Why Horses?

Prey Animals

Unlike humans, horses are prey animals. Their survival depends upon their ability to observe and interpret all activity in their environment. They must live as if everything is life or death, because to them it is! Trauma survivors can relate to this and parallels can be drawn to help understand what they are experiencing and develop coping skills.

Social Animals

Like humans, horses are herd or social animals and they rely on each other for safety and survival. They must have distinct personalities and defined roles in their herd. Interacting with horses provides an opportunity to work on relationship dynamics, such as one’s role in their family and community, trust, communication, boundaries and assertiveness.

Non-Judgemental

Horse are nonjudgmental. They do not care about race, sex, age, or weight. People can connect with horses without fear of rejection or criticism.

They live only in the present

Horses live fully present in the moment. They do not worry about their past or future. Trauma survivors often spend a great deal of time thinking about their past and worrying about their future. Learning this about horses provides opportunities to help trauma survivors learn new skills to cope with their thought patterns.

Horses are large and powerful

Their size creates an opportunity to overcome fear and develop confidence. It allows a chance to accomplish tasks despite fear or feeling uncomfortable and provides insight to dealing with other challenging or intimidating situations in life.

Research

Research has confirmed the effectiveness of Equine Therapy showing that it lowers blood pressure and heart rate, alleviates stress, and reduces symptoms of anxiety and depressions.