In a meaningful step for the racing community, the Woodbine Cares Horsepower Fund has announced its first grant recipient, supporting a program that places retired racehorses at the heart of emotional healing and personal growth. The initiative, created by former jockey Eurico Rosa da Silva, highlights how the bond between humans and horses can extend far beyond the racetrack.
The grant, awarded by Woodbine Entertainment, will support da Silva’s Equine Experiential Connection (EEC) program, an initiative designed to help participants develop emotional awareness and resilience through structured interactions with horses.
First announced in November 2025, the Woodbine Cares Horsepower Fund provides micro-grants of up to $5,000 to registered charities across Ontario. The funding is intended to support projects that encourage people to connect with horses through education, hands-on care, and innovative outreach programs that showcase the role horses play in both everyday life and the wider racing community.
Woodbine Cares Horsepower Fund Supports Equine Experiential Connection
The EEC program operates in partnership with the LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society, where retired racehorses become central to therapeutic and educational experiences. Participants are guided by Advanced FEEL Facilitators—specialists trained in Facilitated Equine Experiential Learning—who help individuals understand and respond to the intuitive behaviour of horses.
Through carefully guided sessions, participants learn to engage emotionally and develop trust with the animals. The approach emphasises observation, calm interaction, and reflection, allowing people to explore personal challenges while building confidence and emotional awareness.
For da Silva, the program is deeply personal. After bringing his riding career to a close in 2019, the former jockey faced his own mental health challenges. That journey eventually led him to discover the restorative power of working with horses in a therapeutic environment.
His experience inspired the creation of the Equine Experiential Connection program, which now assists a diverse group of participants, including individuals recovering from addiction, athletes seeking mental clarity, and people looking for personal development.
“Horses have so much power to help us, more than I had ever dreamed,” da Silva shared in a recent episode of the docu-series Free Rein. “We’re helping people here with addictions and athletes for performance, to name a few. Through working with horses, we’re helping people grow and understand themselves.”
The episode, titled Healing with Horses, forms part of the series’ third season and explores da Silva’s transition from top-level jockey to advocate for equine-assisted learning.
Funding from the Woodbine Cares Horsepower Fund will help expand the program’s reach by supporting additional instructor training, ensuring proper care for the participating horses, and providing the resources needed to develop the initiative further.
For the racing industry, the project represents another example of how Thoroughbreds continue to make a meaningful impact even after their racing careers end—serving as partners in education, therapy, and personal transformation.
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