Chamber Spotlight: Ada Haensel, Speaking of Horses
What does your organization do?
Speaking of Horses provides equine assisted speech therapy to children with communication disorders with varying socioeconomic statuses.
What do you like about being a Chamber member?
I am excited to engage in networking opportunities as a new member.
What is unique about your organization and the work you do in our community?
Speaking of Horses is the only organization in our region providing speech therapy on horseback, combining the proven benefits of equine-assisted therapy with specialized speech-language pathology services. What makes us truly unique is our horses' extraordinary ability to unlock communication in children who struggle in traditional therapy settings—we regularly witness children speaking their first words while riding our therapy horses. Our approach recognizes that communication extends far beyond words.
Our horses, master communicators themselves, teach children that authentic connection happens through body language, energy, and presence. This creates a safe, judgment-free environment where children with autism, selective mutism, developmental delays, and other communication challenges can find their voices naturally. Unlike traditional speech therapy, our sessions harness the therapeutic movement of horseback riding to regulate children's nervous systems, making them more receptive to communication. The rhythmic motion, combined with the deep bond formed with our horses, often produces breakthrough moments that months of conventional therapy couldn't achieve.
We're also uniquely committed to serving all families, regardless of financial circumstances. Through scholarships and accepting major insurances including Medicaid, we ensure that socioeconomic status never prevents a child from accessing our transformative services. In our community, where resources for specialized pediatric therapy can be limited, we fill a critical gap. Our therapy horses—Whinnie, Blink, and Phil—aren't just therapeutic tools; they're intuitive partners who adapt to each child's individual sensory and emotional needs. This personalized, horse-guided approach creates lasting changes that extend far beyond our arena, helping children communicate more confidently in school, at home, and throughout their lives. We're not just providing therapy; we're creating communication miracles, one child and one horse at a time.
Who or what has inspired you most in your career?
The horses I work with have inspired me most in my career. As a speech-language pathologist, I spent years using traditional techniques to help children communicate, but it wasn't until I began working with horses that I truly understood the depth of what communication could be. My therapy horses—Whinnie, Blink, and Phil—have been my greatest teachers. They've shown me that communication isn't just about words; it's about authentic connection, presence, and the courage to be vulnerable.
Watching a horse respond to a child's unspoken emotions with perfect understanding taught me to listen beyond language and recognize the many ways meaning can be shared. Whinnie inspired me when I witnessed him create the perfect rhythm for an anxious child, naturally regulating their nervous system until they found the calm to speak their first words. Blink taught me about the power of patient presence when I watched him stand perfectly still, allowing a touch-sensitive child to approach on their own terms. Phil showed me that sometimes the most profound communication happens in silence, when he refused to move until a teenager finally shared their hidden emotional truth.
These horses don't just facilitate therapy—they embody it. They've taught me that real therapeutic breakthrough happens when we meet children exactly where they are, without judgment or agenda. Their insistence on authenticity has made me a better therapist and a more genuine human being. Every day, my horses inspire me to approach each child with the same unconditional acceptance, intuitive understanding, and patient presence they demonstrate. They've transformed not just how I practice speech therapy, but how I understand the very essence of communication itself.
What is your greatest skill that you have learned or developed in your career?
The greatest skill I've developed in my career is understanding that connection comes before communication, and that patience equals progress. This fundamental shift in approach has transformed not only how I practice speech therapy, but how I view the entire therapeutic process.
Early in my career, I was focused on getting children to produce sounds, words, and sentences as quickly as possible. I measured success by immediate verbal output and felt pressure to show rapid progress. But working with horses taught me that authentic communication can't be rushed—it emerges from a foundation of trust and genuine connection. My therapy horses showed me this principle in action every day. They never demand that children speak to them. Instead, they offer their presence, their warmth, and their acceptance. They wait. They connect through energy, through touch, through shared quiet moments. And it's within this safe relational space that children find the courage to communicate.
Learning to slow down and prioritize connection over performance has been revolutionary. I've discovered that a child who feels truly seen and accepted will eventually find their voice—but only when they're ready, and only when they feel safe. This means sitting in comfortable silence, celebrating the smallest communication attempts, and trusting that progress happens on each child's timeline, not mine. This patience-centered approach has taught me to recognize progress in ways I never noticed before: the child who begins using gestures before words, the one who starts vocalizing to their horse before speaking to humans, the moment when a whispered "whoa" becomes a confident "walk on." These aren't just stepping stones to speech—they're profound communication victories in themselves. The result is that my young clients don't just learn to speak; they learn that their voice matters, that they're worth listening to, and that communication is about connection, not just words.
What is your most memorable experience in your career?
The most memorable experiences in my career are the moments when children speak their first words on horseback. These aren't just professional milestones—they're pure magic that never gets old, no matter how many times I witness it.
I'll never forget one particular session with a four-year-old who had never spoken a word despite months of traditional therapy. His parents had tried everything, and hope was wearing thin. During his third session with Whinnie, as the pony's gentle rhythm began to relax his nervous system, this little boy suddenly looked down at his mount and clearly said, "Good horse." The silence that followed was electric. His mother, watching from the fence, burst into tears. In that moment, we all understood we'd witnessed something extraordinary—not just first words, but the unlocking of a voice that had been waiting for the right moment, the right connection, the right four-legged therapist.
What makes these experiences so profound is that they happen organically. There's no pressure, no prompting—just a child and a horse in perfect communication until suddenly, words become part of that connection. I've seen it with selective mutism cases where children whisper secrets to their horses before speaking to humans. I've watched nonverbal children with autism narrate their horse's movements with surprising clarity. Each time it happens, I'm reminded why I do this work. Traditional therapy rooms have their place, but there's something about being on horseback—the rhythm, the trust, the authentic connection with an animal—that unlocks communication in ways I never thought possible. These first-word moments don't just change the children; they change their families and remind me daily that we're not just providing therapy—we're creating miracles.
What else would you like to tell us about yourself and your work?
What many people don't realize is that Speaking of Horses runs entirely on donations because insurance reimbursement rates are simply too low to support the care and maintenance of our therapy horses. While traditional speech therapy in clinical settings can be sustained through insurance, the unique costs of equine-assisted therapy—horse care, feed, veterinary bills, facility maintenance, and specialized equipment—far exceed what insurance covers. This financial reality means that every session we provide, every breakthrough moment we witness, and every child we serve depends on the generosity of our community.
Our therapy horses need daily care, regular veterinary attention, quality feed, and safe facilities—expenses that never stop, regardless of how many sessions we conduct. Despite these challenges, we remain committed to serving families across all socioeconomic levels. We never want a family to be turned away because they can't afford our services, which is why donor support is absolutely critical to our mission. Every donation directly impacts a child's ability to find their voice and a family's access to life-changing therapy. We're actively working to expand our donor network because the need in our community continues to grow. More families are discovering the transformative power of equine-assisted speech therapy, and we want to be able to say "yes" to every child who could benefit from our program.
If you'd like to support our work and help children find their voices through the healing power of horses, you can make a donation at www.speakingofhorsesincorporated.org/donate. Every gift, regardless of size, makes a real difference in a child's life and helps ensure that our therapy horses can continue their important work in our community. Together, we can help more children discover that they have something important to say—and the courage to say it.