Not every therapy session needs a sofa.
Discover how gentle, on-the-ground time with horses can build confidence, calm the mind, and open new doors — all with NDIS funding where appropriate.
What Is Equine Therapy?
Equine therapy is a supportive, horse-based approach to emotional and personal development. At Heartfelt Support, our sessions are ground-based — no riding — and tailored to each participant. Whether you’re dealing with anxiety, building confidence, or just love horses, our gentle approach helps you feel safe, supported, and seen.
Calm, no-pressure sessions with ponies and miniature horses
Trauma-aware staff with disability experience
Confidence-building and emotional regulation
Funded under the NDIS if it is in your plan under one of various categories
Our Equine Approaches
Two Ways We Work With Horses
Equine-Involved Therapy
Focused on skill-building and personal growth through guided activities.
Develop connection, responsibility, and routine through horse care and bonding.Horse-Centred Wellbeing
Our own blend of mentoring and therapeutic engagement — flexible, outdoor, joyful.
👉 Learn more about our Horse-Centred Wellbeing sessions.
Funding Through the NDIS
Our equine sessions are usually funded through a mix of NDIS support categories — depending on your goals and plan setup.
For most participants, funding comes from a combination of:
15_ – Community Participation supports
04_ – Therapeutic and Daily Living supports
01_ – Core supports (for capacity building or social connection)
We’re happy to help you (or your support coordinator) understand what’s possible and match the right services to your plan.
Please note: As an independent provider, we work with self-managed and plan-managed participants only.
Why Choose Heartfelt?
Why Choose Heartfelt Support for Equine Therapy?
We’ve supported dozens of NDIS participants to experience the joy of horse time
Sessions are flexible, outdoors, and tailored to the participant’s needs and goals
Calm, private location (appointment-only) in southern Adelaide
Emotional support and mentoring available during sessions
“After coming every week for nearly a year, it’s time to move on. Not because she doesn’t love it, but because it’s given her the confidence to try something else. You’ve given me my bright, happy daughter back.”
— RC, parent of participant
Service Area
Our equine therapy site is in Trott Park in the southern suburbs of Adelaide, not far from our Morphett Vale head office It’s a quiet, appointment-only location where safety and calm come first.
We welcome participants from:
All across Adelaide
- Fleurieu Peninsula and surrounds
We can provide transport for participants.
However you’ve arrived at this page, whether you’ve been looking for horses for healing in Adelaide, equine-assisted counselling, or simply a chance to connect with therapy horses in a calm and supportive setting — you’ve come to the right place. These terms reflect the heart of what we do, and all lead to the same trusted team here at Heartfelt Support.
Our simple, three-step process for horse programs.
REFERRAL FORM
Fill in our form (for yourself or on behalf of someone else) to get the ball rolling and we'll get onto it.
WE'LL CALL YOU
We'll work out the best person on our team to discuss a horse program with you, and they'll call or email you.
START SESSIONS
You'll be able to visit our Trott Park facility, and spend time with specialist humans and wonderful horses!
If you’d rather know what’s going to happen with your information BEFORE you press the LET’S START button, this 26 second video explains it all!
Heartfelt Support’s Equine Therapy
Equine therapy, also known as horse therapy or hippotherapy, is a type of therapy that uses horses to improve individuals’ physical, emotional, and cognitive functions.
At Heartfelt Support, we provide equine therapy to Adelaide residents of all ages who may benefit from this unique and effective form of therapy, using our Australia Saddle Pony Astro and our rescue Brumby Noddy.
There are many benefits to equine therapy, including:
- Enhanced physical abilities: Balance, coordination, and strength are necessary for our guided groundwork and horse care. Participants in equine therapy may experience gains in their physical abilities and mobility.
- Improved cognitive function: Working with horses necessitates focus, problem-solving, and judgement. Participants in equine therapy may experience improvements in their cognitive function and information-processing skills.
- Enhanced self-esteem and confidence: Equine therapy can assist people in feeling pride in their accomplishments and self-worth as a result of their improvement.
- Tension and anxiety reduction: Equine therapy’s outdoor location and calming horse presence can be highly calming and help lower stress and anxiety.
- A person’s social skills can be improved through equine therapy, which involves working with both the horses and the therapy team. This can help people form relationships with others and improve their social abilities.
Our team of skilled therapists at Heartfelt Support is committed to providing people in the Adelaide region with top-notch horse therapy services. They are also lovely and fun to be around! We are dedicated to assisting our clients in realising their full potential since we firmly believe in the therapy’s ability to transform lives.
We look forward to assisting you on your path to better cognitive, emotional, and physical health.
Our Brochure :EQUINE THERAPY
Heartfelt Support’s Horse-Centred Wellbeing
Horses are cool, and even more usefully, they can help you with many aspects of your life from social skills to finding calmness.
Astro The Wonderhorse and Noddy The Miracle Brumby are our pony superstars. Astro is super smart and Noddy just loves people. Together they work with children and adults to make a difference.
Our Horse-Centred Wellbeing team operates our social horse program. Using many of the same concepts as our Multi-Disciplinary Equine Therapy team, this is a program for people who do not have enough therapy budget for equine therapy but need to get the same great benefits.
Every visit is great fun, but research shows it takes as little as five weekly visits to start getting benefits outside of the sessions themselves. But you can come as often as suits you – weekly, fortnightly or 4-weekly when we have slots available.
Casual sessions are often available during school holidays as many of our clients are school aged and often take a break at that time.
- Uses horses to teach self-esteem, self-confidence and communication
- Fully supervised by experienced support workers with horse-handling skills
- Ponies up to 13-14 hands (small horse size)
- Clients can be picked up and dropped off afterward
- Two experienced workers for each session – one for the participant and one to ensure safety for all
- Parents/Guardians and Support Workers welcome at sessions
- Operates from Trott Park
- Long and short timeslots available