In Episode 35, Tonya invited Laurie Higgins-Kerley onto the podcast to explore how her nonprofits, Dove Creek Equine Rescue and Led by Horses, have become a place where horses and humans heal together — and how anyone experiencing difficulty can find comfort and resilience in equine therapy. Laurie Higgins-Kerley is the Founder and Executive Director of Dove Creek Equine Rescue (DCER), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization she established in 2012 in Canyon, Texas. Inspired by her own profound healing with horses following the loss of her husband in 2008, Laurie built DCER into a thriving rescue and rehabilitation center dedicated to giving horses - who have experienced abuse, neglect, or surrender - a second chance at life. Under her leadership, Dove Creek has grown into a place where horses and humans heal together, each animal’s journey back to health mirroring the resilience and renewal she witnesses every day in the people who come alongside them. In 2017, Laurie earned her Equine-Assisted Coaching certification through the Academy of Coaching with Horses and founded Led By Horses, an equine-assisted coaching program at Dove Creek Equine Rescue. She has since received another certification from the EAL Academy in 2022 focusing on team building and is currently in the Equus Academy certification program with Kelly Wendorf. Drawing on horses’ extraordinary capacity to reflect human emotion and behavior with complete honesty and without judgment, Led By Horses creates transformative experiences for women veterans, first responders, grief groups, and corporate teams. Participants consistently describe breakthroughs in self-awareness, emotional regulation, and authentic leadership - discovering, through relationship with a horse, who they are when the noise of the world falls away. Laurie brings over two decades of experience as a retreat facilitator, holistic healing practitioner, and certified yoga teacher to everything she does. Her work is grounded in earth-based and indigenous wisdom traditions, and she holds a deep belief that healing is not a destination but a living, unfolding relationship, with ourselves, with the natural world, and with the horses who so generously show us the way. She makes her home in Canyon, Texas, with her husband Greg and their dogs and cat- where the high plains sky and the herd at Dove Creek remain her greatest teachers: "Our Vision is to heal the heart of humanity through authentic partnership with horses.” DIVE DEEPER! Dove Creek Equine Rescue
