"Dangerous" Racehorse to Healing Partner: Liberty, Scent Work & the Sacred | Dr. Amanda Minervini of EGLHE, Colorado Springs | EAW 63

Rupert Isaacson speaks with Dr. Amanda Minervini, founder of  EGLHE (Equine Guided Learning And Healing Experience), a nonprofit equine program in Colorado Springs, and professor at Colorado College.

EGLHE began taking shape during the pandemic, in response to a worsening mental health crisis. It was built around the preferences of one horse: Jimmy, an off-the-track Thoroughbred who raced as a stallion, was not gelded until after age nine, and was labeled dangerous. Originally intended for Amanda's college students, the program is now open to everyone. It brings together consent-based horsemanship, classical in-hand work, liberty, scent work, and good management, with a core belief that horses have a voice and that humans don't have to be in charge.

The conversation walks through how Amanda layers a session so that a horse can safely run free through the woods with people who have never been near a horse, how scent work for horses can build confidence in a spooky horse, and why a horse must always be regulated enough to learn. Amanda also shares what she observed with the medicine paint horses at a Lakota Sun Dance, and she and Rupert explore the sacred in equine-assisted work, consciousness, Saint Francis of Assisi, and how zooanthropology helps her bridge methods rather than choose just one.

✨ "I'm trying to show humans that they don't have to be in charge with horses, that it can be a shared enterprise." – Dr. Amanda Minervini

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🔍 What You'll Learn in This Episode

What  EGLHE is, and why Amanda started it in response to the mental health crisis during the pandemicHow Jimmy, an off-the-track Thoroughbred labeled "dangerous," became the horse  EGLHE was built aroundWhy good management (herd life, a big pasture, free-choice hay) was the foundation of Jimmy's changeHow Amanda layers a session, from herd observation to arena liberty work to free movement in the woodsWhy she never assumes, and works with the horse she has on that dayWhat scent work for horses is, and how to progress from visible treats in an arena to open searching on the trailWhy olfactory seeking work may build curiosity and confidence in spooky horsesWhy a horse must be regulated enough to learn, and what to do when fear is too bigHow novel movement and BDNF connect horse wellbeing, human focus, and Amanda's own 17 years of kung fuWhat Amanda observed about the medicine paint horses and their