What is Horse-Assisted Therapy?
Horse Assisted THerapy is a unique and powerful model of psychotherapy which incorporates horses to help us understand ourselves better. The focus of equine (horse) assisted therapy is emotional growth and healing from life’s challenges, traumatic events, difficult situations and our personal struggles.
Horse-Assisted Therapy is all done on the ground, no riding involved and no previous horse experience needed.
Why use horses?
Horses are powerful beings; physically and the impression they make on us by their quiet noble presence. Horses allow us to overcome our fears and to develop confidence. Working with horses allows us to understand ourselves. They are powerful catalysts that help us to face our fears in order to heal and to change. Horses help strengthen our capacity to connect, to rebuild trust and to understand complicated relationships. Horses strengthen our sense of self.
Horse-assisted therapy has been shown to help with anxiety treatment, OCD, PTSD, CPTSD, complex trauma, emotional disregulation, depression, addiction as well as building relationship skills, communication skills and boundaries.
Horses have a natural ability to sense our internal landscapes; what we are feeling, thinking, and even what we are trying to hide from ourselves. They help to guide us to find understanding, create compassionate action and find our most beneficial choices all while being silently supportive in total acceptance of who we are and what we are going through.