By ADA HAENSEL
I founded Speaking of Horses Incorporated in 2022 with a simple but powerful belief: every child deserves a voice and the best listeners are horses.
That belief has never wavered. But the path to living it has taught me something unexpected about resilience, community, and the strange ways the horse world can restore what’s broken.
The Reality Behind the Mission
Speech therapy on horseback for children with severe disabilities. It sounds magical because it is magical. I’ve watched non-verbal children find their first words in the saddle. I’ve seen kids written off by traditional therapy programs light up when a 1,200-pound animal accepts them completely. I’ve held mothers while they cried tears they thought they’d never cry—tears of joy because their child said their name for the first time.
But here’s the brutal truth that keeps nonprofit founders up at night: horses are expensive.
One horse. One month. Four thousand dollars in vet bills. My personal money, gone in a moment of medical necessity. And that’s just one expense on a list that never ends.
Our families come to us because they can’t afford traditional therapy. They rely on Medicaid. Insurance covers maybe a third of what our sessions cost. We’ve committed that we will never turn a child away based on financial constraints. So where do the rest of the funds come from? Donations. Grants. But mostly me, quietly pulling from my own pocket more times than I can count, wondering how much longer we can sustain this.
By July of this year, I was exhausted.
Not just physically. Emotionally. I had just ended a ten-year relationship with my fiancé, and the life I’d built was crumbling in ways that had nothing to do with the nonprofit but affected everything. I needed to move the horses. I needed to start again. And I didn’t know how.
The Gift of Celt Run Farm
Then Brooke Baugher called.
Brooke owns Celt Run Farm, and she didn’t just offer me a place to move Speaking of Horses, she offered something deeper: Partnership. Friendship. A person who understood that this work matters and wanted to be part of making it sustainable. The care at her facility is impeccable. The community is warm. And somewhere in those first weeks of unpacking at Celt Run, a conversation happened over hay bales and coffee that changed everything.
“What if,” Brooke asked, “we could build something that funds the nonprofit?”
We both knew that western alfalfa—the premium hay from Utah—was something different. High protein. Low sugar. Greener than grass. The kind of hay that sets your horses up for success. It wasn’t readily available on the East Coast.
What if we brought that hay to the people who needed it most? What if we sold it at a fair market price and funneled the proceeds back into therapy for children who couldn’t afford it?
Whimsy and Wonder Premium Hay was born.
Building Something Real
The first few months were scrappy. We were learning as we went, researching suppliers, figuring out logistics, and honestly, doubting ourselves more than once. But then something happened. We started connecting with customers. Real people who understood the mission. Barn owners who wanted their hay to mean something. Competitive riders who appreciated the extremely high quality but also the purpose behind what they were buying.
Our Facebook strategy isn’t fancy—we use witty memes and post our hay analysis so people can see exactly what they’re getting. But the heart of every post is the same: this hay feeds your animals and changes the lives of children.
We’ve expanded from Virginia up and down the East Coast. We’re selling in equestrian hubs like Wilmington, Ohio. We’re learning, growing, and most importantly, we’re succeeding in a way that doesn’t require me to choose between helping children and keeping the lights on.
What’s Next
We’re not done. Not even close.
Soon, we will be expanding our product line to include orchard grass and timothy hay. We’re reaching out to high-end horse farms across the Eastern seaboard because every new farm that switches to Whimsy and Wonder Premium Hay is another therapy session we can fund. Another child we can reach.
I won’t tell you this has been easy. I won’t tell you that combining a nonprofit mission with a for-profit business venture is simple. It’s complicated. Some days it feels impossible. But I think about that seven-year-old who said “mama” for the first time during a therapy session. I think about the kids we’ve turned away in the past, when our funding was tighter. Every bale of hay sold is one more session I can provide.
And I know: we’re building something real.
If you’re in the equestrian world, you’re probably going to buy hay regardless. High-quality hay is essential for your horses’ health and performance. So why not make that purchase matter? Why not feed your animals the best premium western alfalfa available and support children with severe disabilities who are finding their voices?
That’s what Whimsy and Wonder is about. It’s hay with purpose. It’s a business built on hope for the next generation.
Every bale you buy isn’t just premium nutrition for your horse. It’s a therapy session for a child who’s been waiting for their moment to be heard.
That’s not just good business. That’s love.
To learn more about Whimsy and Wonder Premium Hay, visit us on Facebook or reach out directly: https://m.facebook.com/p/Whimsy-and-Wonder-Premium-Hay-61581674335761/. To support Speaking of Horses Incorporated or learn about our therapy programs, visit our nonprofit website: www.speakingofhorsesincorporated.org
