43: Giving Tuesday Special: Hope Held by a Horse

Giving Tuesday is here and we want to encourage you to support your favorite non-profit organization. In today’s episode, Kim and Cara sit down with Suzanne Hagmaier of Hope Held by a Horse to discuss their amazing mission. Hope Held by a Horse provides a safe, positive environment, in the company of horses, to support women with breast cancer to learn, grow, and heal. Woven in with the story of Hope Held by a Horse, three survivors: Annie Young of Sawubona Ranch (https://sawubonaranch.com), Susan Bloom of Connection and Synergy (https://connectionandsynergy.com) and Cheryl Hill of Above the Spurs Coaching (https://abovethespurs.com) all share their stories around the topic of breast cancer and the healing power of horses. We truly hope you enjoy this inspiring episode of The Business Animal.

Hope Held by a Horse gives women the opportunity to reclaim a part of themselves that has been lost or diminished through the challenges of breast cancer. Our goal is to provide a place in which they can address fears and express emotional pain. The spiritual connection with horses helps them feel supported, centered, empowered and able to continue on and thrive.

Hope Held by a Horse is a 501c3 non-profit organization based in Littleton, Colorado. To find out more or donate, visit https://hopeheldbyahorse.org. Find Hope Held by a Horse on Facebook and Instagram @hopeheldbyahorse

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Transcript

Transcript

Transcripts are autogenerated and may contain typographical and grammar errors. This transcript is copyright©2021 Kimberly Beer and Cara Taylor Swift. DO NOT COPY in whole or part without written permission.

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Kimberly Beer 0:00
Hey there business animals. It’s Kim here. And we have a very special episode today for giving Tuesday. So if you’re listening to this down the road, please don’t let that deter you from hanging out and listening to episode because I think you’ll really get a lot of enjoyment out of it. But if you are listening the week of Giving Tuesday, we would love to just tell you how important it is to support your local nonprofits, especially those out there that are helping animals or helping people that connect with animals like the subject of our interviews today, which is around an organization called Hope held by a horse now hope held by a horse, which you’ll learn all about as we’re proceeding through the episode. It really is a very special organization that helps people who have experienced breast cancer and it connects them with a coach and a horse. And it can be truly life changing for the individuals that participate in the program. And I’ll tell you, it’s also life changing for the coaches as well, as well as the horses for that matter, they get a lot, I think out of it, and also contribute a lot to both their coach partners and to the people that are receiving the coaching and the benefit of the experiences that hope held by horse has to offer. So I really hope you enjoy the episode there’s going to be information about how to give to hope held by a horse on our show notes. But they’re definitely not the only organization out there that supports us as animal based businesses by supporting either the people in the animal based business industry or by supporting the animals themselves. So I hope you’ll find it in your heart to share a little bit of your wealth, if that’s available to you with some of these very worthy organizations. And I wish you a very blessed and happy giving Tuesday. Without further ado, here is the episode.

Jaz 1:56
Welcome to The Business Animal podcast. settle up for a gallop to the top of the animal industry, where you’ll learn how to tame your wild business beast with tips, techniques, and tools that will take overwhelm to obedience school, and have you wagging your tail with joy. And now your hosts Kim Beer and Cara Taylor Swift

Kimberly Beer 2:19
Hey, business animals, it’s Kim with Be More Business

Cara Taylor Swift 2:22
and Cara with Fast Horse photography.

Kimberly Beer 2:24
And today we’re bringing you another special bonus episode. I know we have a lot of women who listen to this program and men for that matter whose lives have been touched by this disease and by the ramifications of what cancer can do to a family. And it’s a topic that’s near and dear to my heart because I have so many friends that have faced breast cancer and battled back against it and live with it and need inspiration and support and also have great survivor stories and are inspirational leaders and today I want to welcome one of those women to the program. Her name is Suzanne Hagmaier and she is a fellow graduate of the Touched by a Horse Equine Gestalt program. So welcome Suzanne to the program.

Suzanne Hagmaier 3:16
Thank you. Thank you so much, guys.

Cara Taylor Swift 3:18
Welcome, Suzanne. Awesome.

Kimberly Beer 3:20
Now Suzanne has a unique part of her life that she is associated with, and it’s called Hope Held by a Horse. So Suzanne, what I think I’d like to do is I would love if you would share first a little bit about yourself and then about hope held by a horse, and what that organization is your part in it and what we can learn from you today about horses and how they help breast cancer survivors.

Suzanne Hagmaier 3:49
Sure, sure. Actually, I’m a two time breast cancer survivor. I was diagnosed in 2008. And then again in 2011, I had a problem with trying to keep everything normal for my kids. I didn’t know how to do that. And I think I lost a piece of me with that. I started to sit with other people after I was diagnosed in 2011. I started to sit with others who were going through chemo, answering their questions. And I thought this is really cool that my experience can now help them. They could ask questions, you know, what does radiation feel like? How long was yours? What was your tumor? Like? You know, any kind of questions? What’s your sexuality afterwards? You know, there were so many questions that they had that if you didn’t experience breast cancer, you don’t have those answers. Doctors don’t have those answers. nurses don’t have those answers so they could talk to another survivor and know what their journey may look like. And you know, the HIPAA laws were pretty strict and it became more and more difficult to sit there with somebody who maybe didn’t have someone to sit with. So one of them that I became very Good friends with had said, Hey, I heard about this program called Hope held by a horse. You know, let’s let’s do this. Let’s all do this together. So there were four of us that had gone through the program in 2015. For me, I thought I had dealt with everything. I thought I was past all that, oh, I’m going to go help my friends. We’re going to ride horses do travel. It’s going to be amazing. I don’t know anything about horses mind. Nothing about horses. Yeah. But yeah, yeah, I’m gonna, I’m gonna support though. So we have gone to the program in 2015. And I was teamed up with a coach and they did a contact exercise where they wanted you to, you know, focus on the person you’re with. And of course, the coach started making faces sticking out her tongue crossing her eyes being stupid and silly, and I was laughing. Then they said focus on yourself. I started crying and I had no idea why I was bawling. My I mean, I’d, I’m like, why don’t know where these emotions are coming from. I don’t know what’s going on. I had no idea what was going on. And there was a horse that was in the arena with us very, very large working horse. And she started to walk over to me. And she just kept walking. And I’m thinking what is she going to do? But I’m still all caught up with emotions. She walks over and she just put her huge head and just softly press it up against my chest. And I just laid on her head and cried my eyes out. And I thought what the heck is going on? Why am I feeling that I it was like nobody else in there existed. This horse was on free liberty, she could have been anywhere in that arena she wanted to be. When my emotions started, she stopped her head turned. She looked right at me. And she was focused and came right towards me. That moment, changed my life. absolutely changed my life.

Kimberly Beer 6:58
Hey, business animals. It’s Kim here. I hope you’re enjoying the interview that we’re doing with Suzanne Hagmaier of Hope Held by a Horse. But along the way in Susan’s journey I wanted to share as she’s sharing her journey with you. I also wanted to share a few other people that I know who have been touched by both horses and breast cancer and actually have participated or been a part of an activity with this wonderful organization. And I’m here with Susan Bloom of Connection in Synergy coaching in Oakley, Kansas. And I want to invite Susan to share her story. And also she’s experienced Hope Held by a Horse both as a participant and as a coach. So welcome, Susan.

Susan Bloom 7:41
Thank you, Kim. It’s good to be here today.

Kimberly Beer 7:44
Nice. Well talk to me a little bit about Hope Held by a Horse.

Susan Bloom 7:48
Well, so I was diagnosed with breast cancer in November of 2017. And after completing the Equine Gestalt Coaching Program, I found out about Hope Held by a Horse through it in 2020, when they weren’t doing in person events by another equine Gestalt coaching graduate. So I got pretty excited about it. And in June of 2020, I made arrangements to go to an event as a participant with the idea in mind that I’d like to bring something similar to my own state because it’s in Colorado, and I live in Kansas. And while I was there, as a participant, we met the horses. And I’d like to add to that I’ve had horses for over 50 years in my life. So I know horses fairly well. You don’t have to to do this event. And when I went it was just a few weeks after my dad passed away. So I was pretty raw to break up in with my emotions. And a big piece of work that we did, at the end of the weekend was an obstacle course where we lead the horses through them should have been fairly easy for me because like I said, I’ve had horses since I was five, and showed until I was about 30. And my horse kind of felt that I wasn’t there with him. And I had trouble with him from the start. They wouldn’t move with me. So my coach helped me get into my heart. And in that we discovered that, that I have three men who’ve been very influential in my life. My grandfather, my father, and my husband, Mike who had died two years before that, who were cheering me on, they want me to succeed. And after, after we did that the horse and I breezed through the course have made it to the last hurdle without any incidents as a coach when I coached in August, I had a woman who was having a lot of trouble getting in touch with her emotions. And when we put them up on the horse, you could tell when and I led for several of the women who were there and you could tell as soon as they would get into their hands and out of their hearts, the horses would stop saying you don’t really believe what you’re saying. And once we got through that, and back into their hearts, they would move on making sure the horses just would make sure that they were, you know, telling their truth, that they really felt those statements in their heart and really felt that they were true.

Kimberly Beer 10:22
So what would you say to a woman who is possibly considering coming to a hope held by a Horse Event? What would you say to her to encourage her to participate in this type of an event?

Susan Bloom 10:34
You hear so much from people and not just in breast cancer, but in all illnesses? My husband had a really rare disease. He had one doctor who continually said Hang in there, my mentor, Melissa Paris one time said, Hang in there when I had come from a core and went directly to KU Med Center, to which I thought, no, I need to not just hang in there, I need to thrive. As someone who’s had breast cancer, you hear that? Hang in there, fight tough, and it’s hard to share those emotions with anyone, especially someone who hasn’t been through it. And they talk about what’s the fight beat the cancer. And really, you need to get those emotions out instead of holding a man. And this is a great place to do that. It’s a safe, sacred space where you can get in touch with your emotions, the horses help, and that helps with your healing.

Kimberly Beer 11:28
That’s amazing. Susan, thank you so much for being here with us today and sharing your story. We’ll put a link to Susan’s information. She is a practicing coach in Kansas, and we’ll put some information into our show notes. Thank you again, Susan.

Susan Bloom 11:44
It was amazing. Yeah.

Cara Taylor Swift 11:46
It gave me chills just listening.

Kimberly Beer 11:49
Yeah. And I have goosebumps listening to you talk about this, because it’s that oh,

Suzanne Hagmaier 11:53
yeah, the coach that I was with that day, obviously impacted me, that horse impacted me. And I remember at that moment, thinking, Oh, my God, what I have just been through, I almost died, I could have died. It was and I think that’s what all those emotions were that had come up for me. But this horse just took all that away, took those emotions, those fears, all of that craziness was gone. And I thought, I can do this, I can be this coach, I can help these people I can, you know, it was another way. Because I couldn’t sit in the chemo room. It was another avenue. I didn’t know what it looked like, I didn’t know how it was going to happen. And I stayed in touch with the organization, actually, on my way home from the program. I’ve called a friend of mine, I was like, Oh, my God, this horse, it changed my life and blah, blah, blah, blah. So for my birthday, that year, I got my first horse, oh, I still didn’t know anything about I still knew nothing about it. So now I have five horses. And I know a little bit more than I knew before. But I stayed in touch with the organization to think maybe I can volunteer with them in some way. And I eventually became the treasurer of the organization. And, you know, they were still relatively new organization. And they kept a lot of their books in Excel. And I thought, you know, it would make more sense. If we put all this in QuickBooks, I’ll go back to the beginning when the organization started, and I’ll put all that in QuickBooks. So as I was doing that, I saw a charge to touch by a horse and I thought, oh, wonder what touched by horses. That’s weird. And I get on the internet. And I look it up. And I’m like, Oh, this is it. I could be a coach, I could do this with horses. Oh my gosh. So I immediately signed up for Melissa Pierce’s program, and started my journey there. And in the meantime, the founder of the organization had come to me and said this was now we’re in 2019. She came to me and said, We’re going to have to shut down. We’re losing some of our coaches, we have some board members resigning, the organization has outgrown me. And I, I don’t have any other choice. And I thought, no, no, no, no, no, no, like, I found my purpose who you can’t do this. And I said, is there anybody that you can think of that could take this on? And she said, You’re the only one I would trust to take over this organization. And I was honored, shocked and didn’t know what to say or do. And we talked about it and went back and forth for about a month. And that’s when I became the president and the executive director of hotel by horse. And I get to do this all the time.

Kimberly Beer 14:37
That is such a wonderful story.

Cara Taylor Swift 14:39
What incredible journey to get there too.

Suzanne Hagmaier 14:41
Everything fell into place as it was supposed to. And I didn’t question that journey. I just went with every step of it. Not knowing how it was going to come to be but I knew I wanted to help other breast cancer survivors. I had no clue that would be with horses. I had no clue I would have five them. Not to mention, you know, they’re not little mini ponies. They’re all big draft horses because that changed my life. Of course, she was a very large horse. She was I think she was 17.2 hands. So yeah, minor all big draft horse.

Kimberly Beer 15:19
Hey, business animals. It’s Kim. Again, hey, I’m interrupting the interview with Suzanne for a second time because I want to bring you another story from another coach who works with hope held by a horse events. And that’s Annie young at Sawubona Ranch in Littleton, Colorado. So Annie, welcome to The Business Animal. And I’m just going to go ahead and ask you the question, would you share a little bit about your experience of being a coach at Hope Held by Horse events?

Annie Young 15:48
Yes, thank you, Kim. Hope Held bya Horse has a special place for me as well, because I, I am also a breast cancer survivor. And honestly, one of the harder parts of going through my journey is that it wasn’t the big story, okay, that you often hear about, oh, I had to go through a lot of chemo and radiation, I did not have to do that. I, I was fortunate enough that we found it so early that for me, it was back to back to back surgeries. And so when I was going through the journey of all that during a pandemic, because I was diagnosed in January of 2020, I downplayed it in my brain, I continued to well, you know, I, I only have to have surgery, well, I’m not doing chemo. So when I struggled, it was extra hard for me to allow myself to struggle, it was extra hard for me to reach out for help. And when help was offered, I felt undeserving because there was always somebody who had it worse off right in my head. That’s how it was playing out. And so when I was given an invitation to coach for hotel by horse, it was an has been an extraordinary experience for me to see that it was borrowed benefit and a chance for me to give back. Because we have had clients in participants in the program who are having the same experience. They they hear somebody else’s big story about the chemo and the radiation. And I can just see them pull in what, wow, I got nothing to actually even be here. And so now that I get that my journey was just as horrific as anybody else’s, it only looked different, I can help other people see that same thing. So their healing can be brought forward, despite the fact that they feel like they don’t deserve it, or whatever is happening for them. So it’s kind of been a borrowed benefit for me to really enrich the fact that my realization that yeah, I went through something and it was big, and I did deserve to have help. And I’m going to make sure that those people don’t fall through the cracks.

Kimberly Beer 17:55
Absolutely. That’s a wonderful mission to be on in in life and in the world to be able to see that in others and then recognize it recognize the strength within yourself that that took you on this journey or carried you through that journey. So just to close up. Do you have any words of encouragement that you would like to give women out there who is facing breast cancer? Or has survived breast cancer and or life has been touched by breast cancer about joining in on a hotel by a Horse Event?

Annie Young 18:25
Oh, yes, absolutely. I would say don’t hold back. Don’t think that you don’t deserve to go. Don’t play into that. Because no matter what your journey looks like it’s your journey. And if it doesn’t look like somebody else’s doesn’t mean that it was less traumatic that for sure if there’s an opportunity to participate in a hope held by a Horse Event for sure. Just do it, your mind will be blown. It’s such a healing and magical weekend.

Kimberly Beer 18:50
Awesome. Thank you, Annie, for being with us today on The Business Animal. I appreciate it. For sure. Thank you.

That’s amazing. That’s amazing. So tell me a little bit about what happens at a Hope Held by a Horse Event. What does the survivor experience.

Suzanne Hagmaier 19:11
We get together on a Saturday night for for dinner. And it’s a meet and greet, that all the coaches are there. All the participants are there. We spend a very little bit of time with the horses, doing maybe grooming exercises, just trying to get people in touch with their bodies, what might be coming up for them what emotions they might be dealing with. It kind of gives the coaches an idea of who needs what for the next day and then we have dinner, we let everybody go home. We meet again on Sunday. And that is the day of the magic. That’s when they’re teamed up with a horse. Every participant has a horse and a coach and they get that one on one. We come back we do a little bit of group work, but it’s that one on one that I think really has them open up and deal with whatever it is, it may be breast cancer, it may not be maybe breast cancer. And that journey has intensified the grief that they’re going through for whatever reason. So Sunday is the day with the horses and we have a lunch that you know, we separate for lunch a little bit. And then the afternoon is more with the horses and some fun exercises to kind of get everybody on a light note before we leave them

Kimberly Beer 20:24
Wonderful. And I know you work with cancer survivors, from people who are an initial part of their breast cancer journey all of the way you told a beautiful story, I know it at Summit, which is touched by a horses annual event, you told a beautiful story about a woman who has terminal and was at one of your events that was very touching to me as well. So talk to me a little bit about who the people are that are there to work with the horses.

Suzanne Hagmaier 20:53
We offer the program free to participants and the participants or any breast cancer survivor from whether they were diagnosed today or diagnosed 25 years ago, we say any stage any age, it doesn’t matter. Because there’s always something with breast cancer that maybe they have not dealt with. And they don’t even realize it. But yet it’s affecting maybe their relationships or their jobs or something. It affects you no matter what, you’re not going to go through breast cancer and not have it affect you and the people around you. There’s a lot of people that are metastatic, stage four, they know that they’re not going to be here next year, and they still get something out of the program.

Kimberly Beer 21:36
That’s amazing. Yes, and Suzanne, I know there was something that you shared with me when you and I were talking privately during one of the training sessions. So I actually was privileged enough to go through training sessions with Suzanne and got to experience that her touched by a horse journey, at least in his small part, we shared what is called a core training together, where we hands on get deep in each other’s emotional stuff. So we had sat and you had explained to me that one of the hurdles that you are experiencing with hope held by a horse is just getting the information out there to people, how can we help you spread the word about this program and the impact that it can have for sort of breast cancer survivors.

Suzanne Hagmaier 22:22
You know, COVID was a tough year for us, not just for fundraising, but also reaching other people. A lot of times we’ve participated or have exhibited at different events, Susan G. Komen Zwack. And, and that’s how we’ve been able to get participants in well, you know, last year, all those were virtual, so we didn’t have that road to get those people and get those people to know who we are. We started to team up with different hospitals and speak at the survivors, you know, support groups. That’s the word I’m thinking of, we would go to the support groups and things like that. But we still do struggle from time to time of people just don’t know who we are, you know, we’re on Facebook, we’re on Instagram, we’re on Twitter, we have all the social medias. But we still struggle to get people to understand this is what we do. Here’s what we are. And we also are very interested in trying to get the organization to go national. That’s kind of our plan for 2022. And I’m excited. I’m so excited about it. So that’s awesome. It’s finding the support groups and finding the people. Because the first time you tell somebody about it, they Oh my God, I want to do that. I want to do that. What do you mean spend a day with horses? Yeah, I want to do that. But it’s getting the word out. It’s been difficult. It’s very difficult.

Kimberly Beer 23:42
Right now, just to clarify, for our listeners hope held by a horse is located in Colorado, I believe outside of Denver, is that correct?

Suzanne Hagmaier 23:50
Yes, yes. Okay.

Kimberly Beer 23:52
And they’re trying to get their organization out into the world, to the to the nation. And that’s, I think your goal for 2022 is to be able to do that.

Suzanne Hagmaier 24:03
Absolutely.

Kimberly Beer 24:04
What I would love to see is if our listeners could help us maybe start a grassroots effort to get the word out to the people in their lives, not only the people that are breast cancer survivors whose lives have been touched by breast cancer. But if you are one of those folks who have walked this walked with this disease, can you talk to your oncologist, talk to your social workers, talk to your therapists, and get in touch with those people and ask them if they would be interested in in supporting this and being able to get the word out about Hope Held by a Horse and the program that’s available out there to the world.

Hey, business animals. It’s Kim with another little aside interview that I want to bring to you guys during our episode around Breast Cancer Awareness. I’m here today with Cheryl Hill and she He is with Above the Spurs and Cheryl’s a certified Touched by a horse coach, just like the other people we’ve been talking to today. But Cheryl has a little bit of a different story with her breast cancer journey it didn’t come directly through upheld through a horse who we’ve been talking to today. And I wanted you to understand there’s there’s a lot of ways that horses touch our lives, and especially our lives when we’re dealing with a physical illness. And so I wanted Cheryl to be able to share her story as well. So welcome Cheryl to the podcast.

Cheryl Hill 25:29
Thank you cam, thank you so much for having me.

Kimberly Beer 25:31
Uh, no worries, I love having you here very, very much behind your mission. And I really would love for you to share with our listeners your story, because it’s a it’s a kind of a unique and interesting story, and probably all too common at the same time. So I’ll just let you take it away.

Cheryl Hill 25:49
Okay, all too common that is for sure. So I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 31. And at that time, I didn’t know anybody who had cancer, and certainly didn’t know anybody that had breast cancer. So it was a very new experience. For me, it was a very scary experience for me and my family as well. When you travel this journey alone, it can be really scary. And when I would go into doctor’s offices, of course, everyone would look at me and comment on Oh, you’re so young, how can you possibly have cancer. And I can tell you today, you know, I know so many other people who have been diagnosed at an even, you know, younger age. At the same time, I’m 21 years out. So I would like for that to give you know, people hope there’s definitely hope I’ve had horses my whole entire life since I was five. And I’ve always known that I love them, I love to ride, I love to do anything with the horses. And when I was sick, I was often in bed and not able to go feed and not care for them. And that was a real struggle for me. And I didn’t really understand why other than that something that I really wanted to do. And on the days when I could go outside and be around the horses, I felt completely different, like energetically inside, I kept my kind of eye on the pie that I would be able to get back out and ride. You know, at some point fast forward like 19 years later, when I enrolled in the TBAH program Touched by a Horse, that’s really when I understood the whole component, and what horses can do to help others heal. And being so far out, I really didn’t think I had any of my own work to do around cancer, I had an excellent support system. I was an educator at the time and was supported by two school districts in my family, it really wasn’t aware that I had, you know, unfinished business around that. And I was headed off to core, which is a four or five day opportunity to learn to do this work. And I was running behind because there’s a horse issue and I went to put my ball cap on. And I’m not a person that wears ball caps specifically because I had to wear a cap when I was so sick going through chemo. And when I put that cap on that day, you know, 19 years later, I felt like I was immediately going back to one of my chemo days. So that’s where I realized I had some unfinished work. And by working with Melissa touched by a horse, the whole understanding and being able to work through this more with those horses, it’s undescribable. I can wear a cap today and feel like it’s very much empowering to me. And I actually enjoy wearing hats today, which was huge. And again, I wasn’t able to put a hat on for 19 years.

Kimberly Beer 28:33
That’s an awesome story. I had goosebumps when you were talking about that. It’s so powerful. And I know to other people out there who haven’t experienced it. Sometimes the healing power of horses is just it’s it’s magic in a very true form. And I appreciate you sharing that story with us. People listening, there’s probably someone out there whose life’s being touched by cancer right now that maybe is intrigued by getting involved in either going through hope held through a horse or through another organization to work with horses and equine assisted therapy or Gestalt therapy. What words of encouragement could you give that individual to go ahead and take that first step into working with someone with a horse and coaching?

Cheryl Hill 29:20
Well, I think my first suggestion would be do it. Simply do it. Had I known more about the healing powers behind horses and what it can do for a person that’s going through chemo, I would have done that, you know, in a heartbeat. And I know it might seem kind of strange and odd and I really can’t describe what these horses do for us. It’s really empowering. So if you have any doubts, you know, really look at what’s holding you back and ask yourself, What’s holding you back. And then take that leap of faith and do it so you can experience the human powers of these amazing animals.

Kimberly Beer 29:56
Thank you so much, Cheryl for joining us today. You can find Cheryl at above disperse.com, if you want to learn more about her and the services that she offers, because she does work directly with breast cancer survivors, thank you, Cheryl.

Cheryl Hill 30:10
Thank you, Kim.

Kimberly Beer 30:12
Suzanne, what else can we do to help you? I mean, I realized donations and we’re gonna have you talk about Sure, we’re gonna have you talk about your website and where people can go to donate because I this is an amazingly worthy cause to be able to support because it is provided free to the survivors. But where else can What else can we do? What can we do to help you?

Suzanne Hagmaier 30:37
Well, I mean, like you said, the more women that we can touch, the more people we can help. Obviously, the more we’re fulfilling our mission, like you said, talk to your oncologist offices, let us know we’ll we could set up a meeting where we can speak to a support group, and let them know what we do and how we can help them on their journey you can always donate, you know, it’s probably about 3500 to $4,000. To put six women through the program each month, it’s been hard to raise funds during COVID.

Cara Taylor Swift 31:08
So people could actually sponsor absolutely to go through

Suzanne Hagmaier 31:12
Yes, you can sponsor one person, you can sponsor the meal for the weekend. Or you can sponsor the entire weekend. We have we’ve received grants from larger organizations that provide service grants to organizations like ours, that has supported two months of programs for us. So that was incredible.

Kimberly Beer 31:33
Wow, that’s awesome. That is awesome. So spread the word donate, absolutely have conversations about because this is, this is what Breast Cancer Awareness Month is around right is about spreading information that can help survivors and help help us more and what a more beautiful way to do it then with horses. Cara, do you have any other questions or comments? Before we wrap up with Suzanne?

Cara Taylor Swift 32:01
No, I just wanted to just say this is wonderful work that you’re doing. And I’ve known lots of survivors and folks that this disease took from they took people from us. So I just think it’s wonderful that you’re out here doing this work. And I’d love to see your message, you know, really spread, please, if you can tell folks where they can find you online, you have this beautiful website. But could you go ahead and list where folks can find you online?

Suzanne Hagmaier 32:25
Yes, actually, it is the hope held by a horse.org. You can also send an email to info at Hope held by a horse.org. Or you can call which is 720-316-6178 would be happy to talk with you

Cara Taylor Swift 32:44
Is that how both survivors and donors would reach you or is there a special process for either of those?

Suzanne Hagmaier 32:50
No, either way, we typically we try to, we haven’t coming into a new year, our website under Programs, it will list all the dates that the programs are for next year, we’re trying to get all those dates narrowed down for next year. But you know, sometimes we have a waiting list. And so if you see us call us reach out as soon as possible. We are starting to reach out of state. And we have actually this coming month we have three out of state people coming to stay with us and with the horses. So that’ll be exciting.

Cara Taylor Swift 33:25
That’s incredible. I just That’s amazing. So I think one of the things that we can do in cam I’m sure we can talk about this offline. But I’d love to be able to share hope held by a horse in Suzanne’s work with our audience on social media. And definitely let folks know and encourage them that if they have anything that they can give to reach out to you.

Suzanne Hagmaier 33:44

Oh, awesome, that would be so wonderful. Thank you so much.

Kimberly Beer 33:47
And we will list I would love for Suzanne to tell you, but we will also make sure that there’s links in the show notes to both the Hope by Horse website and all of their social media. But can you tell us on Instagram and Facebook, which are the two big dogs? How do we find you on those particular platforms

Suzanne Hagmaier 34:05
hopeheldbyahorse

Kimberly Beer 34:07
Nice. And I know that I’ve seen photos, many photos from their events and to see the looks on the women’s faces as they’re they’re there with the horse in that healing energy that horses provide. It’s life changing to witness I can only imagine what it is to actually experience standing there.

Suzanne Hagmaier 34:31
You know, when they come in, they come in so broken almost and unsure where they’re at and when they leave, they’re ready to take on the world. So we know that we’re helping and enjoy doing it.

Kimberly Beer 34:43
Absolutely. Thank you so much for being here with us today and talking about this and letting us help you spread the word about it and helping us spread the word about it. So we appreciate you so much.

Suzanne Hagmaier 34:54
Thank you. I appreciate being here.

Jaz 34:56
Thanks for listening to this episode of The Business Animal Be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. And if you learned something today, leave us a review. To learn more, find us at the business animal.com We’d love to hear from you. Until next time, keep your business well trained with The Business Animal

Transcribed by https://otter.ai

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