How a Manitoulin Island social worker is helping people heal from trauma working with 'spirit horses'

A horse breed that was nearly wiped out in the 1970s has been brought back to a community on Manitoulin Island where it's helping people heal from trauma.

Ojibwe ponies, or 'spirit horses', as they're often called in Indigenous communities, once roamed the forests around the Great Lakes. But they were nearly hunted to extinction in the 1970s.

Members of Lac La Croix First Nation, in northwestern Ontario, rescued four horses, which they smuggled across the border to Minnesota to keep them safe.

Marcia Manitowabi, a social worker with Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre in Sudbury, has brought some of the descendents of those four horses to Wiikwemkoong, on Manitoulin Island.

"They're very small. They're very furry. They have furry ears so they could, you know, roam the areas in the winter time and live off the land," Manitowabi said.

Many Indigenous communities consider the horses to be spiritual animals that possess special healing properties.

"We do a lot of healing work with these horses," Manitowabi said. "They have a very special spirit."

Manitowabi started a business called Reflections Nanaandwejgejig Bezhigoogizhiik, which translates to "reflections: healing horses," where she works with the horses to support people with their mental health.

"I just started connecting our children and youth that I worked with with these horses and saw immediate results, and was just amazed by the connection that they bring to our people," she said.

Through the business, Manitowabi says she's also worked with women who have been impacted by violence, along with some men's, women's and couples' groups.

"Using, you know, the therapy equine modalities of connecting people to the horses," she said.

She says the horses are able to build a special connection with people in a short time and will "automatically know and feel what the person is going through."

Manitowabi says it helps her connect with people, and unpack their trauma, in cases where talk therapy might not work.