A Annie’sTherapies

By Christine MacIntyre

The timeless tale of The Horse Whisperer unfolds a story about a legendary man named Tom Booker whose voice calms horses and touch heals broken spirits. The transformative story weaves a narrative of healing and an ancient bond between man and animal. To some, the epic book turned movie is nothing more than fiction. But Annie Schiller, founder of Miracle Meadows Ranch in Raisin Township, firmly believes in the powerful connection between horses and humans and has witnessed transformative healing that is nothing short of a miracle.

Schiller’s mission is to cultivate physical, emotional, and spiritual healing through love and compassion infused with Biblical-based principles. Miracle Meadows Ranch is a 501(c)3 that works within the community, connecting with professionals, volunteers, organizations, and ministries to facilitate events such as therapeutic riding, Cowboy Camps for foster care and low-income families, Hope for Heroes for women in recovery, and canine and equine therapy visits. The programs cater to children, special needs, and individuals with dementia and Alzheimer’s.

Schiller founded Miracle Meadows with her husband, Jacques. The duo is passionate about caring for others and has worked in youth and senior care ministry for years. Annie is at the forefront of the operation, as she is the one who trains the horses. Jacques operates behind the scenes, maintaining tractors and equipment, building things, and ensuring everything runs smoothly. “He has the same vision as I do. We feel like it’s the Lord’s work,” Schiller said, adding that both of their roles play a huge part in their mission.

Animals have always occupied a corner of Schiller’s heart. As a kid, animals often filled a void where humans couldn’t. Through animal companionship she discovered the powerful bonds that exist between two vastly different creatures. As an adult, the gap between humans and animals led her on a journey of enriching lives through animal-assisted activities and therapies.

“I grew up as the jungle girl. I didn’t have kids my age around me, so my memories are of the dogs raising me,” she said. “Animals have always been a huge part of my life, bringing me the most companionship, friendship, and love.” She said she has always been around dogs and horses. “Sometimes we had horses, but my mom was a single mom, and we couldn’t always have them. My aunt who lived down the road always had them, so I always gleaned off her horses.” As an adult, she feels fortunate and blessed to have 11 horses.

Her earliest memories include riding horses. “When my mom came home from the hospital after giving birth to me, a family member was riding a horse and said, ‘Give me that baby,’ she said. “At an early age, maybe two or three years old, I would go out in the paddock and could get the horses to come to me when they wouldn’t come to anyone else.” Schiller believes the ability to harness the profound connection with animals comes from both the animal and people being receptive. “It goes both ways. Animals have an innate sense of people, and I’ve seen it firsthand. They know who needs them the most. Animals gravitate to certain people for a reason.”

Not only do animals know when people need them, Schiller believes that people often share the same feeling toward animals. “I think for those of us that may have had bad experiences with people in the past, we often gravitate to animals and learn to communicate with them better than with people.” In addition, she believes that the bonds formed are unconditional friendships that bridge a gap that humans often can’t close. “Animals can bring us comfort, joy, and safety. As a young girl, my best buddies were animals — they were my safety net.”

In spending time with animals, Schiller learned to speak their language. “Whoever you’re around the most, you’re going to learn from them, so you learn to talk dog, or you learn to talk to horses because that’s who your best friends are.” Over time, she learned how to utilize this gift to help others, even those who don’t necessarily speak dog or horse. As a canine behavior consultant, AKC Canine Good Citizen Elevator, Therapy Dog Inc. tester and observer, and an AKC Star puppy instructor, Schiller is putting her unique skills to good use.

Her canine friends Huckleberry and Tippi regularly visit local nursing homes and hospice facilities. Additionally, her therapy horse, Noah, is a regular at Hospice of Lenawee. Back at the ranch, people enjoy visiting the resident animals and engaging in animal-assisted activities to help improve fine motor skills, improve balance, increase focus, increase self-esteem, reduce anxiety and grief, reduce blood pressure, and ward off depression. Schiller says the activities benefit those resistant to treatment who have difficulty accessing their emotions or struggle to express themselves in traditional therapies.

Schiller dreamed of affording wheelchair users the freedom to ride in a horse-drawn carriage and even drive it themselves. Her dream came to fruition when she utilized a grant to purchase a beautiful, handicapped carriage with a ramp. She needed a slow and steady horse, but after two years of searching, she felt her dream hit a dead-end. “I said to the Lord, ‘Well, either the horse has to come, or the carriage has to go.’

A week later, Jane from Four Feathers Farm, contacted her out of the blue with the answer to her prayers — a nine-year-old Shire gelding. “My heart skipped a beat,” Schiller said upon seeing the black Shire with flowing mane and tail. “I could hardly believe it.” After meeting the horse and making an instant connection, Jane gifted the horse to Miracle Meadows.

Through their work as youth pastors, the Schillers became close with a young man named Jake, who spent many summers at the ranch helping with ministry and Bible camps. After parting ways during Jake’s teenage years, the Schillers learned that he’d been in a car accident resulting in paralysis from the waist down. Two years later, the Schillers and Jake reunited. Today, Jake frequents the ranch with his fiancé Mary and the couple continues to bond with and train Uzziah. Schiller says that the combination of therapeutic riding, self-driving the carriage, and the changes it created in both man and horse has been nothing short of a miracle to watch.

Miracle Meadows Ranch is partnering with ProMedica this summer to facilitate an Assisted Animal Therapy Camp (SPOT) with speech, occupational, and physical therapies and they are providing an Assisted Animal Therapy Hospice of Lenawee Grief Camp this fall. n

Miracle Meadows Ranch

3604 Chase Rd, Adrian miraclemeadowsranch.com miraclemeadowsranch@gmail.com