Friends in need
Early morning mist is swirling around the trees that line the winding road to Main Ridge in Victoria. It’s a cold winter day on the Mornington Peninsula, and as we make our way up to the stables at Rehab4Rehab, founder Alisha Griffiths is waiting with a smile and an offer of tea. She invites us into the reception area, which is toasty warm, and occupied by an excited dog and a morose, sleepy cat.
It’s not long before today’s guests begin to arrive. Leah, 10, Louisa, eight and precocious three-year-old Lucy appear, dressed for a day of riding. Lucy is particularly excited. She marches into the middle of the room and starts chatting away. Louisa, who has raven hair and watchful eyes, lingers in the protective orbit of her mother, Clare Coleman, who is hoping the gentle therapy horses, Crackerjack and Cauliflower, will coax Louisa out of her shell and bring some much-needed joy to all three of her girls.
“She’s very nervous, no thanks to the journey we’ve been on. She doesn’t do people. She doesn’t do loud noises. She doesn’t do mass activities. She’s got a lot of anxiety,” Clare says of the
