Saskatchewan·Land of Living StoriesNatasha Quigley was a child when doctors removed a non-cancerous tumour from her brain. Horses helped her in her recovery and rehab process, and now she’s finding ways to help others gain life skills and confidence through equine-assisted learning.At this Gravelbourg ranch, horses power life-changing movement for kids and adults Janani Whitfield · CBC News · Posted: Oct 24, 2025 8:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesNatasha Quigley works with one of her horses, Mouse, at Quigley Arabian Ranch, where kids and adults come to learn life skills. (Nicole Lavergne-Smith/Radio-Canada)CBC’s virtual road trip series Land of Living Stories explores the hidden gems across Saskatchewan. Reporter Janani Whitfield hit the road to Gravelbourg in search of inspiring stories of community spirit. This is the fourth of a four-part series from that community. When Natasha Quigley’s around her horses, she comes to life. And at her Quigley Arabian Ranch near Gravelbourg, Sask., about 150 kilometres southwest of Regina, she’s in her happy place.Little wonder, given the impact that these horses have had on her, right from her own childhood growing up on a farm.“When I was nine, I had a brain tumour,” she said, adding that it took more than a year for doctors to find the tumour, during which time she would have blackouts and migraines. To remove the tumour, doctors had to remove part of her balance centre. Natasha Quigley grew up on a ranch, developing a love of horses from an early age. (Submitted by Natasha Quigley)“It wasn’t cancerous, but I was supposed to learn how to walk and talk again,” she said, adding her first question after surgery was when she would be able to get back on a horse. “I wasn’t going to give up my horses. They were part of me already at that point.”With horses having been an integral part of her wellness and recovery, she now puts her skills to work as an equine-assisted learning facilitator for kids and adults.Natasha Quigley, right, is helping kids like Liam Smith find confidence by working with horses at her ranch. (Submitted by Natasha Quigley)This evening, she’s walking 12-year-old Liam Smith through a series of obstacles. Reading instructions on a card, he and his partner have to talk with each other and guide the horse through the loop. After finishing the task, Liam ticks through the skills he worked on, including communication, respect, listening and negotiating. Equine-facilitated learning uses hands-on activities in which a facilitator like Quigley guides interactions with horses to teach life skills, improve self-awareness and build confidence. Smith seems calm and collected as he works through the problems, but he said it was a different story when he was nine, before coming to the ranch.“It was just like it was blurry and every time I got mad, I just stuck my head in the sand.… I got mad very easily back then,” he said. Liam Smith developed a close relationship with Skittles the horse, who helped him work through his anger and communication issues. (Submitted by Natasha Quigley)That led to the recommendation he try the equine learning at Quigley’s ranch.“It was basically a match made in heaven that I got to work with horses,” he said. As he worked with Quigley’s horse Skittles, Smith felt the anger receding. “Just something clicked [and] made me want to talk about my feelings more,” he said.That year, Quigley made awards for each of the kids she worked with, with a word representing their growth. Just after he got the award on their grad day, Smith learned that Skittles had died. “I thought Skittles was family to me. Man, it just shocked me,” he said, shaking his head. “I was so sad when I first saw her grave. [It was like] my heart just got stabbed with a knife.”Liam Smith felt the pain of seeing Skittles the horse’s grave, saying the horse he worked with had come to feel like family to him. (Submitted by Natasha Quigley)Quigley too is filled with emotion when hearing about her beloved Skittles, but Liam’s words confirm the impact that her beloved Arabian horses can have. “It was great hearing him talk about [Skittles] with people he didn’t know. He’s a great kid; he’s always come out and been full of life with the horses.” It gives her purpose to guide people like Liam who are struggling at school or with friends, or in other ways. Read more Land of Living Stories features here “Being able to offer a service that allows you to come out of your shell and find strength… it’s heartwarming and it’s empowering,” she said. “And I know I’m on the right journey because what I’m doing is helping so many people, in the smallest way for some and in huge ways for some.”ABOUT THE AUTHORJanani Whitfield is a community engagement producer who also edits feature storytelling and First Person columns for CBC Saskatchewan. Contact her at janani.whitfield@cbc.ca.
Horses helped her recover after a brain tumour. Now, she pays it forward at her Sask. ranch
