“Horses and children, I often think, have a lot of the good sense that is in the world,” Liz Delfs notes at the end of every email. The quote by famed circus equestrienne Josephine Demott Robinson, who performed in the late 19th century, describes how Delfs operates. As founder and executive director of

Santa Fe nonprofit My Little Horse Listener, she and her miniature equines help distraught children and adults find their footing in a complex world.

“Liz has such a generous spirit,” said Joy Silha, a volunteer with the program. “She is great at tuning into these kids. She has a special skill for understanding where they’re at and knowing how to help them. Her impact is really felt in the community.”

It is for that reason Delfs has been selected as one of The New Mexican’s 10 Who Made a Difference for 2023.

Growing up in a traditional Irish family in New York City, Delfs began observing social inequities at an early age.

“I grew up in a very poor part of Harlem, on Third Avenue and Lexington,” she recalled. “All of our relatives lived in threeroom apartments, and if we wanted to talk to another relative, we yelled out of the window.”

In her first job after graduating from Northeastern University in Boston, Delfs helped to broaden the scope of federal funding that would come to be known as the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Then she began practicing “street law,” helping people in the homeless community and those marginalized by rapidly gentrifying New England neighborhoods.

“I went to a Catholic school, and I can remember kids in my class who were bullied by other kids,” Delfs said. “I didn’t want to see someone being sad or upset or unhappy. I had a mouth, and I used it.”

Eventually, she and her husband, Gary Clendenen, moved to Newburgh, N.Y., and she settled into a comfortable life as an attorney for Pearson, a British publishing company. But that job wasn’t enough to support three children, so she practiced immigration and disability law on the side.

“Every day I was passing people in dire straits, people who were begging and people who were very poor,” Delfs said.

Eventually she became tired of dark, cold winters and had a desire to be closer to her daughter and grandchildren in Albuquerque, so she and her husband pulled up stakes and moved to Santa Fe in 2015. A year later and no longer practicing law, she opened My Little Horse Listener as a means to continue helping people.

The desire to acquire the equines had come a few years earlier on a trip through Texas, Delfs said.

“We passed some miniature horses, and I absolutely fell in love,” she said. “It was like a thunderbolt. I almost stole one.”

Once settled in Santa Fe, Delfs got her miniature horses Thor and Hot Dog; Mellie, a mule; and Serafina, a donkey.

“I had no clue what I was going to do with them,” she said. “But I had this feeling that they were too good not to share.” And share, Delfs did.

The program began by helping children who were having trouble with reading, she said. Instead of reading to adults, the children would read aloud to the equines, which seemed to remove the pressure to perform.

Delfs reached out to the Santa Fe Public Library, and her program began to grow organically, she said. Soon, she began working with children through Esperanza Shelter, which aids people affected by domestic violence.

“They were very skeptical, but then the therapists came out to meet the horses,” she said. “The horses put on such an act. They were cuddling up to the therapists.”

More opportunities arrived, and suddenly “we were swamped with kids,” Delfs said, adding judges in family courts now refer children to her program.

About 15 children a week attend an eight-week program, seeking help with grief, depression, disabilities — even a lack of confidence.

“She is further identifying those in need in our community,” wrote Denise Vermeulen, one of several people who nominated Delfs for the 10 Who Made a Difference award. “She looks for new partners to reach more children and teens. She plans to provide outreach to others including seniors, hospitals, hospices and homebound children.”

Silha, another nominator, said Delfs views the job not as a task, but as her purpose.

“She’s reaching out to schools, who are now reaching back out to her,” Silha said. “I’ve see her work with autistic kids, relating to so many people.”

Silha, who initially approached Delfs to write a story for an equine magazine, said the two have become friends, creating the My Little Mentor Program for teen girls.

“She’s reaching out to the community and she’s helping the kids that need to be helped, kids that may not feel part of something or who lack confidence,” Silha said.

There is never a cost for treatment, Delfs said. It’s a labor of love for the community.

“Miniature horses are mesmerizing,” Delfs said. “They’re very much in the moment.”

“I see kids who haven’t smiled in ages, suddenly smile again, and children who have stopped talking, talk again. We see the ordinary change, kids relax and become playful again. And the horses get a lot out of it, too. They love the attention.”