Carol Allen, founder of HorsePowerment, poses
with Arie and Rollin in front of her classroom.
W
e’ve all heard of pet therapy, a.k.a. animal-assisted therapy, a.k.a. people relying on animals
to help them recover from or better cope with various health issues ranging from cancer to
anxiety (thanks, mayoclinic.org).
So it’s understandable why people might
assume that Tamarack Farm HorsePower-
ment, with its horse-driven sessions, falls
into the same category. They’d be wrong.
“Therapy is more about dealing with the
past and learning coping strategies; Horse-
Powerment basically picks up where therapy
leaves off,” says owner and founder Carol
Allen. “Our mission is to supply skills for the
future, help people develop their leadership
and communication skills through tailored
equine assisted learning programs.”
We’re sitting at a folding table in her
classroom, an open red barn on the edge of
Tamarack Farm in Coventry’s village of
Greene. Allen and her husband, Ron, are on
brand — she in a fuzzy zip-up embellished
with wild horse illustrations and he in his
workman jeans. (The most country thing about
my attire is my sturdy boots; I was warned to
wear shoes I wouldn’t mind getting dirty.) We
also have some company: A sweet cat named
Sammy purrs away on my lap and two muzzles
72 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l
MARCH 2020
poke out from the stable behind me, overseeing
our chat.
Allen, a Pennsylvania native who grew up
riding horses and later driving and training
them, started HorsePowerment last year
while getting ready to retire after twenty
years in education.
“I knew that I wanted to continue helping
my kids, my special needs population, during
retirement,” she explains. “Then, one day, I
was reading through a horse magazine and
there was an article about programs that help
humans understand, based on the way they
interact with horses, how they can improve
their communication skills, team-building
skills, leaderships skills, confidence and more.”
But what’s so great about horses?
“Horses are prey animals, so their number
one concern is safety,” Allen explains. “They
naturally work best in teams, as a herd, and
they react immediately to what’s in front of
them — that’s what’s kept them alive for
millions of years. They can perceive what you
are thinking before you even decide to act on
it. If you’re nervous, not having a good day
or not giving the task at hand your undivided
attention, they’re going to pick up on that
and think that they can’t trust you as a leader.
They will keep their distance. Through their
reactions, horses are able to show us when
we are being clear, focused and effective. It
gives people the opportunity to experience
immediate, direct and unbiased feedback.”
Allen already had the horses: Arie, a twelve-
year-old Arab-Paint, and Rollin, a thirteen-
year-old Morgan. Regularly calling them her
“boys,” Allen likens them to the odd couple as
Rollin is messy and Arie is neat (but neither
is immune to a treat or two, I learn when they
gobble some up from my palm). She also had
more than thirty years of experience with the
gentle giants, and had her spacious property,
Tamarack Farm, to set up shop.
“I said, ‘You know what, I’m going to get
this training,’ ” she recalls. “It’s amazing how
when one door closes, another door opens.”