WHY USE A HORSE?

Since horses are prey animals, they have to be extremely aware of their surroundings.  They use their keen senses to identify slight changes in their environment as a protection against impending danger and as a function of survival.  

Wounded people and horses understand each other.  Experiencing the violation and horror of trauma, humans can become like prey animals, ready to run or in a constant state of hypervigilance and mistrust. 

CAN SENSE HUMAN EMOTIONS

Studies have shown that there is a psycho-physiological link between humans and horses.  It has been shown that a horse is able to change their heart rhythm, which is predictive of emotional states, to match a human’s heart rhythm when in close contact.  When using horses in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, their natural ability to sense human emotions and to read body language allows them to respond to the internal state of the person and to expose what is NOT being said or recognized. 

UNBIASED FEEDBACK

Horses do not have any preconceived notions or hidden agendas, and act purely on basic instincts and needs.  They don’t care about a person’s position, power, status, race, color, gender, how much money they make, who they know or where they have been.  As a result, they give accurate and unbiased feedback, which makes them excellent messengers about intrapersonal conflicts and relationship patterns. 

reBUILD RELATIONSHIPS

One of the most damaging parts of experiencing trauma is the isolation that accompanies it.  For trauma survivors, it is often easier to be alone than to be with others.  Healthy relationships can help to reverse the negative changes our brain makes after trauma.  And horses are a great tool to start rebuilding relationships. 

Key to horse’s survival is developing relationships with other members of the herd and learning how to communicate effectively – the same key issues important to human effectiveness.  When building a relationship with a horse, individuals tend to re-create familiar patterns of interaction they have learned throughout their lives.  Most people inadvertently choose a horse that will treat them in the way they are used to being treated or in the manner they treat other people.  Because a horse responds honestly to what the client is doing in the present, rather than what they did in the past or what they may do in the future, the horse helps the client understand how their behavior affects relationships.  Once clients understand these things, they can make changes in themselves to improve the relationship with the horse, and then apply those same changes to more complex human interactions.