Dr Pravani Naidoo lectures in the Psychology Department at the University of the Free State (UFS) in Bloemfontein.  She currently supervises research within the field of Positive Psychology, including studies regarding adolescent well-being, mindfulness, and leisure engagement.  Pravani is also interested in the application of Positive Psychology principles and constructs to understanding the experiences of individuals with disabilities. Arising from her earlier engagement in horse riding as a sport and recreational activity, and based on her interest in interventions to promote well-being amongst individuals with disabilities, and the Psychology of Disability, she co-ordinates the Therapeutic Horse Riding Community Service Learning Project at Equistria. The project assumes a multidisciplinary team approach and entails Psychology Honours PSHC 6804 students engaging with learners from the Lettie Fouche school and the horses at Equistria on a weekly basis.

Sue van Heerden is a qualified and registered Jikiden Reiki Shihan/Teacher, facilitating high frequency energy processes, supportive crystal balancing techniques, and Earth connection work. She has been practicing and teaching Reiki and other forms of energy healing since 2004. Sue is an experienced horsewoman and equine Reiki therapist, and a Teacher for the Angel Connection School of Africa. Sue holds a degree in Journalism (with English and Psychology) and an Honours degree in English.

Her interest in the origins of Reiki led her to Japan on a pilgrimage to temples, shrines and sacred Reiki sites, including the magnificent Mount Kurama, the birthplace of Reiki. She visited the Jikiden Reiki Institute in Kyoto in 2010 and again in 2013, where she participated in Shoden, Okuden, and Teacher level training seminars with Tadao Yamaguchi, Head of the Jikiden Reiki Institute, and his Deputy Frank Arjava Petter, international Reiki author and teacher. As a result she invited Arjava to South Africa to teach and make Jikiden Reiki available in SA.

Sue believes that Reiki is a precious gift and magical path to enlightenment, with its deep awareness for the kindness and respect always shown to others.

Nicole Joubert has been riding and competing most of her life. She obtained a degree in B.Soc.Sc Psychology at the university of the Free State and got accepted into the Honours program. Part of this program was Dr Pravani Naidoo’s community service learning project at Equistria Centre, and this is where Nicole started giving private lessons to both abled and disabled riders.

After two years as a junior lecturer and tutor at the Anthropology Department at UOFS, she went on to ride professionally and upon returning to Bloemfontein she completed two courses at the Equine Assisted Psychotherapy Institute of South Africa, (EAPISA), as well as a year course in Equine Ethology. As a Provincial rider herself, she started Avoca Ranch to assist young riders in reaching their goals and Avoca Ranch Equine Assisted Exploration was founded in August 2017. Driven and intense, Nicole believes horses can help us obtain an awareness beneficial to all.

Nokwanda Ngombane obtained an Honours degree in Biology (B.Sc), with majors in Microbiology and Physiology. These themes laid the foundation of a fascination around the complex interactions between humans and the environment and the beauty of the human body with its ability to renew, repair, and “to speak”.

She published a Research Article in an International Journal, Inflammation: “Increased Levels of Transforming Growth Factor Beta 1 and Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor in Patients on CAPD” during 1999 and in 2009 she completed a Master of Science in Medical Sciences. She later completed a Post Graduate Diploma in Health and Welfare Management. She is a public servant with 7 years’ middle management and 2 years’ senior management experience, impeccable analytical, research and report writing abilities and as a strategic thinker, influencer and skilled motivator, she has impressive contract, project and operational management experience.

The complex interactions of nature continue to fascinate her and through her currently registration for Doctoral Studies in Health Studies, she hopes to understand why South Africans are still killed by tuberculosis and how this mystery can be resolved.

AJ is a teacher with 15 years’ experience.  His passion outside the classroom has always been coaching and participating in sport. After coaching his school’s 1^st Rugby team for almost 10 years, he has shifted his focus to therapeutic riding for both children and adults, after experiencing the positive effects of Equistria’s horses on him personally. Being diagnosed and coping with ADD/ADHD himself, he has a deep understanding of this disorder and the challenges it brings into everyday life. It is his firm belief that everyone has a need to be outdoors and physically active. He now focusses on creating an environment where clients can be outdoors and active, while improving their general well-being, with the many benefits that horses bring and the distinct possibility to learn the same life lessons that competitive sport can offer.

William Loots is a Integrative Trauma Healing Provider based in Bloemfontein. After his studies in music he completed a bachelor’s degree in education (NWU) in 2008 majoring in languages. Since William can remember he have been interested in the human condition, psychology, especially restorative modalities that have at their core the belief in the human capacity to self-heal and thrive.

He is very passionate about facilitating others in restoring inner balance, working through physical as well as emotional trauma and rediscovering and following their highest excitements.

Childhood trauma is an interest of his, self-directed learning as well as learning through play. He advocates creativity and playfulness and believes that is lies at the heart of our existence.

He offers a safe space for connecting to one’s true self on a one-on-one as well as group basis.