Wise

Equestrian

About Sarah Wise, Owner/Facilitator

I am a mother of two children and step-mother of two amazing young adults, self-employed woman entrepreneur, and a retired Correctional Officer who has persevered over the struggles of living with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and depression. The negative and positive experiences I went through in my journey to recovery and healing has lead me to wanting to help other first responders and their families to get to a place of recovery and healing.

With the support of my husband, children, parents, and friends I was able to obtain a Bachelor of Arts - Psychology Degree from the University of Calgary and get certified by Equine Connection as a EAL facilitator. I will continue to grow Wise Equestrian and myself while completing a Masters of Arts in Counseling Psychology with a scheduled completion of spring 2026.

The Idea for Wise Equestrian:

Wise Equestrian started off as an idea very early in my journey of learning to live with PTSD and depression. I started to share my idea of working with horses to help first responders and their families with anyone who would listen putting it out into the universe making it harder for me to "chicken out" of following through with it.

It took 4-5 years to get to the point of starting up Wise Equestrian, and if it wasn't for all the support from the people around me, it wouldn't have come to fruition as soon as it has or at all. If I didn't have the strength around me through my journey I would have succumb to my PTSD and Depression. The lack of appropriate psychological support was astonishing.

It was the negativity and lack of appropriate supports through my journey that gave me the push to keep working towards the creation and opening of Wise Equestrian. I never want to see another first responder or their families be put through such a horrible system again! It's time for us to put those who put everyone else first, FIRST!

Together we are strong!

Putting First Responder FIRST!

Our Horses and Donkeys:

Alice - The 1st Horse

I always dreamed about owning my own horse, but I never thought that owning my own horse would not only provide me with a savior but a renewed sense of self worth and desire to help others.

Alice came into my life by introduction from my riding coach. She had been looking for a horse for me and keeping an eye out when along came Alice. She was a miserable old dude horse who spent the vast majority of her life carrying around non-horse people, she had gotten to a point she was no longer safe and had been put up for sale.

I fell in love with her instantly, to be fair though I fall in love with almost EVERY horse, well animal, I come across, what neither of us knew was what wonderful things we had instore for each other.

Our Other Equines:

We now work with Zenna, Gemma, Riley, and our two amazing miniature donkeys Jose and Bella!

Teddy joined us sadly for only a short period of time but he also helped show not only me the power of a horse but my family the power of a horse.

Zenna

Zenna is my daughters horse, together they are working on doing amazing things. She currently isn't one of our program horses but has amazing potential to join the EAL herd in the future.

Gemma

Gemma has a very gentle soul and loving nature! She is going to be an amazing EAL horse. Gemma rejoined our heard December 2022 after helping an orphan foal grow! She is very special, don't be fooled by her size, she thinks she little!

Riley

Riley is a young horse that I acquired from a horse rescue in Northeast Alberta in summer 2022. Looking into his brands, it turns out that he was bred to be a bucking horse but he didn't like bucking (BONUS for me). His personality is so lovely, and despite being bounced around frequently in his short life, Riley just loves people! He has now landed in his forever home and I look forward to a very long partnership with him.

Bella & Jose

Miniature Donkeys!

Jose is my very first equine, he is the biggest mommy suck on the farm! He loves attention and causing a little bit of trouble.

Bella is so sweet and mild mannered. Like most donkeys she thinks everything through before she acts and you can't make her do anything. She too loves attention and scratches but rarely causes any trouble, she leaves that role to Jose!

Our Heavenly Equines:

Teddy

Always loved! Sadly we had to put him down in 2021, he was one of the horses that started to show me the power they possessed.

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