Welcome to Dark Horse Therapeutics! I help horses and humans make gains on their goals. Dark Horse is devoted to practicing high-integrity equine assisted therapy, adaptive riding, and equine bodywork. This is a Deaf-friendly and neurodivergent affirming business.
Watch via Instagram: I prioritize equine mental, phsyical, and emotional health.
Watch via Instagram: All services are available in American Sign Language.
I’ve been working with Veronica for the past year to help my three-year-old Deaf son develop language in ASL and English. When I met her, I was impressed with her compassion. I remember that she called herself a language therapist, and that is truly what I was looking for. She works with my son’s school team and uses her contacts to benefit us. I can feel her empathy for parents and children. She comes to my home and makes sure that her recommendations match our needs, without taking away my power as a parent. She has given me hope. Words cannot express how much it means to have someone understand.
Equine-facilitated speech-language therapy is the most fun, functional, and joyous way for me to practice. Horses are amazing teachers and motivators.
As a licensed speech language pathologist and a certified therapeutic riding instructor, there are several options to participate with horses in my practice.
Equine assisted speech therapy takes traditional speech sessions outside and with the horse. I weave receptive language goals into following directions, completing sequences, and developing rich vocabulary in a motivating setting. Expressive language skills are put into practice by communicating with instructors, volunteers, and the horses!
Participants who want to focus on riding and horsemanship skills can expect an instructor with extensive knowledge of supporting folks with a variety of disabilities around horses. Riders in my practice have included individuals on the autism spectrum, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, stroke, Deaf riders, DeafBlind riders, Deaf Autistic riders, and many more.
After working out of 6 different therapeutic riding facilities over the years, Dark Horse found its home at Blue Rock Farm in West Chester, Pennsylvania. We are blissfully lucky to provide services at this gorgeous historical farm with our 250 year old barn. We enjoy trail riding along the Brandywine River, and pristine indoor and outdoor arenas.
Please note that our current facility requires participants to be ambulatory. In the future, I hope to offer access for participants who use wheelchairs and assistive equipment. Maximum rider weight limit is 180lbs.
Parent and family coaching are naturally woven into treatment sessions. This may look like a 10 minute debrief after a session to discuss what was targeted and why, including a sibling in therapy, or providing specific feedback about how to engage naturally to facilitate goals when the therapist isn’t around. In my experience, parent and caregiver coaching is likely to be the component of treatment with the biggest impact on outcomes.
If you are not located in Pennsylvania, or feel you’d benefit from additional support, parent coaching sessions may be a good fit. Coaching sessions occur in person, over the phone, or via video conferencing and focus on understanding a plan of care and how to integrate skills in daily routines. My goal is to help you become the therapist!
If you are a parent of a Deaf or Hard of Hearing child navigating the public school system and are looking for an ASL-friendly speech therapist to advocate for you and your child, I can help!
Veronica has extensive experience in the assessment of communication, speech, language, feeding, and voice disorders in pediatric populations. In her clinical fellowship she received training on the principles of dynamic assessment-- an informal method of evaluating language and communication competencies that captures the child's functional abilities with more depth and application than traditional standard scores might provide.
Scheduling ongoing treatment can be a chore for busy families-- let the therapy come to you! Veronica brings engaging therapeutic activities for your child targeting their goals to the comfort of your own home. This is great for carryover of skills!
After years of meeting horses of all ages and backgrounds in the field of therapeutic riding, it became clear that chronic lameness and sourness in therapy horses is a rampant issue. To address the needs of our equine partners, I launched my study of equine anatomy and physiology and techniques to alleviate pain and chronic postural dysfunction in 2021. Through many hours of study, mentorship, and continuing education courses, I now maintain a small caseload of equine bodywork clients in West Chester, Pennsylvania and surrounding areas as well as working on my own string of horses regularly.
Please note: equine bodywork in the US is a largely unregulated industry. Bodyworkers are not vets and should not provide diagnoses or medical advice. I work closely with your horse’s vet, farrier, and other related professionals to ensure that bodywork is appropriate for your horse.
Continuing education:
Veronica Looney, MS CCC-SLP, CTRI (PATH Intl.)
Veronica (“Roni”) is a lifelong horsewoman native to central Texas. She graduated from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014 with a BS in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a focus in American Sign Language linguistics.
Roni pursued her Masters of Science in Speech Language Pathology from Gallaudet University, awarded in 2016. She holds her CCCs from the American Speech Language and Hearing Association and is licensed to practice speech-language pathology in the state of Pennsylvania. She is fluent in American Sign Language and enjoys providing services in ASL.
Roni was able to intersect her personal interest in horsemanship with her professional vocation as a therapist in 2019 after achieving the Certified Therapeutic Riding Instructor status with PATH International (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship).
Roni currently lives in West Philadelphia with her husband and her dog, Lucy. She works full time in Early Intervention services for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children. Evenings and weekends are devoted to schooling horses, practicing equine bodywork, and enjoying the forever learning process of a life with horses.
