Location: Billings, Montana, United States
Chinook Horses is a nonprofit equine-assisted services organization based in Billings, Montana. The program focuses on helping individuals and families engage with horses in ways that support healing, growth, and meaningful personal development outside more traditional classroom or therapy settings. It operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and presents its work as centered on equine connection, accessibility, and community impact.
The organization offers a broader mix of services than a riding-only program. Its program pages highlight equine-facilitated therapy, trauma-focused work, Natural Lifemanship, substance use recovery groups, and a youth leadership program, showing a model that blends mental health support, experiential learning, and horse-based skill development.
About This Program
Chinook Horses appears to center its programming on equine-facilitated therapy and learning rather than traditional therapeutic riding alone. Its public materials emphasize opportunities for participants to build self-esteem, manage anxiety and depression, work through trauma, and strengthen relational skills through structured interactions with horses.
The program also reflects a trauma-informed approach. Chinook Horses states that it is licensed to use Eagala and Natural Lifemanship in its equine-assisted therapy program, which helps distinguish it from centers focused mainly on adaptive riding instruction.
Services Offered
- Trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy
- Equine-facilitated 1:1 therapy
- Natural Lifemanship
- Substance use disorder groups
- Youth leadership programming
- Equine-assisted learning and therapy for individuals and families
Who They Serve
Chinook Horses may be a good fit for:
- Children and teens needing horse-based support
- Adults working through trauma
- Individuals managing anxiety or depression
- People seeking relational or emotional growth through equine-assisted therapy
- Adults in substance use recovery
- Families looking for equine-assisted services in the Billings area
Facility and Setting
Chinook Horses is located in Billings, Montana. Its public-facing materials consistently identify Billings as the home base for the organization, though I did not find a street address clearly published in the search results I reviewed.
The setting appears to support both individual and group work with horses in a therapeutic environment rather than a standard lesson-barn format. The organization’s emphasis on trauma-informed care, equine-facilitated therapy, and recovery-oriented groups suggests a program designed around emotional safety and relationship-based work. This last point is an inference from the program descriptions.
What Makes Them Unique
One thing that stands out about Chinook Horses is its strong mental health and trauma-informed orientation. Instead of centering mainly on adaptive riding, the organization highlights equine-facilitated therapy, Eagala, Natural Lifemanship, and specialized support for trauma and substance use recovery.
It also appears to serve both youth and adults through a mix of therapy and leadership-focused programming. That combination gives Chinook Horses a broader scope than many equine-assisted programs that focus on only one age group or one service model.