Shas­tri Boodan

The rhythm of drums, the shim­mer of se­quins, and the soft clip-clop of hooves filled the air as the Heal­ing with Hors­es Foun­da­tion joined To­ba­go’s Car­ni­val last week­end. From its hill­side haven in Buc­coo, the non-prof­it brought a dif­fer­ent kind of en­er­gy to the cel­e­bra­tions—one where com­pas­sion, cre­ativ­i­ty, and Caribbean spir­it danced side by side.

At the cen­tre of it all was founder and CEO Veroni­ka Jo­han­na Danz­er-La For­tune, whose pas­sion for em­pow­er­ing young peo­ple has guid­ed the foun­da­tion’s mis­sion for more than a decade.

“This was more than a pa­rade,” she said with a smile. “It was part of our youth em­pow­er­ment pro­gramme—a way to in­te­grate, in­spire and train young peo­ple in lead­er­ship, team­work, horse­man­ship, and com­mu­ni­ca­tion.”

Each se­mes­ter, 12 com­mu­ni­ty mem­bers em­bark on Heal­ing with Hors­es’ unique learn­ing jour­ney, gain­ing con­fi­dence and lead­er­ship skills through hands-on ex­pe­ri­ences—both in the sta­ble and in life.

This year’s pa­rade car­ried an in­ter­na­tion­al touch. The foun­da­tion’s youth board mem­bers were joined by Dr Jaana Sa­lon­saari, a Finnish celebri­ty known as a “Car­ni­val hunter” and good­will am­bas­sador for Caribbean cul­ture. She trav­elled from Han­ko, Fin­land, to ex­pe­ri­ence the mag­ic of To­ba­go’s Car­ni­val—and the har­mo­ny be­tween the herd and the is­land’s vi­brant fes­tiv­i­ties.

Adorned in ra­di­ant cos­tumes de­signed by Liz’s Trop­i­cal De­signs of Buc­coo, the group be­gan their pa­rade from the foun­da­tion’s Gal­la Trace head­quar­ters and made their way to Buc­coo Bay, sur­round­ed by cheers, colour, and the un­mis­tak­able rhythm of is­land life.

Found­ed in 2010, Heal­ing with Hors­es be­gan with a dream, a sin­gle res­cued horse, and a heart full of hope.

Veroni­ka and her hus­band Lennon La For­tune en­vi­sioned a space where chil­dren—re­gard­less of abil­i­ty or back­ground—could con­nect with an­i­mals and na­ture in a safe, nur­tur­ing en­vi­ron­ment.

That dream has flour­ished. What be­gan as a small sum­mer camp has grown in­to a vi­brant com­mu­ni­ty pro­gramme that wel­comes chil­dren aged six to 12 from across To­ba­go. Their days are filled with art, mu­sic, dance, yo­ga, na­ture walks, and the qui­et joy of bond­ing with hors­es.

The foun­da­tion’s herd of gen­tle res­cues pro­vides a rare kind of ther­a­py—one that heals through touch, move­ment, and trust. As chil­dren groom, feed, and ride, they dis­cov­er not on­ly bal­ance and strength but al­so con­fi­dence and calm.

Ses­sions un­fold amid the tran­quil beau­ty of Buc­coo’s coast­line. Yo­ga class­es take place on a cliff over­look­ing the sea, and gar­dens bloom along­side the pas­tures. Un­der the watch­ful eyes of teach­ers and vol­un­teers, each ac­tiv­i­ty fos­ters cre­ativ­i­ty, phys­i­cal well­be­ing, and emo­tion­al growth.

For Veroni­ka and Lennon, the goal re­mains sim­ple yet pro­found: to cre­ate a space where the mind, body, and spir­it can thrive—guid­ed by na­ture, nur­tured by kind­ness, and in­spired by the gen­tle wis­dom of hors­es.