The Healing

A thoroughbred trainer has been working miracles with horses and humans, 2508 District News reports.

An incredible program saving veterans of war and the race track is the subject of a new documentary called The Healing. And its final scenes were filmed locally – in bushland behind an equestrian centre on the outskirts of Helensburgh.

Thoroughbred trainer Scott Brodie is a former mounted police officer who has spent the past 30 years saving hundreds of old race horses through his retraining and rehoming programs.

Seven years ago, he started roping in military veterans for equine therapy courses.

“It’s about a real journey, where people learn horsemanship skills and see the changes in the horses as they see the changes in themselves,” Scott told 2508 last month.

“Thoroughbreds are very sensitive horses that are really good at reading body language. So they worked pretty well as a therapy-type horse.

“Veterans get into some pretty down places, medication doesn’t always do the trick and they’ve all been therapy-ed out. So they’re looking for something different that can become part of lives.

“I just can’t tell you how many people have told me that I’ve saved their lives.”

This remarkable story has been filmed over the past five years by Victorian producer Nick Barkla and the result is a true tear-jerker. The Healing was selected to be part of 2021’s Melbourne Documentary Film Festival – although, thanks to Covid, the first live screening event could happen in Helensburgh once lockdown lifts.

For the past 18 months, Scott has been working at the old Prestige Equestrian Centre property on Parkes Street. “So that’s my base,” he said. “I’ve been there for about 18 months now. I train horses and riders, classical training.”

His work with army veterans began seven years ago in Kangaroo Valley when Scott met Adrian, an ex-Royal Marine. “He came back from numerous tours of Afghanistan pretty messed up – he’d seen a lot of bad stuff.

“He’d seen equine-assisted therapy in England and the responses that some of his wartime partners had got from it.”

After a mutual friend introduced them, Scott started running courses to involve veterans in his retraining work.

“It pretty quickly became clear that there’s a synergy between the veterans and the ex-race horses in that they’ve been trained for a specific purpose that, at the end of the day, is useless in the general world.

“The skills that they learned were really important for what they needed to do, but then detrimental, if anything, to normal life.

“So there was a real empathy between the veterans and the thoroughbreds.”

One of Scott’s early success stories was a young army veteran who couldn’t understand why he was always getting into arguments.

“He often talks about how he had no understanding of the persona that he had – that he gave off this angry vibe and got people offside all the time.

“When he started to work with the horses, it became very clear very quickly that, if he didn’t have the right mental attitude and the right persona, that the horses didn’t want to play.

“I’m not a therapist, I’m a horse guy, but there’s no doubt that when you work with thoroughbreds, you have to be very aware of your energy levels and your body language, and you have to learn to read their energy levels and body language.

“He’s really had to learn to regulate his attitude to be able to work with the horses. And he’s found that that’s made a massive difference to his life in the way that he deals with people in general.”

This young veteran now runs his own equine therapy program in Queensland.

“It’s great,” Scott said. “That happens a bit. I encourage that and I support those guys that go out and start to run programs that are going to help other veterans.”

Scott – who grew up in Maroubra – has been retraining and rehoming race horses for most of his adult life. He started the thoroughbred retraining program for Racing NSW.

“I enjoy working with the thoroughbreds and it’s a bit of a passion of mine.”

The bond formed with a horse is what he loves most about his work. “It’s an honest relationship that relies on two beings looking out for each other. It’s not about egos – I just really enjoy that synergy that comes of working with another being, and becoming one.”

He’s happy to be working in Helensburgh.

“It’s a pretty special place and actually, the first horse I ever bought, I bought from Helensburgh.

“There’s a good horse community.

“Helensburgh has got largely a Western sort of twist about it, riding wise, and my background is classical dressage, so I’m a little bit different.

“We’ve run some veterans programs from the facility [on Parkes Street] and we’ll continue to do so. We’re in the process of setting up a not-for-profit to support the work that we do.”

Corporate sponsors would be welcome and can reach out via the Facebook page “Scott Brodie Equitation Education”.

Once Covid restrictions are relaxed, Scott hopes to put up a big screen outdoors and show The Healing. The film runs for about 55 minutes and is an emotional experience.

“Get a box of tissues,” he said. “When I watched the film, I was very choked up with some of the stories.

“I’m very, very proud and it’s a very, very beautiful thing. I’m really glad to have been involved with it.”

On Facebook, find Scott Brodie Equitation Education, Thoroughbred and Veteran Welfare Alliance and The Healing documentary