Former Army officer Ali Coulton has married her military experience with her understanding of horses to help others heal. Photo: Ali Coulton.
When Ali Colton talks about the power of horses, she speaks from experience.
“I always felt better around horses as a teenager,” she said, “but it wasn’t until Tilt, my first horse as an adult, that I really understood how much they could support my mental health.”
Little did she know that Tilt would literally shift her life in a direction that is now a far cry from her days serving as an adjutant at Royal Military College Duntroon.
Ali might still wake to freezing winters, but instead of first bugle call of the day, it’s more the snickers and snorting of hungry horses pulling her out of her bed in a shed on the Monaro.
And it’s the call of clients – veterans, first responders and others – dealing with mental health challenges such as anxiety, depression and trauma.
Central to that is a herd of 13 horses.
Ali’s connection to horses began at a riding school in South Australia’s Adelaide Hills, where she spent as much time as possible learning not just to ride, but also how to care for the animals.
Despite her dreams of a horse-related career, Ali would join the Australian Army at 17 and it wasn’t until she returned to Canberra in 2016 that she would revisit her childhood passion.
That’s when Tilt, a thoroughbred gelding, entered her life rather inconveniently as her role at Duntroon marked one of the busiest of her career.
“Logically, it made no sense to take on such a responsibility but I actually found Tilt became my biggest emotional support. He grounded me,” she said.
“Given I grew up with horses I always knew they made me feel better but I’d never experienced the full extent of their impact on mental health.
“Being around Tilt began to raise many questions about what I truly wanted from life.
“There was also the realisation that what the army told me success was didn’t feel like success to me.”
So she stepped away, giving herself permission to explore life outside the uniform and in the years that followed, horses kept finding her.
By 2020, Ali’s herd had grown to eight, most rescued or rehomed and when the search for a wedding venue unexpectedly added another five, she realised there was some merit in bringing together her favourite part of Army life – coaching and mentoring others – with her growing herd.
So, she turned to the Equine Psychotherapy Institute, now the Equine and Animal Assisted Psychotherapy Institute in Victoria.
For the next two years she would learn how to safely use horses to help people overcome mental health challenges such as trauma, anxiety, depression, addiction and attachment issues.
In becoming a certified equine assisted learning practitioner, Ali realised she had found her “ikigai,” a Japanese concept that translates to “a reason for being” or “a reason for living,” representing a fulfilling life purpose.
In 2023, after a lifetime of moving every few years, Ali and her husband Greg settled permanently at Shannons Flat in the Monaro, bringing their 13 horses, two dogs and four cats.
They lived in a shed without power or water for the first year.
“There were plenty of cold, hard days when I told myself, ‘the Army prepared me for this’,” Ali said.
Step by step – installing a wood burner, then power, then water – Fell Timber Farm became liveable and with the arrival of their daughter Elsie, the shed became home.
In January this year, she launched Helping Hooves, offering ground-based, trauma-informed sessions using horses to support clients to develop skills in emotional regulation and self-awareness.
The sessions range from half-day introductions to multi-week courses and Ali also works with private clients.
For Ali, the reason horses are so healing is simple: It’s their ability to sense human emotions, mirror behavior and provide a non-judgmental, grounding presence that can reduce stress, promote mindfulness and heal.
“Horses offer non-judgemental, authentic connection,” she said.
“They model healthy behaviour without expectation. That’s what makes them so powerful in this work.”
Since opening she’s partnered with Soldier On to sponsor 36 veterans through a half-day introductory program and the Cooma Ex-Services Club to fund an eight-week veterans’ program for five locals.
Ali says that even after a single session, participants often leave feeling calmer and more grounded, with a clearer awareness of their boundaries, values and patterns of behaviour.
“For me, success is when clients no longer feel they need my support,” she said.
“That means they’ve developed the tools, the connections, and the resilience to cope with life’s challenges,” Ali said.
