Dixie: 00:00:00

Today we're excited to welcome Katie Hunt of Shagbark

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Hickory Farm, where the healing power

of horses helps transform lives.

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We'll talk about the equine-assisted

therapy, the unique bond between

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humans and horses, and how

these incredible animals support

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emotional growth, confidence, and

well-being for people of all ages

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hi, Katie.

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Katie: Thank you for having me.

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Dixie: I am super excited to learn

all about Shagbark Hickory Farm.

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Tell me what you do.

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Katie: So I do equine therapy.

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My mother actually started our farm over

50 years ago, and she basically started

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it as a boarding and lesson facility.

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She always loved horses, and she

went up and down her street in South

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Windsor looking for horses to ride.

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And then when she got married she came

here and started her farm basically.

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And then I grew up here as well

and had horses in my backyard.

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I was lucky to have that.

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And basically we are both special ed

teachers by trade, and it was a hobby.

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They've always been here and like

I said, my mother started teaching.

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And then about 2018, I turned

it into a nonprofit to be able

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to do some fundraising and some

grants and things like that.

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And I expanded our programs for the

equine therapy, and then took our special

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ed backgrounds and just morphed it into

with the horses and things like that.

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So I do what I love with our horses.

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And we just found how the horses can

really help these students with autism

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and anxiety and even the cerebral palsy

kids that even have some physical needs

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can just, I don't have the physical

therapy part of it, but the students

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and our, and the parents will come back

and say, "Oh, the doctors have said

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how much they have improved with their

physical mobility," and things like that.

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And some of the anxiety students will

come, and they don't wanna socialize

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with their peers here at the farm.

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They've said that they've had a bad day

or they've had a fight with their parents.

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And so I'll just say why don't

you go brush one of the horses

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in their stall by themselves?"

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And they'll emerge from the

stall like within 20 minutes, and

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I'm like, "Do you feel better?"

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And they are like, "Yes, we do."

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And so I kinda said

horses do fix everything."

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We also have a homeschool program.

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I think our homeschool pro-

program is sometimes bigger

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than just our community lessons.

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We have probably 20 to

25 homeschool students.

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That doesn't include all the

siblings and their parents.

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And then the community lesson program.

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We also have a pre preschool program

that's from two to five years old.

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And we probably have about five to

seven of those on a weekly basis.

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And then we also have connected with a

program in town that's a boys' school

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where it's a residential program,

and they come here also on a weekly

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basis three kids at a time, basically.

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So yeah, that's just-- I

found my niche, if you will.

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Dixie: Yeah, that sounds very interesting.

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I certainly would like to

learn more about all of those.

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Before we get into that though,

I'd like to talk about your name a

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little bit because you do have the

name Farm, so do you do any farming

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outside of just caring for the horses?

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Katie: No, it's basically just the horses.

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It is named after a tree here on the farm.

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We have a very large shagbark

hickory tree, and we did have

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a gentleman stop just randomly

probably about seven years ago.

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I think he just noticed the size

of the tree and how large it is.

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And he had said that it was,

like, within the top 10 in

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Connecticut of the shagbark trees.

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And he hasn't been back since, but

he did kinda say that it was in his

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top 10 if you will, of trees that he

was measuring and keeping an eye on.

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So my parents when they-- like I

said, when they moved here, they,

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that's how they named the farm.

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Dixie: Oh, that's pretty cool.

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Katie: Yeah

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… Dixie: when your parents started it, did

they use any of the horses for therapy?

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Or was it more so that you

just had a love for the horses?

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Katie: It's a love for the horses.

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So they did back then so that

was like, in the '70s and '80s.

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I don't know that it was

a therapy thing back then.

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It was just a love for the horse, and

that's how actually we even just kinda,

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our m- mission, if you will, grew, was

just giving the love of the horse to

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those that can't afford it as well.

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So although we do the therapy piece,

we also just want to share the

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love of the horse with those that

can't have them in their backyard.

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Or a lot of times some of the kids will

ride here and say, "Mommy, Daddy, we

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wanna have a horse," and we tell them no.

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It's a lot of work.

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There's a lot that goes into

having horses themselves.

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They're a tricky animal.

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For starters you don't wanna have to

take care of them, and we're gonna have

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90-degree weather and heat in- heat

indexes up until 100 this coming week.

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And horses can't throw up.

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They get colic instead.

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And if you don't know that as a, a veteran

horse person you can't just throw them

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in your backyard and call it a day.

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So it, there's a lot that goes into them.

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So part of our mission for, or how it

even started when we became a nonprofit

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was to give that love of the horse

to those that either can't afford it

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or just don't have enough knowledge.

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Dixie: How many horses do you have?

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Katie: So it's been an interesting year.

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So if you didn't know, 2026

is the Year of the Horse.

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We have 10.

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That is the most that we've

ever-- I shouldn't say that.

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That's the most we've ever had in,

since we've become a nonprofit.

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My mother, when she was boarding

back when, had the most was 17.

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10 right now is the most

we've had in a very long time.

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Going back to what I was saying about it's

been an interesting year I used to say

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that the most we could ever have was nine.

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We lost one that we had

for a couple of years.

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Part of our mission is to take in the

semi-retired horse and use them in

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our program, but also to give these

horses a home that they can call

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their home until God calls them home.

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So the average age of our horses are

in their 20s, and so one of the horses

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she was suffering from a bladder stone

for the last year or so, and so we had

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to make the difficult decision to put

her down, and that was in January-ish.

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And so then another horse came along

that we thought was going to fit into our

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program, and he was only here for a month.

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It was a very sad and disturbing story.

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I didn't kinda know what

God's plan was really.

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I've decided that He brought him here

so that we could send him on home to

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to be home because he was just here

for a month, and he too had some kind

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of tumor inside he showed signs of

colic for about a week o-off and on,

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and then finally when the vet came,

he had a baseball-sized tumor inside,

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and then he too had to be put down.

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And then finally, we just got a

new one this week, and he seems

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to be good and healthy and will

be wonderful for our program.

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So hopefully we have a good solid

herd now, and we can use them in

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our programs and things like that.

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But again, most of them out

there are in their mid-20s, and

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a few of them are in their teens.

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Where

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Dixie: do you get these

semi-retired horses from?

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Katie: I would say God

opens those doors as well.

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Most of them are given to us.

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My daughter just found this last one.

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She just became a vet tech for our

horse vet that we've had for over 30

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years, and she was on a call, and this

client was looking for a home for him

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because he wasn't fitting in into the

boarding situation that he was in.

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And she wanted him to have a job.

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She's looking to get a new horse

herself, and he wasn't getting, the

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care and the riding that he needed.

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So she wants him to be

busy and have a job.

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He's only 16, so he certainly

has a lot of life ahead of him.

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So he'll fit right in here where he's not

getting too much work, but just enough.

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That's why we call them semi-retired.

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And basically they all just

kinda knock on our door, really.

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I don't go looking for them.

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Dixie: It's like cat people where

the cats just find you, right?

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Katie: Exactly.

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Yes.

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That's a very good analogy.

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Yes.

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I don't go looking for them.

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They find us.

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Dixie: Oh, that's funny.

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Katie: Yes.

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Dixie: With the equine therapy, I

know nothing about equine therapy, so-

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Katie: Okay

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… Dixie: tell me about it in a nutshell.

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What does it involve?

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Katie: Like I said before, It's just

that love of the horse and the horse,

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and the bond between the horse and the

rider, or the horse and the student.

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The horse really does know when somebody's

having a bad day, and it can't be hidden.

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Their heartbeats will

regulate with our heartbeats.

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So if they're really nervous and their

heartbeats are really high, like the horse

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will get really nervous and vice versa.

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And when that student goes into

the stall and just, starts brushing

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them and breathing and, it'll

regulate and calm them down as well.

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There's that piece of it

that just calms them down.

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And then there are riders also

who they too don't know that

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they're uptight or they're nervous.

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They'll tell me, "I'm fine.

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There's nothing wrong with me.

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I'm fine."

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And the horse is just like really

agitated, and I'm like, "You're not fine."

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And so we go through that breathing

and that you need to settle down.

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You're not okay, and the horse

is not okay, so you need to

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settle down for the horse's sake.

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And so it's that team, that

teaming up that they do as well,

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and that just works together.

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So there's that piece.

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That's what we do here.

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There is equine therapy where

they team up with a therapist.

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It's not really what we do here,

but we just use the horse to

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help with the anxiety, the ADHD.

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I do have students here that have

cerebral palsy, that kind of thing.

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My adults come here after work and

just say, one of them just told me

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this week where she was she goes,

"I drive down the road and I see the

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farm, and it all just melts away."

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And that's why I do what I do.

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Dixie: Yeah, that's amazing.

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Now, when you say the horse is

agitated and that's when you can

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tell if a person is nervous, how do

you know- … the horse is agitated?

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What are the signs that

the horse gives you?

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Katie: So I've seen this in both ways.

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One person will get off, the same

horse, one person will get off and,

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or ride rather, and the horse is

like just walking around and being

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slow and just being like, do-do.

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And then the person that's , not having a

great day or has things on their mind, and

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that person'll get on and all of a sudden

they're like walking real fast, and their

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head is high, and they're look, they're

looking around at their surroundings.

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And it's "Yeah, you're not okay."

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I do have couple, two horses probably out

there that they themselves have anxiety,

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so they look to their people to tell

them that it's okay, that they don't

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need to go fast or, that kind of stuff.

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So if they're an anxious rider,

they're going to make him more anxious.

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And so we've paired them up.

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The funny thing is I have a homeschooler

who is an anxious person, but she can

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ride Chevy very well and make him settled.

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And both of us have said that's

really strange," but it really works.

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And so I think that's very good for her

as an anxious person that she can ride

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him and make him chill out a little bit.

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Dixie: When you said that the horse's

heartbeats will regulate with a person's

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heartbeats and they feed on the energy,

is that an observation that you made

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or is that something that's documented?

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Katie: That's documented.

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Dixie: Yeah.

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That's very interesting because I always

tell people when you're dealing with, even

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just like cats and dogs I do cats, and

I notice that, and I always tell people,

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cats always feed off of your energy if

you are nervous, they're gonna be nervous.

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If you're anxious- … they're anxious.

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If you're calm, they're calm.

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They know when you're upset.

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They know when you're happy.

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And a lot- … of people don't

believe that, and they don't

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understand that when you say that.

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So it's very interesting that has

been documented with the horses

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because it's something that you

see with all animals really.

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Katie: Exactly.

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I agree.

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Yes.

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No, but it has definitely

been documented, yes.

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I can't give you the reference, but I'm

sure if you Google it, you'll find it too,

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but it definitely has been documented.

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Dixie: When you do the equine

therapy, is it like a field trip?

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Do people make appointments to

come over, or do they just come?

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Do they come as a group?

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Katie: So we basically,

we do it by appointments.

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I teach on Wednesdays

basically and Saturday.

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Wednesday afternoons in the spring

semester and in the fall semester

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Saturday mornings, and then

we have camp sessions as well.

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And we do it in a group setting basically.

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And then I'm very flexible, so I

try to be as flexible as I can with

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everybody's schedule and my own as well.

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Dixie: And where do you find the

people that you invite to come

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over to do the equine therapy?

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Katie: Word of mouth has been wonderful.

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Facebook has been wonderful as well.

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But yeah, basically I would

say Facebook and word of mouth

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Dixie: And is this something

that's free of charge for people?

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Katie: So no, at this point we

are charging, but I also work on

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a sliding scale if we need to.

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I have done different community services.

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We had our town police department

come for this kind of thing last fall.

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September fall.

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And we plan on doing that again.

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We have a pony his name is Snickers.

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He's very popular.

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He's gone to different events.

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We've taken him to the nursing homes.

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Those events can be free of

charge and things like that.

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So it depends on the circumstances,

but we try to work things

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out because it, it is…

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10 horses are, there's a

high cost to all of that.

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Dixie: When you take Snickers out to

the nursing home, how does that work?

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Katie: So we've taken

him quite a few times.

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We have taken him where the

residents come, of the nursing

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home come out to see him.

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We've dressed him up for 4th of July.

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We've dressed him up for Valentine's

Day, different things like that.

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And, we bring him to the nursing

home, and they come out and see him.

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And we've walked him right through the

middle of the nursing home as well.

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So I have a beautiful picture of Snickers

going right up to the bed of one of

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the residents 'cause she was bed bound.

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Dixie: Oh, that's amazing.

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I can't imagine-

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Katie: Yeah … what

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Dixie: kind of impact

that it has for them.

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Katie: Yeah.

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It's wonderful.

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And at home, he's a pony, and I don't

know if you've ever heard this, but

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ponies can be very persnickety and

can sometimes be a little bratty.

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But-- And at home, he's definitely that,

but he knows his job, and he knows when he

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needs to turn that off and just sit still.

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And he does.

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It's amazing.

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Dixie: What was the aha moment when

you decided that you were going to

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go from just having the farm with

the horses to the equine therapy?

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Katie: I don't know that

there was an aha moment.

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It just evolved into such things.

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I think there was an aha moment

turning it into the nonprofit.

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We needed to definitely do some,

like the fundraising and the grants

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writing and things like that.

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And then it became not more of a job,

but okay, what programs can I do next?

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What can I work on next?

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And so that's where the evolving came.

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And then I just, the more things

evolve in the world, if you will, I

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don't know that I could ever go back

to public school teaching, and I get

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the best of both worlds here, where

I can teach, and I can teach with my

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horses, and I couldn't be happier.

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When you do your homeschooling,

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Dixie: do you have the horses

as a part of the curriculum?

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Katie: Absolutely.

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So we're not homeschooling in where we're

teaching reading, writing, and math.

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They come here, and you had asked

about the farming piece of it.

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They're caretaking for the horses.

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They're helping.

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They're learning how to clean the barn

and take care of the horses, and our

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philosophy is the horses come first,

and they put the horses out, and so

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they do about a, they're here from

to: 12:00

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And so we do that.

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And then like I said, there's about

20 of them, and so we divide them

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up about who's gonna ride who and

we use four or five of the horses.

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And then the older kids help the

younger kids, and then we ride for,

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from 10:00 to 12:00, and the bigger

kids walk the younger kids, and I teach.

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And they teach essentially too, if

they're walking the horses, they get,

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they have to do some teaching as well.

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And then we untack them, and we

put them all away, and they have

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to hay and water the horses and

make sure everybody's all set.

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Nobody can be like, "My

parents here, I gotta go."

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Nope.

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The horses come first.

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Are the horses all set

before you run out the door?

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And so they have to get that full

experience of I take care of my

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horse and that kind of thing.

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Going back to, "Mommy,

Daddy, can I have a horse?"

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If you are gonna have a horse

someday when you're an adult,

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this is what it's going to entail.

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Dixie: Yeah, that's great that they're

able to go out and learn that kind of

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stuff, 'cause I think that's what we need

more of, is people teaching about animals.

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I would- And responsibility.

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: 00:19:00

Yes, definitely.

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Definitely, because, I think

people have this idea that they can

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just get an animal, and it's even

like that with a cat and a dog.

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There's no thought into going

into it a lot of the times.

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: 00:19:11

They'll just be like, "Okay,

let's-" "… get an animal today."

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And- Yes … then they end up making

that animal disposable in a sense

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: 00:19:20

because they're not ready for the

responsibility of having an animal.

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: 00:19:24

Katie: I agree with you.

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: 00:19:25

Yes.

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Absolutely.

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: 00:19:28

And even the preschoolers, so that's on a

to: 10:00

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Yes, they're two to five years old,

but I try to give them a little chore,

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whether it's kicking the shavings

around, all seven of them cleaning one

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: 00:19:42

stall and, no, it's not perfect, but,

cleaning the stall, and then brushing

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their horse, and it's one horse.

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They're sharing one horse.

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: 00:19:50

The rest of them are

playing in the play area.

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: 00:19:53

They're taking turns, that kind of thing,

so they're learning that, sharing is

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: 00:19:57

caring, and then they're all untacking the

horse and all of that afterwards as well.

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: 00:20:03

They're starting as young as two, two

to five years old at that point as well.

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: 00:20:10

Dixie: Yeah, that's great, and when you

reach them that young, and even just

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: 00:20:14

reaching the children in general, I find

that it almost helps to educate the adults

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: 00:20:19

as well because the kids- go home, and

they tell their parents everything, and

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: 00:20:24

if the parents come up with something

else, they're gonna argue with them and

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: 00:20:28

say, "No, this is what you need to do."

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: 00:20:31

Katie: I agree.

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: 00:20:31

Yes.

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: 00:20:32

Yes.

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: 00:20:35

Dixie: Do you have any success

stories that you would like to share?

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: 00:20:42

Katie: I was just gonna say that

from the preschoolers, I've had

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: 00:20:44

many preschoolers start in preschool

and then just work their way

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: 00:20:49

up, , into our programs for sure.

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: 00:20:52

I do have a bunch of girls that

are now 30 and have been here…

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: 00:20:58

we didn't have preschool back

when they started but nonetheless,

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: 00:21:02

they have started when they were,

six, seven or eight, and then they

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: 00:21:05

have been here and are still here.

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: 00:21:07

And now they're anywhere

from 25 to 30 years old.

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: 00:21:11

But my, one of my other girls who

has been here I think she's going

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: 00:21:15

on her third or fourth year, her

name is Hailey and she has cerebral

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: 00:21:19

palsy and she just loves coming here.

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: 00:21:23

Her legs are in braces.

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: 00:21:25

She almost runs when she walks and she's,

unstable, but she gets on one of our

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: 00:21:30

horses named Wyatt, who again, he knows.

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: 00:21:34

He knows it's her.

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: 00:21:36

He knows he's, he needs to behave

because if it, any of us got on

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: 00:21:40

him, he might give us a hard time.

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: 00:21:42

But he knows it's her and he stands

still, and the girls walk her around and

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: 00:21:48

the dad helps, walk, be a side walker.

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: 00:21:51

And the smile on that girl's face when

she rides and she just, "I ride Wyatt.

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: 00:21:58

I ride Wyatt," the whole

time she goes around.

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: 00:22:01

And she's one also that the grandmother

has said that the doctors have come

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: 00:22:05

back and said, her core has gotten

stronger and things like that.

379

: 00:22:09

But again, just the joy to

watch her ride is amazing.

380

: 00:22:14

And so there are many stories like that

I could share, but she's one that sticks

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: 00:22:18

out just because she's just so happy.

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: 00:22:22

And I also work with just real quick a

36-year-old young lady who has autism,

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: 00:22:27

and she's been with me for many years.

384

: 00:22:29

And that young lady feeds my horses

every night, brings them in and

385

: 00:22:34

out every day, and she's just

amazing as well with the horses.

386

: 00:22:40

Dixie: Yeah.

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: 00:22:40

That, it's really beautiful,

it really is, to hear that it's

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: 00:22:43

having such an impact on them.

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: 00:22:46

Katie: Yes.

390

: 00:22:47

Yeah.

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: 00:22:47

It's wonderful.

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: 00:22:48

It's why I love what I do.

393

: 00:22:51

Dixie: Yeah.

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: 00:22:51

Now let me ask you too, the students

that you're getting, are these people

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: 00:22:55

or are these children that have a love

for animals and wanna explore it more?

396

: 00:23:00

Or is it something more that the

parents wanna instill this in them?

397

: 00:23:05

Katie: I would have to say

it's a little bit of both.

398

: 00:23:07

I've had both happen.

399

: 00:23:10

I've had both parents call me

and say "My," "my child loves

400

: 00:23:15

animals with or without, those

kind of severities of disabilities.

401

: 00:23:20

And so I wanna see

what's going to happen."

402

: 00:23:23

I've had parents call or text me and

say, "I've heard that horses can be

403

: 00:23:28

good with children with disabilities.

404

: 00:23:31

Can we give this a try?"

405

: 00:23:32

That kind of thing.

406

: 00:23:34

And then I've just had, your typical

horse girl where the parents call and say,

407

: 00:23:39

"My kid can't stop talking about horses.

408

: 00:23:41

Can we come visit?"

409

: 00:23:44

So it's been, across

the board kind of thing.

410

: 00:23:47

Dixie: And how far do people normally

have to travel to get to your farm?

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: 00:23:53

Katie: We're in Connecticut, so all of

Connecticut is about a two-hour drive.

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: 00:23:57

So most of them are pretty local.

413

: 00:23:59

I've, I have had probably a handful that

may have come from about an hour away.

414

: 00:24:05

But I feel bad for that.

415

: 00:24:07

I wouldn't travel an

hour away to get here.

416

: 00:24:09

Not a lot have stuck around

for an hour drive away.

417

: 00:24:13

And here, there, there are quite a

few either horse farms in general

418

: 00:24:18

or even equine therapy places that

somebody could find something closer

419

: 00:24:26

Dixie: That's very interesting.

420

: 00:24:27

I loved learning about all of this because

like I said, I knew nothing about equine

421

: 00:24:32

therapy, and to hear that these animals

are making such a difference in these

422

: 00:24:38

people's lives, and then I would imagine

that it's the same, that these people are

423

: 00:24:42

making a difference for the horses, too.

424

: 00:24:45

Katie: Yes.

425

: 00:24:46

Dixie: Yeah … it's truly amazing.

426

: 00:24:48

Katie: Yes.

427

: 00:24:49

And, why be out in a field doing nothing?

428

: 00:24:51

We actually do have one…

429

: 00:24:54

I shouldn't say young horse.

430

: 00:24:55

I was gonna say young lady.

431

: 00:24:57

She's probably our second oldest horse.

432

: 00:24:58

She's 26 years old.

433

: 00:25:00

She's a Thoroughbred.

434

: 00:25:02

And she came to us a year ago

or so, and the same situation.

435

: 00:25:07

She was owned by an 18-year-old who

couldn't afford two horses, and the

436

: 00:25:12

trainer, her trainer the young lady's

trainer was like, "Oh, take her."

437

: 00:25:16

And I was, I tried really hard to say no.

438

: 00:25:19

You were asking me earlier

how they come to me.

439

: 00:25:22

I tried really hard to say no.

440

: 00:25:24

And I said, "She looks

like she's comfortable.

441

: 00:25:26

She looks like she's settled.

442

: 00:25:27

She looks like she's nice and retired."

443

: 00:25:29

And the trainer was…

444

: 00:25:31

said to me "No, she's got some

life left in her," and, her

445

: 00:25:34

student couldn't afford her.

446

: 00:25:36

And I said, "Okay, fine."

447

: 00:25:38

I was afraid that the horse was gonna

get bounced around from one retirement

448

: 00:25:42

home to another retirement home,

and I didn't want her to do that.

449

: 00:25:45

I said, "I'll take her."

450

: 00:25:48

She's here.

451

: 00:25:49

And as you were saying, I think it's good.

452

: 00:25:52

She likes to work.

453

: 00:25:53

She loves the kids.

454

: 00:25:54

She's getting tons and tons of love and

attention, so I think it worked out best,

455

: 00:25:59

and she won't get, bounced around from…

456

: 00:26:02

And I don't know that would've been true,

but I was afraid that, because of the

457

: 00:26:07

financial situation, that she would've

just gotten, tossed here or tossed there.

458

: 00:26:12

And so now we know that she's here.

459

: 00:26:16

Dixie: Before we end the call, can you

tell people how they can connect with

460

: 00:26:19

you or learn more about your farm?

461

: 00:26:22

Katie: Absolutely.

462

: 00:26:23

We're definitely on Facebook and

it's just clearly under Shagbark

463

: 00:26:27

Hickory Farm, or you can even connect

with me on Facebook at Katie Hunt.

464

: 00:26:33

The best way to get in touch with

me is through my cell phone which

465

: 00:26:37

is texting through 860-849-3868.

466

: 00:26:42

We've got some, a fundraiser coming up

for our second annual golf tournament

467

: 00:26:48

coming up on July 25th that we're excited

about, so we're getting ready for that.

468

: 00:26:54

And you can learn more about that

on Facebook and texting me directly.

469

: 00:26:59

And yeah, those are the best

ways to get ahold of us.

470

: 00:27:03

Dixie: Thanks so much for joining me

today and sharing your love of horses.

471

: 00:27:06

I really enjoyed hearing about all this.

472

: 00:27:09

Katie: Yes, this was wonderful.

473

: 00:27:10

Thanks for reaching out.

474

: 00:27:11

I really appreciate it.