Behind every animal is a human who loves them.
Learn about the many different relationships between animals and humans and find out things you never knew.
Equine Assisted Therapy: The Ultimate Bond Between Animal and Human.
By Imogen Bavinton
For millions of years horses and humans have shared a special relationship. They were once a crucial part of our society when they were needed to pull carriages to get us from place to place or ploughs to help farmers sow their fields. Nowadays they are seen more as pets, but they still continue to help us humans overcome other problems in our lives, especially for those of us that maybe don’t find life as easy as the rest of us.
These magnificent animals have been used in physical therapy since the early 50’s, when they were used to help people refine their motor skills in a gentle way. Since then, the unique bond between horse and human has been incorporated into a special type of psychological therapy.
Together horse and human can achieve amazing things.
Specifically known as Equine Assisted Therapy, (EAT) the process can be used to treat a variety of different disorders such as anxiety, addiction, autism, low self-esteem and many more. EAT typically involves a horse, a therapist and a horse expert. Together, this small team will work with individuals to help them discover more about themselves and develop new ways of thinking. The therapy team will guide the individual along the way and encourage them to reflect on their experiences and what it means to them.
Sarah Urwin, a qualified psychotherapist who specialises in EAT, lives in Devon where horses graze in the paddock adjoining her house and dogs and cats laze around the garden. She’s worked with horses her whole life, but for the past 12 years has offered EAT sessions to clients from the comfort of her own home.
She said: “Horses are perfect animals to use for this type of therapy. They don’t make judgements about you, answer back or tell secrets. Building attachments and meaningful relationships with horses is sometimes easier for clients who struggle with human relationships. They may feel more able to be themselves with horses and through this honest relationship mutual trust and respect grows.”
She also said: “Horses use body language to communicate and respond best to us when we use calm, clear and confident body language. This means that in order to work effectively with horses clients need to learn about their own as well as horse body language.”
The fact that horses are prey animals makes them very vulnerable, but this also makes them very sensitive and responsive to humans. From this it’s possible that extremely strong bonds between horse and client can grow.
Equine Assisted Therapy helps people overcome disorders such as anxiety, depression and many more.
Extremely strong bonds can form between horse and human from Equine Assisted Therapy.
Sarah explained: “The type of relationship each person forms with the horses can differ significantly according to the natural characteristics of each horse and person. For some clients the relationship is very tactile, with lots of stroking, grooming, hugging and generally close contact whereas others may prefer to watch and observe or just to ‘be with’ the horses without any very direct physical contact.”
“Some years ago a female client with a serious eating disorder was trying to raise her energy levels sufficiently to get a horse to walk over a pole on the ground, without the use of a halter or a rope. She tried several times without success as the horse just wandered off and away from the pole. Eventually she crumpled in a heap in the middle of the sand school and started sobbing. The horse, after a minute or two, approached her and stood with his muzzle gently resting on the top of her head. After a while the client stood up and this time as soon as she started walking towards the pole the horse walked alongside her and they crossed the pole together. What happened between horse and client in the middle of the sand school we can’t say exactly but something passed between them and a new understanding and confidence emerged.”
The future for EAT is a very positive one as more research is being done all the time. It’s an experimental, creative intervention based on the animal-human bond and has been shown to be very successful for a lot of people struggling with psychological disorders.
However, Sarah said: “it’s often hard to pin down and measure client responses, including a client’s ability to change their behaviour patterns as a result of working with horses. From what I’ve seen though, it can be an extremely powerful intervention. Horses don’t lie to us because they don’t separate the way that they feel from the way that they act.”
“They offer an almost spiritual connection to freedom and that in itself is magnificent.”
