a full‑scale horse rescue with equine‑assisted work for humans.

Christine shares how her path into this work began as a teenager through a moment of spiritual clarity, and how that calling evolved into more than two decades of frontline work with abused, neglected, and discarded horses. Rather than separating rescue from therapy, Christine describes an integrated model where horses are not “fixed and then used,” but supported as whole beings whose own healing journey becomes part of the therapeutic relationship.

Together, Rupert and Christine explore what it means to witness suffering without becoming hardened, how faith, humility, and structure play a role in sustainable rescue work, and why some of the deepest lessons in equine‑assisted practice come from horses with the hardest pasts.

This episode is an honest look at abuse that still exists in modern America, the quiet heroism of long‑term rescue work, and the possibility of creating true second chances — for horses and for people.

If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How Christine’s calling into equine‑assisted work began at age sixteen
• Why Triple H Ranch combines horse rescue with therapeutic programming
• What real horse neglect and abuse still look like in the U.S. today
• How rehabilitating horses and humans can be part of the same ecosystem
• Why patience, time, and humility are essential in rescue‑based programs
• How faith and purpose sustain long‑term frontline animal welfare work
• What horses with traumatic pasts can teach practitioners about trust
• The ethical responsibilities involved in turning rescued horses into partners

🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode

• [00:00:44] Rupert introduces Christine and the rescue‑plus‑therapy model of Triple H Ranch
• [00:02:14] Christine recounts asking for a “large flashing sign” about her life’s purpose
• [00:03:16] Discovering how horses were used to help heal troubled youth
• [00:55:00] Faith, calling, and what sustains people in long‑term rescue work
• [01:03:01] Why true rescue means changing systems — not just saving individual horses
• [01:11:54] Facing real abuse and neglect without becoming numb or hardened
• [01:28:14] The cumulative toll of neglect — and why it’s still hidden in plain sight
• [01:41:44] Burnout, moral injury, and the cost of witnessing suffering over decades
• [01:59:00] What “second chances” actually require — for horses and for humans

📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources Mentioned

• Triple H Ranch (Chicago area): https://www.hhhranchil.org/
• New Trails Learning Systems – Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co
• Rupert Isaacson / Long Ride Home https://rupertisaacson.com

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Long Ride Home
https://longridehome.com
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New Trails Learning Systems
https://ntls.co
https://facebook.com/horseboyworld
https://instagram.com/horseboyworld
https://youtube.com/newtrailslearningsystems

📊 Affiliate Disclosure

Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.

What if the core of equine‑assisted work isn’t a method, a certification, or a discipline — but the shared act of creating a new story together?

In this wide‑ranging and deeply human conversation, Rupert Isaacson speaks with Betsy Kahl — senior PATH instructor, social worker, horsewoman, and long‑time collaborator in the Horse Boy and Takhin Equine Integration work. Drawing on decades of experience across therapeutic riding, classical dressage, social work, and the performing arts, Betsy reflects on where equine‑assisted practice has come from, where it is now, and where it may need to go next.

Together, Rupert and Betsy explore the often‑unspoken layers beneath equine‑assisted work: grief and loss, belonging and exclusion, the tension between mainstream systems and lived wisdom, and the role horses play in helping humans keep moving when life threatens to stall. From theater arts and role‑playing to adaptive riding, veterans’ work, and the quiet intelligence of in‑hand training, this episode weaves together disciplines that are too often kept apart.

Rather than arguing for a single approach, this conversation invites practitioners, riders, and listeners to reflect on what unites all good equine work — care for the horse’s wellbeing, respect for individual capacity, and the courage to remain present in uncertainty. It is a dialogue about humility, creativity, and the radical idea that healing — for horses and humans alike — is relational.

If you work with horses and people, or if horses have helped you navigate grief, transition, or identity, this episode offers both grounding and challenge.

If you want to support the show, you can do so at Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/LongRideHome

🔍 What You’ll Learn in This Episode

• How therapeutic riding, classical dressage, social work, and theater intersect in equine‑assisted practice
• Why horses help humans move through grief without getting stuck in the past
• How theater arts and role‑play create safe containers for emotional processing
• What it means to “create a new story together” in equine‑assisted work
• Why horse welfare is foundational to human safety and healing
• How loss — of people, horses, or dreams — shapes equine relationships
• The difference between siloed systems and integrated horse cultures
• Why belonging matters for practitioners as much as for participants
• How in‑hand work can remain a lifelong anchor when riding changes
• What equine‑assisted fields can learn from humility, improvisation, and presence

🎤 Memorable Moments from the Episode

• [00:02:51] Betsy introduces her background bridging PATH, dressage, and social work
• [00:07:02] Growing up with horses who taught lessons, jumped, and worked in adaptive programs
• [00:12:37] From theater arts to social work: learning to listen, respond, and stay present
• [00:22:37] Shakespeare, non‑speaking students, and performance as a safe container
• [00:31:00] The arena as a stage — and why presence matters more than perfection
• [00:39:02] Creating new stories together across disciplines and populations
• [00:48:50] Veterans, classical systems, and horses as co‑creators
• [01:09:00] Equine welfare as the shared ground beneath all methods
• [01:25:00] Grief, aging horses, and continuing the story when things change
• [01:34:00] Why horses help humans keep moving through loss
• [01:36:00] Belonging, inclusion, and the future of equine‑assisted work

📚 Contact, Projects, and Resources Mentioned

Betsy Kahl – Wonder Horse Ranch Email: betsy@wonderhorseranch.org

New Trails Learning Systems – Horse Boy Method, Movement Method & Takhin Equine Integration https://ntls.co

Rupert Isaacson / Long Ride Home https://rupertisaacson.com

🌍 Follow Us

Long Ride Home
https://longridehome.com
https://facebook.com/longridehome.lrh
https://instagram.com/longridehome_lrh
https://youtube.com/@longridehome

New Trails Learning Systems
https://ntls.co
https://facebook.com/horseboyworld
https://instagram.com/horseboyworld
https://youtube.com/newtrailslearningsystems

📊 Affiliate Disclosure

Links to books and products may include affiliate tracking. We may earn a commission if you make a purchase, at no extra cost to you. Thank you for supporting the show.