Equine-assisted therapy is a growing new way to approach therapy. Although the methods of this approach vary with the needs of participants, it always involves the comforting presence of horses
Emma Peddle
Kicker
Whether they have anxiety, depression, ADHD or PTSD, participants of equine-assisted therapy can find solace and improve their coping skills by connecting with horses.
As opposed to lying on a therapist’s couch, participants in this kind of therapy are soothed by the sound of hooves on the sand and the feel of a breeze on their faces. Some experts say participants can achieve more in one equine-assisted therapy session than on a psychologist’s couch.
“It is a different way of delivering mental health services to individuals, very experiential, as opposed to sitting in a clinical office setting,” said Charlotte Akerman, a mental health clinician at Rainbow Riders.
Akerman is a social worker with over 25 years of experience and has been certified as an equine-assisted mental health clinician by EAGALA, the Equine-assisted Growth and Learning Association. She is the main director of the Open Trails program.
The Open Trails Program, which began just after the COVID-19 pandemic, connects participants with a horse handler, a mental health clinician and, of course, a horse.
The program has participants who deal with many different mental health issues, ranging from anxiety disorders to trauma and PTSD, even ADHD and autism.
The participants do what they need to do in a session, whether it be just grooming the horse or designing an obstacle to lead their horse through.
“For example, we had a young woman in and she developed an obstacle course out in the arena, using our props,” said Akerman. “That kind of mirrored some of the obstacles she’s facing in her own life. Then she brought the horse through the obstacle herself.”
Participants use these obstacles and connections to express their own feelings in reaction to the horse’s feelings.
The horse will always detect and pick up on the participants’ feelings, allowing them time to reflect on their own feelings by navigating what the horse feels in the moment.
They use hula-hoops as a part of the obstacle course and then they will walk their horse through the course.
After walking through it once, the participants then assign an emotion or feeling to the hoop and will walk the course again.
In most cases, once a feeling is placed onto the hoop, the horse will actually stop and not continue the rest of the course, giving the participant a chance to discuss that particular feeling or emotion.
“It always amazes me to see how in tune our horses are and what a wonderful role they play,” said Akerman.
With a team of 170 volunteers, 20 horses and a dedicated staff, Rainbow Riders aims to offer a well-organized, safe and encouraging environment for participants.
They are now servicing more people than ever before, with a 140 participants and a growing waitlist.
Horses are prey animals and they are in tune to their surroundings and human emotions.
They feel what the person with them feels, horses pick up on whether you are anxious, and they become anxious in turn.
When working with a particular horse, connection between a person and a horse grows, with the rider being in tune with the horses’ feelings and the horse being in tune with the participant’s feelings.
“It’s this unspoken bond, an unspoken communication and that’s when the magic starts to happen,” Erin Gallant, program director at Stable Life Inc. in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s.
Stable Life is a stable that focuses on equine-assisted therapy as an alternative method of healing and recovering for those dealing with mental health and wellness issues.
While at its highest capacity, Stable Life has seen 20-40 people per week.
Gallant says there is always a demand for equine-assisted therapy.
“People were choosing our program over traditional therapy, just because it was more effective,” said Gallant.
According to an article by Jumper Nation, horses can sense a human’s heartbeat from up to four feet away. This ability helps them be in tune with human emotions and react to whatever people are feeling in the moment.
As Winston Churchill, once said, “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.”
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