The farm entrance. A concrete driveway surrounded by stone buildings and farm sheds

About us.

Turn About Pegasus is a not-for-profit, with charitable aims, social enterprise founded in May 2004 by registered mental health specialist Tracie Faa-Thompson and equine expert Alison Porteous. Based in rural Northumberland, we are committed to providing therapeutic and educational support that helps both humans and animals to heal, grow, and connect. At the heart of what we provide is promoting humane behaviour, human to human and human to animal.

Although Alison died in 2015, her passion for Equine Included Therapy (EIT) and dedication to nurturing well-being lives on in everything we do. Her legacy continues to inspire our mission, touching the lives of those we support and guiding our commitment to creating meaningful change through compassionate, nature-based interventions.

We remain committed to accessible, affordable high-quality services for all by actively seeking out grants and fundraising to ensure that everyone we can provide help for can access the same bespoke services, even those who do not fall in statutory funded categories.

ALL we do at TAP is for both Public benefit and Animal Welfare. Our work is focused on improving human and animal lives and for the Benefit of the wider environment. We aim to fill in gaps to services, using our skills and expertise to work alongside, enhance and support wider services.

The Humans

The Animals

Our Philosophy

At Turn About Pegasus, our entire team - including humans, horses, and dogs - are all trained through positive reinforcement, ensuring kindness and respect guide every interaction. We believe in doing things with our animal partners, not to them. They always have the choice to participate in activities and the opportunity to bring their own ideas and personality into sessions, making them true collaborators in the therapeutic process.

While our human team members bring many years of experience, we do not operate from a place of rigid expertise. Instead, humility and openness to new possibilities shape everything we do. We learn from one another, from our animal partners, and from every interaction. This guiding philosophy helps us create a truly enriching and inclusive therapeutic environment where all voices
- whether human or animal - are valued and heard.

Humans

Meet The Team (Humans)

Tracie
Faa-Thompson

Founder & Secretary

Tracie is a BAPT-registered Play & Filial Therapist, Specialist Social worker and Clinical Hypnotherapist. Hailing from a Scottish/Romany Traveller family, Tracie grew up surrounded by dogs and horses, shaping her lifelong connection to animals and her expertise in animal-assisted therapies. Her first career was dedicated to working with horses, which continues to influence her therapeutic approach. At the heart of everything is animal well-being and choice.

Tracie uses eye movement integration and emotional freedom techniques to effectively address trauma. She is level 3 Forest School trained. She is also an accomplished international trainer and author of the award-winning book Animal Assisted Play Therapy alongside Dr Rise Van Fleet. Has numerous peer-reviewed academic articles on attachment, resilience, adoption, and animal-assisted therapies, blending her unique cultural roots with evidence-based practices for meaningful therapeutic outcomes.

Tracie and Dr Rise Van Fleet are co-creators (founders) of the field of Animal Assisted Play Therapy(R). Integral to AAPT is animal choice, sentience and well-being; done with, not done to.

A blonde woman in a blue top stands in a field full of flowers with a black and white horse

A woman in a red top stands with a wooden sculpture of a man at the beach

Sheli Brown

Co-director

Sheli is a Play Therapist, BACP-registered adult and child counsellor, and supervisor. Sheli has her own successful CIC "Creative Action Team' in Crewe and a successful private practice where she offers a range of in-person and teletherapies.

Sheli is an Instructor in Animal Assisted Play Therapy (R). Sheli is open about her neurodiversity and can see the benefits of neurodiversity alongside the challenges.

A born optimist, Sheli always sees the positive side of things.

A blonde woman in glasses and a black shirt takes a selfie, smiling at the camera

Racheal Draissma

Co-director

Rachael is the creator of Calming Signals & Scentwork for horses. She travels the world educating people from every aspect of the equine world on the benefits of learning calming signals of horses and scentwork for horses. Her books, Scentwork for Horses and Calming Signals for Horses, are global best-sellers.

Rachael and Tracie are partners in the new field of Scentwork and Play for horses. Bringing together their joint expertise to train coaches, therapists, and educators about how to integrate the two modalities for the mutual benefit for both human and animal.

A brunette woman smiles at the camera, she has curly hair and a fun patterned top

Pamela Ann Davidson

Co-director

Pamela is a lifelong horsewoman with a 30+ year career working with vulnerable children and adults.

Currently working as a Civil enforcement officer, she makes sure all the I's are dotted and the T's crossed. An animal lover, she shares our philosophies of animal sentience and choice.

Pamela is also an NVQ work assessor for people undertaking new careers

A white haired man sits with a fluffy white dog

Mike Thompson

Handyman extraordinare

Mike has a lifetime of farming knowledge and is an agronomist.

He helps us manage the land from an environmental and horse perspective, making sure that nature has a helping hand. He is our expert on rewilding our land. He can turn his hand to almost anything mechanical and land-based.

We don't know how we would manage without him and his partner, Badger.

A blonde woman in a blue top cuddles with a chestnut horse

Alison
Ainsley

Supporter

Alison is a Director and Clinical Negligence solicitor with 4+ decades of experience. She is passionate about getting justice for people who have experienced clinical negligence and is a member of the law society's clinical negligence panel.

Alison is a keen sportswoman who excels in several disciplines. She has also been a lifelong horsewoman with a love of Arabians. Alison & George (her horse) and Nero, the rescue French Bulldog, (sadly no longer with us) share an enduring partnership.

A blond woman in a grey jacket and scarf smiles at the camera

Heather Vaulkhard

Supporter

Heather is a lifelong horsewoman, successful businesswoman and matriarch of the family-owned Vaulkard Group, which embodies and integrates the best of the hospitality and staff welfare.

Heather is trained in a wide range of holistic and somatic therapies, including Equine Touch and VHT for humans. Heather is committed to improving the well-being and welfare of horses and humans. She is passionate about equine rehabilitation and has a history of rescuing ex-racehorses and retraining them to the highest level.

A man in a shirt with a small beard smiles at the camera

Frank Davidson

Supporter

Frank is a retired firefighter and General Manager & Lead Trainer for Tri-grain. Frank is a Certified Graduate member of IOSH, the world's chartered body for Health and Safety professionals.

In his spare time, he is a whizz at DIY and is also a time-served painter and decorator. Frank is an animal lover and enjoys the natural environment.

A woman with black and white hair cuddles a cat for a selfie. The cat has a silly expression with her tongue out.

Alex Sinclair

Digital Operations Manager

New to the team, Alex is a horsewoman with a passion for the third sector and making positive change through holistic methods.

She uses her compassionate approach for training all types of horses but also transfers the skills learnt through horses such as planning, flexibility and attention to detail into pursuing a second love of working in digital spaces and designing.

When not at her laptop with her beloved cats, she can be found somewhere in the countryside with her longstanding pony companion, Ares

Animals

Meet The Team (Animals)

A long-haired, fluffy white dog lounges on a bed

Badger

Lurcher (b May 2021-)

Right hand man to our resident volunteer handyman and master of all trades. You will rarely see one without the other.

A dark brown dog sits looking back over its shoulder, its paw in the hand of a woman next to it

Sabii (May 2012-to Nov 2025)

Hairy Pointer X Lab

Loved all people and people loved him. He helped many a child get over their fear of dogs Loved to teach others to swim in our pond and to give them an inpromptu shower!!

A dark brown horse with a thin white stripe on it's face walks through the field

Sunny Jim

Welsh Mountain pony

From the Welsh Mountain Rescue. Sunny Jim is a fun personality, curious and bold and into everything. As he started his life as a feral pony he has excellent natural tracking skills.

A white horse eats his breakfast from a bucket on a chair, he is wearing a fly rug

Charlie
(Lord Charles)

Our Oldest Arabian

A loving and gentle ex-endurance horse who was due to be put down as he became too old for endurance at 14. Having just had his 35th Birthday he has a zest for life and is a favourite of many of our clients.

A white cob horse with black patterning in its face and fringe

Pilgrim

14.2 cob

Our blue eyed boy. People are drawn towards him as he is 'different'.

A close up of a brown and white horse, you can see its eye and its fringe

Prince
Dakotah

Pintabian

a.k.a Nosy Parker. Has been a cat in a previous life due to his curious nature and penchant for mischief.

A small chestnut pony with a blonde mane nuzzles someone

Madonna

Mini Shetland Gelding

Constantly entertaining curious and bold he excels at Scentwork. Given to us at 2 he is now in his teens and has the AWWW factor. Named Madonna as his flowing mane and fancy moves reminds us of a certain popstar.
a busy-body that likes to
trot and canter everywhere he goes.

A black and white horse lies down in the field, it's a bit muddy

Purdy

15'2 Cob

Despite his size, he's a gentle soul and a valued member of the team, having been with us for half a decade.

Opportunities

If you’re interested in joining our team or volunteering your time, we’d love to hear from you! For job vacancies, simply click the button below to browse our Facebook page for recent announcements. If you'd like to volunteer, head over to our contact page and send us an expression of interest. We’re always looking for passionate individuals who share our values and want to make a difference.

Vacancies

Volunteer