Question 1

Why are horses so effective at supporting personal learning and therapy?

Brent Geach · Accepted Answer

Horses are prey animals and as such have a significantly heightened awareness to environmental factors and energy levels exhibited by other animals around them, not just other horses. Survival for a horse is principally about instinctive reaction, a comparable state of mind to those who have operated in a war zone.

Horses reactions are a silent, honest and dispassionate response the emotions of those around them. Horses respond negatively to negative emotions. They respond positively to positive emotions. They do not have agendas, nor intentionally mislead. Through facilitated interaction with horses metaphoric and impartial input can be applied as a complement to conventional therapy, and creates a non-threatening environment for revealing and accepting the authentic self.

This unbiased and immediate feedback can quickly draw out the heart of issues, Dr. Laurie Sullivan-Sakeada, a US Clinical Psychologist Practising in this field explains, “The horses are therapeutic and interactive tools that speed up the therapy process substantially .... one session of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy in the barn is equal to five sessions “on the couch.”

One leading US horse trainer working with the Horses for Heroes therapy programme succinctly describes the horse as “1200 lbs of lie detector”. The subtle and wide ranging expressions that are portrayed through the horse’s body language provides immediate direct feedback and instruction to Veteran delegates, handlers and therapists alike.

The embodied nature of the interaction also supports the benefit. When interacting with horses we have to interact somatically (which our whole being). It is recognised that much trauma and emotion is held in the body. This can easily be filtered or ignored in conversation, but in action it cannot be. Simply our bodies do not lie. For this reason, even non-therapeutic sessions can be quite emotional for clients. The art of the facilitation is to provide a space where these experiences can be safely held and clients provided with means of managing or coping. This forms the important transferable nature of the work, whereby the experiential learning in the space can be applied to real life situations.

Question 2

Why are horses so effective at supporting personal learning and therapy?

Brent Geach · Accepted Answer

Horses are prey animals and as such have a significantly heightened awareness to environmental factors and energy levels exhibited by other animals around them, not just other horses. Survival for a horse is principally about instinctive reaction, a comparable state of mind to those who have operated in a war zone.

Horses reactions are a silent, honest and dispassionate response the emotions of those around them. Horses respond negatively to negative emotions. They respond positively to positive emotions. They do not have agendas, nor intentionally mislead. Through facilitated interaction with horses metaphoric and impartial input can be applied as a complement to conventional therapy, and creates a non-threatening environment for revealing and accepting the authentic self.

This unbiased and immediate feedback can quickly draw out the heart of issues, Dr. Laurie Sullivan-Sakeada, a US Clinical Psychologist Practising in this field explains, “The horses are therapeutic and interactive tools that speed up the therapy process substantially .... one session of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy in the barn is equal to five sessions “on the couch.”

One leading US horse trainer working with the Horses for Heroes therapy programme succinctly describes the horse as “1200 lbs of lie detector”. The subtle and wide ranging expressions that are portrayed through the horse’s body language provides immediate direct feedback and instruction to Veteran delegates, handlers and therapists alike.

The embodied nature of the interaction also supports the benefit. When interacting with horses we have to interact somatically (which our whole being). It is recognised that much trauma and emotion is held in the body. This can easily be filtered or ignored in conversation, but in action it cannot be. Simply our bodies do not lie. For this reason, even non-therapeutic sessions can be quite emotional for clients. The art of the facilitation is to provide a space where these experiences can be safely held and clients provided with means of managing or coping. This forms the important transferable nature of the work, whereby the experiential learning in the space can be applied to real life situations.

Why are horses so effective at supporting personal learning and therapy?

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