Welcome to EAL at Downmere Farm

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Claudia is fully qualified, a registered member of the National Council of Integrative Psychotherapists, MNCIP (Registered). A member of Safe Professionals, and DBS checked.✔

Claudia grew up in a Sussex village surrounded by farms with horses and a donkey, before she could walk an Uncle would take her to spend time with the donkey where she’d lie on his neck for cuddles. Claudia started riding lessons aged 3 where she’d fall asleep from the rhythm of the pony, and by the age of 10 was gifted a pony. This pony was to become her world, and Claudia experienced what she now recognises as equine assisted therapy. Many hours spent in the company of the pony helped her through the separation of her parents, and angst of her teenage years. The pony became her constant, and safe place to be where she embodied the therapy the pony provided. The addition of a new, bigger pony came into her life, and enabled her to connect with the bonded ponies spending every possible hour that she wasn’t at school, day-dreaming  about being with them. As teenage years progressed, the ponies provided a much needed support and sanctuary. 

The pull to be with horses remained throughout her 20’s and 30’s, where Claudia took every opportunity to escape career pressures in London, to swap city life for the Sussex downs which bought equilibrium to her life. Claudia travelled to Argentina shortly after her 30th birthday to discover Patagonia on horseback,  it was during a life changing trek across the Andes she decided that she needed to be with the horses more than once a week and holiday’s. This was the start of the journey that Claudia manifested, to create a life where she could be in nature, with horses so in 2009 she moved out of London to return to Sussex. 

In 2012 Claudia started her journey to qualify as an Equine Assisted Learning Facilitator (EALF) at The International Foundation of Equine Assisted Learning. She began to work with individuals and small groups hiring an equestrian centre and their horses, but she yearned to find a place to create a bespoke centre specifically created to provide the sanctuary required for a therapeutic approach, without the difficulties that came from sharing with a traditional riding centre. Many years of training and experience ensued, while Claudia serached for the perfect place to realise the dream.

In the spring of 2020 when the world was  in crisis, experiencing a pandemic, the land that she had tried to buy 6 years prior came back on the market. This was to be the start of realising her dresm, to create a place for other people to benefit from the wonderful therapeutic benefits of horses. Two years of planning and over a year of difficult building work, the perseverence paid off. Downmere Farm was transformed into a forever home for her horses. Nestled at the foot of the the south downs national park where Claudia rode as a child; it has come full circle. None of this would have been possible without years of manifesting her dream to share the healing way of the horse, and the continued supprt from her family, her 2 children, 5 ponies and horses, 2 donkeys and dogs.

Horses have been around for millions of years, living naturally in herds with each herd member in a particular role within the dynamic of the group. Using a biofeedback system they are constantly communicating with each other, as prey animals horses are highly sensitive to each other and their environment. They have had to use this constant state of awareness in order to stay safe. Therefore; their ability to stay in the present moment and hyper- sensitivity makes them excellent reflective mirrors to a human’s emotional state. Responding to non-verbal communication in the moment and state, that may be known or unknown to the individual. Horses “feel” us rather than “think” us.

Equine assisted learning has become a well documented therapeutic way of learning; due to horses being in a constant state of awareness they teach us that no emotion is good or bad. Even the most relaxed horse can become noticeably agitated when the client wears a mask of confidence to hide true feelings. The body language of someone who is hiding their true feelings is incongruent with the emotional energy transmitted involuntarily by the individual, and horses mirror the emotion being suppressed. When the individual acknowledges that feeling within themselves  the client can then make the feeling conscious and change can begin. This is why equine facilitated learning is such an effective diagnostic tool, and is being widely recognised to help addiction, depression, anxiety, PTSD and can offer the experience of ‘connection’.

Equine Assisted Learning and Development takes place with horses on the ground ( non ridden ), using various exercises tailored to the individual that can assist with confidence, personal growth and development. Developing empathy and respect for horses can increase the feeling of our personal sense of self, and give a sense of well being increasing self-confidence.