A Social Enterprise with Horses at its Heart
Registered Community Interest Company number: SC748117
SOCIAL VALUE
“Horses are able to bring magic to young peoples' lives and relationship building tools to their existence…the investment in time and energy to help these hard-to-reach young people is a good one with a more predictable return than Wall Street.”
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-Terena Thomas, Pioneering Therapeutic Riding Instructor
With Horses CIC is a social enterprise. That means that we're not just interested in making money- each of our products offers social value too. Training scholarships and therapeutic bursaries funded with the profits from every training course, curriculum or CPD service that our customers buy, help some of the hardest to engage young people in the UK, including those who are NEET, in care, or living with the effects of trauma, disability or discrimination, to achieve their fullest potential. At With Horses CIC, we champion lived experience, believing that those who know disability, discrimination and disadvantage firsthand have invaluable contributions to make to the world. Listen to our founder, Lindsey Crosbie, talk about her own Lived Experience Leadership Journey in an excerpt from our recent webinar series:
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To date, we have provided 28 training scholarships. A third of recipients have gone on to either set up their own businesses or find paid work. Half are now in education, volunteering or further training. The impact is holistic, encompassing all areas of participants’ lives and long-lasting. Scholarship recipients gain soft skills as well as practical, transferable work skills, enabling them to build better relationships and contribute more fully to their communities. This year’s outcomes show that 89% of participants have reported improved work skills, 78% improved life skills, and 72% improved health and wellbeing.
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As well as training scholarships, we have been able to offer 20 free therapeutic retreat bursaries via a Shackleton Foundation grant, enabling us to pilot pioneering Life and Work Skills and Peer Support Retreats (each for up to ten participants) for young people who are on the cusp of leaving care or are survivors of trauma. Next year, we aim to give one free place on every training course we run to a person with lived experience of disadvantage. In the long term, we aim to generate enough profit to become totally self-funding, remove our reliance on grants and ensure that we can create lasting and sustainable benefit for years to come.
Professional Training Course Recipient
The scholarship program offers professional training and skills, in a relaxed, supportive and 'allowing' atmosphere, and being able to be around the horses is therapeutic in itself. Knowing that participants have different backgrounds and experiences, also makes it less intimidating. Having someone believe in me, when I wasn't really able to do so myself, made a huge difference in so many ways. Experiences and ' baggage' which I had seen as negative, a failure and something to be a bit ashamed of, now turned out to be something positive, even a strength. 18 months on... (I have) now actually started working towards having my own donkey EAT business!
Vocational Short Course Recipient
Growing up in care, I always thought that my background was something to be ashamed of. I'd never done well in school and didn't go to college because I was afraid to fail. I've always loved animals, though. My foster families often had pets and I found them easier to get along with than people. Last year I did an online Animal Care course paid for by With Horses CIC and gained an ASDAN certificate. I was so proud that I laminated it and put it on my wall! Next I did a Lived Experience Leadership course where Lindsey talked to us about how she had used her own life experiences to set up her With Horses CIC and helped us to find our own lived experience 'super-power'. Now I'm determined to set up my own dog-walking business.
