Podcast

God’s Miraculous Healing through Horses. Kim Tschirret

[00:00:00] Welcome to the Unshakable Hope Podcast, where real life intersects redeeming love. I’m Kelly Hall, and this is where we wrestle through faith questions, such as how do I trust God’s heart when His ways and delays are breaking mine? We’ll hear from people just like you and me, who have experienced God’s faithfulness when life didn’t unfold as they expected.

My prayer is that God would renew our hope in His Word and His love through these conversations.

Kelly: Hey friends. My guest today is Kim Tschirret, and she is the founder and CEO of Hope Reins.

Reins is spelled R E I N S. So you already know we’re going to be talking about horses. This is a ministry that has helped more than 2000 kids find hope and healing. And I’m telling you, you’re going to hear some miraculous stories today. And your heart is going to be filled up with a bigger [00:01:00] picture of how creative and amazing our God is.

So Kim, welcome to the podcast. Thank you for being here.

Kim: Thank you so much for having me. I’m really grateful to be here.

Kelly: I’d love it if you could just start by telling us a little about yourself and your family and what’s your family thinks about living all things horses day in and day

Kim: out. Oh, goodness, wow.

Yeah. Well, , they love it. They, think it’s super fun. And yeah, I mean, they were little, little, my kids, my daughter was three and my son was five when we started 15 years ago. So, or actually a little longer than 15 years. And they just think it’s pretty cool.

Kelly: That’s awesome. So you have two kids,

Kim: two kids. Yeah. My, my son is 22 and my daughter’s 20.

They grew up with the ministry. They sure did.

Kelly: Yeah. . Well, can you, Tell us about the mission of Hope Reins

Kim: yeah. So our mission day in and day out, is we pair a child or teen in crisis, , experiencing trauma with horses that have been rescued from similar [00:02:00] circumstances.

And we help them find hope and healing as they build this really beautiful relationship between the horse and their mentor out at our ranch.

Kelly: You like to call them horsehair counselors, right? ,

Kim: yes. Angels in horse hairs. Kind of what we call them. So yeah,

Kelly: God led you to start Hope Reigns. I’d love for you to just to share how that dream was birthed in you. And really, I know it was even rooted somewhat in your childhood, right?

Kim: Oh, it was totally rooted in my childhood. Is it okay if I go all the way? Please. Yeah. Yeah. So I grew up in Ohio , in a really nice home that, , my dad was a very successful businessman and we didn’t want for anything financially, but what people didn’t know is that he was an alcoholic and very verbally and emotionally abusive.

And I just never knew safety as a little girl in my home. And I was the youngest and I would always try to ask, like, why is dad so mad? What is going on? And I was always shut down. You know, we were never allowed to talk about it. [00:03:00] Anybody who’s listening that has, has addiction in the family knows it’s very shameful and it’s very hidden, right?

Yeah.

And so I just screw up. My message was, there’s something wrong with me. Right. And I think that’s what happens with kids when they experience trauma and they don’t aren’t able to process. They feel like it’s their fault, right? That they’ve done something or they’re not, they’re lacking in something.

And there’s a reason why it happened. And for some reason, I think because my dad liked everything to look really good, he bought me a horse. And so I grew up with two different horses. And I just remember, That my safe place was the barn. So it was the place that I went to where I felt safe. And I just remember being comforted by my horse and sitting in his stall while he was chewing on his hay and just pouring my heart out about the things that were happening in my life.

And he was really the only person. Thing I ever shared my secrets with so yeah, so that was many many many years ago [00:04:00] really the birthing of this connection for me.

Kelly: I Love that God led your dad To get you that horse. He knew what was going to bring healing. The Lord saw your whole future and knew that this was going to be a part of your ministry.

And yeah, it’s so beautiful. Well, can you just talk about further into your story, how God birthed the ministry?

Kim: Yeah. You know, I really, I think kids in my situation, they tend to either self destruct and go inward or they perform. And I ended up being the performer. Right. And so I spent my whole life performing to try to get my dad’s love and attention.

And so it took that into my. Teens and twenties and into a successful business career. You know, trying to, to be like my dad and right after I had my son, I, you know, I’d always felt so empty , and I think God was pursuing me. My job was meaningless. I kept, moving and getting new jobs and doing all of these things to try to [00:05:00] fill that void.

And nothing ever satisfied. And when we moved here to Raleigh, I think it might’ve just been being here in the South. In North Carolina, it was really the first time that I ever heard It’s Jesus. And so for me after I had my son, I came to Christ and , my life just totally changed. , and I, I always joked, Kelly, I will never stay home with my kids and I will never drive a minivan.

And guess what happened. So, I had like a six to seven years of staying home with the kids and, and just pursuing the Lord and Bible study and therapy and really, you know, working on myself and about 2007 ish, I started to get this feeling like God had something for me to do and I just didn’t know what it was.

And so. I went to a women’s retreat where this really a dynamic speaker asked us all this question. What is something that you used to love to do that you never do anymore? And horses popped into my head and I hadn’t thought about horses in over 20 years, [00:06:00] you know, since I had sold my horse and about.

Probably a two year period. I started to just pursue some things. Like I thought, am I supposed to buy a horse? I started taking riding lessons and, you know, doing all of these things. And then I ended up finding a book written about an organization in Oregon that was doing this ministry. They were pairing kids in crisis with horses they rescued.

And I just knew that was it.

I knew that was it. And then it just all started. The doors just flew open, you know, from there, but we were in the middle of the recession in 2009. If you remember how horrible it was. Yeah. So it was not good timing to start a ministry.

Kelly: Yeah, that’s right. Well, let’s talk about how God miraculously provided the land y’all had no money.

This was going to be a very expensive venture. Horses are so expensive.

Kim: They’re very expensive. And the land that it’s funny when I would share with people about, I read this book, this is what I want to do. I, I had, you know, the business background. So I [00:07:00] put this this business plan together. And everybody kept telling me you’re crazy, you know, Businesses are going under, but the number one thing everybody said is you’ll never find land.

You’ll never find land because where we are in North Raleigh, there’s just not a lot. There’s not open land and pasture. And my husband and I took the kids to this Easter egg hunt on this church’s property. They had 70 acres. It was a former dairy farm. And it was like this whisper of the Holy spirit of what is this place.

And after a while, I finally decided, well, I’m just going to call the church and just see, you know, what they’re doing. And at this point, Kelly, like, I didn’t even know we were going to open. We had no name. We weren’t incorporated. This was all just concept. And I went in and met with a guy from the church and he literally like got up from his desk, rolled open a map and said, here’s 20 acres.

You know, we’d love to have you use our land for a dollar a month. So, I walked out of there and I was like, I guess we’re doing this. I guess it’s happening. [00:08:00]

Kelly: That is unbelievable.

Kim: It is unbelievable. Only God, you can’t make it like he is. He, he wants all the glory and we give it to him. So,

yes. Amen.

Kelly: I remember once.

During a recession when there wasn’t much money. And I had a friend who was looking to, she was trying to fund her ministry and we were all praying for her. And we said, the God who brought water out of a rock can certainly bring you the money you need to go where he’s called you to go. So I love that story.

This whole journey has been a huge faith journey. And so I’m curious, All of us have probably experienced a time, all of the listeners, when they sensed someone calling them to do something, the God of the universe, and they didn’t know how to even say yes because it looked so impossible.

So I’m wondering how your faith has deepened on this journey. What’s been your biggest faith lesson you’ve learned?

Kim: Oh my gosh. You know, to be honest with you [00:09:00] about four or five years into starting Hope Reins, startup is really hard. And I was having, what I thought was a heart attack and it was really panic attacks, and I was just, cause I was just driving myself relentlessly, and what I realized Kelly is that I was still performing for God.

You know, I’d grown up with this performance mentality and I was like, really okay with Jesus, but God, the father, that father wound is just a really, really, really hard one. And so, I think my biggest lesson has just been, I don’t need to perform for God’s love, right. That, you know, it’s just.

This radical acceptance of his love and his grace and his mercy and whether or not I ever started Hope Reigns, he wouldn’t love me any more or less, you know? So that’s just been a really and it’s still something that I struggle with. , I’ll get into sometimes into performance mode and I have to check my motives, you know, and what am I doing and, and and why is this bothering me?

But that’s really, and really just trusting him and, and following him and letting him go [00:10:00] before. And, really watching where he’s working and, and yeah, and just trusting, trusting him. It’s a big, big faith journey.

Kelly: That is a huge victory. And I think every single person on the face of the earth, that’s one of the biggest lessons that we get to learn.

We get to learn that God doesn’t love us any more, any less based on our performance.

Yes.

He loves us because he created us. He loves. Yeah. Amen.

Kim: It’s the value that I think so many of us struggle with just the value that we have value just because He created us. Right. And he writes us. Yep.

Kelly: Well, the book Joey is absolutely amazing and I’ll let you talk about that how people can get ahold of it.

But I, I had several tissue moments. I’m telling you the truth as I read that book, it was so powerfully written, but the thing that just amazed me is how our creative God brings soul healing to these traumatized children. And so I’d love for you just to explain that [00:11:00] process and some of the stories, but just first of all, explain the process to us.

Kim: Yeah. You mean how, how the kids come to us and what we do? Yeah. So, we work with kids ages five to 18 boys and girls, and they’re all experiencing severe life crisis and trauma. , we have an intake process that we walk the families through. There’s a couple of commitments. Number one, , the child has to say yes.

That’s really the only requirement of them because we know if they’re, if they’re not ready to heal. Then it’s not going to happen. And most of them have had their boundaries overrun. They have been violated. And so for them to have a voice, we always want them to have a voice. And so from the very beginning, when we, when they come out for the very 1st time to the ranch, we take them on a tour.

And we introduced them to all the horses and their stories. And sometimes kids pick a horse because they’ve read our website and they really resonated. Like we had one little girl that was sleeping with a picture of one of our [00:12:00] horses under her pillow, Shiloh. So of course that was her horse. Other times you know, they’ll just bond and connect with that story of abuse or neglect.

And then every once in a while, a horse chooses a child, which is really, really special.

We are a skill based program and we’re really about the hope and healing of Jesus. But what we really want, the outcome is resiliency for our kids. And, and resiliency is just really the ability for kids to bounce back.

Like they experience healing and the four things that horses teach humans are trust, communication, boundaries, and leadership. So all of our programming is geared around helping build these skills and kids as they work with horses. So it’s really cool.

Kelly: That is so cool. Well, I have been amazed at the depth of insight that horses can have into kids.

I want to share a story that happened in our family. Our daughter. We moved a lot., we have three special needs kids. Our oldest daughter is hearing impaired and we had just moved and, you [00:13:00] know, she was preteen, so there’s teenager angst going on and she’d experienced some rejection at her new school.

And she loved riding horses, so we went to a horse barn. She started riding. She was having a wonderful time. The horse got pregnant and had a foal. And so we went when the foal was just a couple of days old and the owner said, you can go in the stable and look, but she’s real protective. She doesn’t even let us get near the foal.

We walked in, that horse saw my daughter and nudged her foal up to the fence so that he could meet her.

Kim: That is so precious. Yeah.

Kelly: We were bawling.

Kim: Yeah. I bet. I bet they know. I, they just know, they know the kids that are hurting and they know the kids that need them. It’s really, it’s really an amazing thing.

And then the Holy spirit, you know, is there to make, make these things happen that we just, you can’t make up. So, Right. Yeah.

Kelly: Well, I’d love for you to talk to us about some of your favorite stories of lives that have been transformed through these horses and [00:14:00] share those with us.

Kim: Yeah. So what’s exciting is that we are embarking next year on our 15th anniversary.

And we are working right now with 15 of our alumni who have been through our program and they’ve graduated and they’re adults and they’re out in the world and they’re thriving. And one of them that we just talked to recently was Allie from the book, Joey, that I think you, you have read. So just to give everybody a little background, Joey was one of our original rescued horses who was blinded from starvation.

And I think we just didn’t, we just didn’t have any idea what we were getting ourselves into when the rescue league called and said, Hey, do you want this blind horse? And we’re like, yes, who wouldn’t want a blind horse. But he taught all of us so much about about faith and trust. Right. And Allie at the time she was waiting to get in our program.

She wasn’t quite five years old. And when she turned five entered our program and she was mute from a very traumatic abuse, but she was like, She was mute because she chose to be mute and didn’t speak at [00:15:00] all and wanted to work with Joey. And as they started to build this relationship, you know, we had to share with her, Hey, Ali, if you’re going to work with Joey, like he only can work with you with voice commands because he can’t, he can’t hear you.

So he can’t see right. And normally with horses, you do cues there. They don’t speak themselves. So they communicate with each other and with us with nonverbal cues. And so, Ali had to choose that she was going to speak and start talking to Joey. And really that was the beginning of, of her healing journey.

And we actually just talked to her the other day. She ended up. When she was in high school being in Toastmasters, if anybody’s familiar, that’s like the speaking club, you know, here’s the girl that was mute in the speaking club and she has now gone off to college and we had a great conversation with her the other day and she just said that Hope Reigns was such a turning point in her life.

Yeah, we’re really excited to be able to share with these 15 kids that, , yeah, that are just thriving as adults.

Kelly: Oh, that’s amazing. [00:16:00] I love that. I also, there was another story that really impacted me. I’d love for you to talk about, I think his name was Ethan from the book and he had

he had three other siblings. They had been in an awful situation, taken out, rescued, but then his three younger siblings were adopted and he was left. Could you share that story and how he was, do you remember it well enough to share?

Kim: I think so. Is he the one that I think he connected with speckles, right?

Yes. Yeah. It’s been a, it’s been a hot minute since I read the book and there’s so many, there’s so many stories, but yeah, you know, sometimes a horse chooses a kid or chooses to be with a kid. And it’s a really, really powerful. And I think for him being really, really rejected and he was there with I believe it was a foster care group.

It wasn’t like a caregiver. So, So we really only saw him a few times. But speckles who was Joey’s partner actually was the horse that, [00:17:00] that chose him and wanted to connect and wanted to be with him. And he just he just held onto that horse and just sat there and wept. And it was just a really powerful story.

And, you know, some kids, Kelly, like. We only see a couple of times. It doesn’t happen. Like it’ll be maybe a partner or we did a veteran event once where the mom, came up to me and was crying during this veteran. her husband had been had recently committed suicide. And the reason she was crying is because her kids were on horse, on horses, on our horses, and they were laughing.

And it was the first time she had seen them laugh since their dad died. And for her, that was a moment that said, we’re going to be okay. Like things are going to be okay. Like that, just the laughter and the normalcy. So it really is. It really can be just a moment that the, the kids will really hold onto in, in their hearts and in their bodies.

So, wow.

Kelly: Yeah. And I know you’ve really summarized these stories, but if you [00:18:00] read the book, Joey, you hear all the angst that was behind each one. And what a miracle it was that little Allie started talking and how slowly the horses brought healing to her. Yes.

Each story that I read really just reminded me of how creative our God is that he created horses and other animals too, in a way that can connect to our hearts and bring healing. It’s so it just blows me away. With how good our God is. And I remember once years ago, it’s probably 35 years ago.

We read a story about a young girl that had come out of a horrific abuse situation. And my friend and I were deeply moved. We put together a pair of care package to send to that care organization for her. And she said, but can she, can anyone ever heal from such abuse? But Your ministry, your stories that you have [00:19:00] testified the truth that yes, with Jesus, healing can happen.

Lives were transformed.

Kim: In fact, this year we have 80 kids that are waiting to get into our program. And when we read their stories Barbara, our, my partner and I will just sit and we’ll just say, Lord, like their, their most horrible stories you’ve ever read. I don’t know how you’re going to fix this.

Like, I don’t know what you’re going to do, but we’ve seen for 15 years that there is nothing beyond God’s restoration. There just isn’t. And he just does it. And you know, it’s not us. It’s not horses that heal people. It’s it’s Jesus. Right. So we just, we just facilitate the beautiful connection and relationship.

Kelly: Yeah. Yeah. That’s so beautiful. You you were really excited when you read this Harvard study that actually was so affirming to you because it supported the process and vision God had already placed in your heart.

Can you talk about that?

Kim: Yeah, absolutely. It’s just, it’s been amazing. Like [00:20:00] the way our program has evolved. And as we realized, Oh, these are the four things that horses teach people, right. Teach humans. And as we built the program, we were many years into it. We came upon this Harvard study and they, they studied tens of thousands of kids and what they figured out Kelly is what was it that built resiliency?

Some kids in their trauma built resiliency and they were able to heal and bounce back and become healthy, productive adults. Other kids got completely derailed and they’re the homeless and the drug addicted and the incarcerated and have mental illness. I mean, there’s all these very direct links to those adult issues of kids who have not healed from their trauma.

So it’s so vital. Yeah. Kids experience healing. But what was interesting is as we, as we took their study, they had their four pillars and we had our four things horses teach us. And guess what? They perfectly align, you know, the number one thing that they said kids need to build resiliency as one safe adult relationship which is what [00:21:00] we do every day out at our ranch, right?

They need to believe in themselves. They need to have a purpose. And, and, and, and, The incredible thing. Even Harvard says they need to have a foundation of faith. Can you believe that? I can’t foundation of faith. They have to believe in something bigger than themselves. So it was pretty incredible.

Yeah.

That’s amazing. When you see science supporting the dreams that God has given you. Woo. I love it.

It’s all, it’s like everybody thinks they’ve, they’ve discovered all this stuff and God created it. You know, it’s just for us to discover. Right.

Kelly: Right. Right. It’s just science catching up with God. Creation.

Kim: Exactly.

Kelly: Kim, do you have any other stories that you can share with us to help us understand the miraculous healing power that happens at hope reigns?

Kim: Yes, I have a very, very special one. I mentioned earlier that sometimes a horse chooses a child and we have Lily and her little brother who she was five years old at the time that [00:22:00] she called 9 1 1 because her mother was a drug addict and was overdosing and dying on the couch and actually got her mother saved. The ambulance came and the police and she and her little brother were rescued out of that situation and put into foster care, which can sometimes be a good thing. And sometimes not, and unfortunately for them, the caregiver was very abusive and was keeping Lily’s little brother, who was three at the time, locked in a dog cage to punish him.

I mean, just a horrible story. This was on the news here locally on WRAL. And they were Lily had the wherewithal to find an iPad, Take a photo of her brother in this dog cage and found a safe adult and again, got them rescued out of this horrific situation. And they fortunately got adopted by a really loving family who’d had no idea what to do with this type of trauma, right?

That we’re about, I think Lily was about seven at the time after all this happened. And they, they came out for a tour at Hope Reigns and were [00:23:00] considering joining our program. And you know, Lily, her whole life has had to protect her brother. And so they, they came through the gates and she was literally standing protectively in front of her brother.

Like, you know, I don’t know these people and I don’t know what’s going to happen. And as we were taking a tour, we were walking along the fence line and Lily and her Family and our, our intake manager was sharing different stories and introducing her to horses. And all of a sudden, one of our horses named hero, who is sleeping under the horse shelter, just made a beeline all the way across the paddock directly to Lily, put his head over the fence and put his nose right on her chest and took a big sigh and said, I choose you.

And Everybody lost it. You know, it was just like this incredible, incredible moment. So obviously Lily and hero work together and her mentor Hillary gosh, they spent over two years together and just the things that we can’t, you can’t [00:24:00] make up that, that we had to explain to her, Hey, Lily, You’re a hero, right?

You saved your mom. You saved your brother. What’s the name of the horse that chose you ? Hero, you know, it’s just like just unpacking all of that for her. And and she is just thriving and doing so, but she and her brother are just doing so well today. Cause they were able to heal out at our ranch and again, build those resiliency skills.

So I said either, either Lily is going to run Hope Reins someday, or she’s going to be the president. Cause she’s just that. Kind of girl. She’s, she’s in charge.

Kelly: Oh, that is beautiful. Thank you, God.

Kim: Yeah. Yeah. It’s really incredible.

Kelly: Well, another thing that stood out to me so much as I read your story is how many times you had to say yes to God. When it was absolutely impossible, there was no way forward. It was so scary. The common sense thing to do would have been to give up, crawl under your covers and go to sleep. [00:25:00] Yeah.

But you kept pushing through. So I’m just wondering what you would say to someone that has a dream in their heart that seems like has a hold on them. And how do they know if it’s from. God.

Kim: Well, one of the things is looking back we, we actually started a training program. It’s a, it’s kind of a long story.

You know, the Joey book, we’ve had all these people from all over the country calling us to say, will you help me start something similar? So we launched this academy and we’re helping others because we just want kids to have. More kids to have access to hope and healing. But the reason I bring that up is because as we were processing kind of the first phase of our training of how to start up, I really thought about like, what did that season look like?

Kelly: Yeah.

Kim: And for me, it was really you know, I’m an eight Enneagram, I’m a driver, I’m a doer. Right. And so, it was really a combination of praying and seeking and waiting. And really doing all three of those things at the same time. And it was kind of like stepping out, like I knew God had [00:26:00] something.

And so I just took a step out and it would be like, no, that’s not quite it. So I took another step, you know what I mean? And, and after a while, after praying and waiting and kind of watching him kind of put things together, it just all started evolving and coming together. And so just encourage people waiting sometimes means sitting still.

But for me, waiting was more like waiting and watching for God. Like, where are you working? And he brings this person that confirms this or introduce you to this person. And so it just becomes this really exciting kind of ride that you go on with God, just to see like, what’s he going to do? How’s he going to put this together?

And, and he, if he’s in it. It will happen. There’s nothing anybody can do. The enemy can do nothing. If God is in it and wants it to happen.

Kelly: Yeah. One of the things that you’re sharing reminds me of a quote by somebody don’t know who you can’t steer an anchored ship. So you’re talking about how God guided you as you were just stepping out little by little by little, you’re looking [00:27:00] for him.

You’re watching, you’re waiting, you’re not taking things into your own hands, but he guided you as you were moving forward.

Kim: Yes.

Kelly: Yeah.

Kim: That’s pretty much it.

Kelly: But I’m also curious about one other part. So how did you know initially that this dream was from the Lord and not just your own imagination?

Kim: Well, I think, like I said, it, it was, I was several years into this seeking and when horses popped into my head, it just kind of all came together. I don’t know. I just had a sense. I can’t explain it. There was just a sense that was direct compelling me forward and pursuing whatever this was. And then when I picked that book up and, you know, connecting back to my story and it, it just, I just knew I was like, this is, this is it.

This is what, what we’re meant to do. But even then I wasn’t a hundred percent. Sure. Do you know what I mean? I thought this is what we were meant to do. And, and I just kept stepping out. Right. And by the time the church said, here’s the property, I thought, I guess [00:28:00] this is what we’re supposed to do. So,

Kelly: yeah, this is happening.

Kim: Yes. This is happening whether we like it or not. So,

Kelly: yeah, that’s so good. Okay. So I want to know how people can get involved with you at Hope Reins. How can they connect with you?

Kim: Yeah. So for all of your podcast listeners, we have a special, a couple of special offers. So if you go to hope reigns, R E I N S dot O R G backslash podcast we are offering free downloads of the book, Joey.

So it’s a bestselling book. National bestselling book. It’s sold over a hundred thousand copies. We’d love for you to have a copy so that you can read it and share it with others. We also have our new program our Academy program. So if somebody is inspired and they think, Oh gosh, I’ve always wanted to start something like this, or they know somebody that’s interested where we would love to walk with you.

We have a whole program that you can participate in. That’s going to help you start up and get launched. And if you’re interested. You know, you can help a kid, [00:29:00] right? Because we have, we have 80 kids that are waiting to get into our program right now. And we are in full fledged fundraising for that.

And so you can go online and, and, and help a child help, help transform their life, help save their life.

Kelly: Kim, thank you so much for being here today. Thank you for these stories that just warm our hearts and make us remember that nothing’s impossible with God.

Kim: Nothing’s beyond his redemption. Thank you, Kelly. It was an honor to be on. I really appreciate it.

Kelly: Thank you.

If you were encouraged in your faith today, it’d be great if you’d help get the word out by subscribing, sharing with a friend or leaving a review. I’d love to hear from you. You can reach out through my website, kellyhall. org and pick up some free resources while you’re there. Thanks for listening to the Unshakable Hope Podcast.