Harnessing power of horses to heal troubled children

Ros Rowe has been so busy "fighting a battle out here" at the Leg Up Trust, she has barely had time to think about her Kiwi Battler nomination, which if won would give her $10,000 towards her charity.
Ms Rowe has spent the past eight years working with disadvantaged youth and people with mental illness through her horses as healers programme called Leg Up Trust.
The children, who Ms Rowe describes as "high needs", find it hard to slot into a conventional classroom so do correspondence school work at the Leg Up Trust centre.
"We are in desperate need of a classroom, because we have high needs students that can't be at school and at the moment they are doing their correspondence out of our client facility which is very noisy," Ms Rowe said. "We would like to build three single rooms, one which could double as a music room."
The Leg Up Trust grew from Ms Rowe's horse trekking business, and started with just three horses. "I used to run treks, but I didn't like the way people treated the horses, so I began taking half-day courses which taught people how to treat the horses before they rode them," she said. "It was through doing this that I realised how much young people responded to working with the horses."
So, Ms Rowe gave up her business and started the trust, which has grown to include around 20 horses, many of which have been rescued.
"We rescue horses as well as people, horses that have been been in very bad situations and have then been given love will feel secure here and they transfer that on to the kids," she said.
The main concern for Ms Rowe is that troubled youth will not get the help they need if nobody is looking out for them. "I am worried that the Minister of Education is trying to put these kids in mainstream education, but they don't understand that even with all the will in the world these kids just can not fit into a classroom."
The young people Mr Rowe helps suffer from social, behavioural or emotional problems. Ms Rowe has given them a second chance, increased their confidence, life skills and given them something to look forward to.
"Some of them only make small changes... but you might run into them in the street and they will come up and say 'I will never forget what you have done for me'."Gareth and Jo Morgan, the entrepreneurs behind Kiwi Battler, will be at the HB Opera House on September 6 for a presentation and charity evening which will benefit the Lowe Corporation Rescue Helicopter Trust. Tickets are $20, from www.gmshows.co.nz or at the door.