It Takes A Herd Foundation Inc is a Massachusetts-based nonprofit founded in 2025 to address a growing and often overlooked need: meaningful, inclusive support for individuals and families impacted by dementia and the burden of caregiving. It Takes A Herd offers a dementia-friendly, non-riding equine-assisted program that partners with horses as a powerful and calming conduit for connection, camaraderie, and community.

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“The Herd community has been such a steady source of support and I’m grateful beyond words to be a part of it. Knowing we’re all looking out for one another makes the hard stretches feel a little less heavy.” 

 

John

Care Partner

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The program is intentionally designed to meet people where they are at any stage of memory loss. Participants engage in structured, ground-based interactions with horses in a safe, nonjudgemental, supportive environment facilitated by a Certified Dementia Practitioner also certified in Equine Assisted Learning. Sessions focus on purposeful engagement, emotional regulation, and helping care partners and care recipients (person living with dementia) return to their original roles within the partnership.

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Each It Takes A Herd program runs once per week for four consecutive weeks, with two-hour sessions engaging in empowering activities and peer connection. Participants may groom, lead, or simply spend quiet time with the horses, while care partners learn practical dementia care strategies that apply to daily life. The emphasis is not on performance, but on presence—creating moments of normalcy, dignity, and shared experience.

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The program is designed to:

• Support people living with dementia by encouraging independence, building confidence through empowering activities.

• Provide care partners with education and coaching in Habilitation Therapy, as well as moments of respite

• Help restore the partnership between care partners and their loved ones living with dementia

• Reduce social isolation through shared lived experience and community connection

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Throughout the program, participants are encouraged to step outside the traditional care partner–care recipient dynamic and reconnect through meaningful interaction. In addition to working with horses, care partners have opportunities to connect with others who understand the caregiving journey, therefore building a sense of camaraderie and community within the Herd.