Covid-19 made a return to education post lockdown particularly difficult for young people who were experiencing educational challenges or have a Learning Disability, Statement of Special Educational Needs or Educational Health Care Plan.

Strength and Learning Through Horses (SLTH) offers life-changing mental health and education services, using horses and the outdoors to engage hard-to-reach young people in building relationships and life skills and successfully re-engaging with education.

Thanks to support from the Anne Duchess of Westminster’s Fund, part of the Westminster Foundation, SLTH were able to offer equine therapy to a group of girls who had not attended mainstream education for over two years. Without the Fund’s support, they would not have been able to reach this group. It provides yet another example of how equine therapy can be used as an effective alternative to those who find it difficult to engage with a therapist in a conventional way.