What is equine-assisted therapy?
Equine-assisted therapy is a treatment which involves activities with horses or takes place in an equine-related physical environment. Equine-assisted therapy promotes physical, emotional and occupational growth. It can improve a client's communication techniques, as they are required to listen to and communicate with the instructor, the therapist and the horse.
Animals are astute at reading human emotions and people often turn to animals for comfort. Man and horse in particular have a long-standing living, working and therapeutic relationship which can be traced back to ancient Greece. The sheer size and responsiveness of a horse encourages a trusting and collaborative relationship to form between the client and horse during equine-assisted therapy. Horses can mirror human emotions and behaviour and will respond to negativity, therefore encouraging the client to be calm, open, gentle and aware.
No riding experience is necessary and in many cases there will be no actual riding during equine-assisted therapy.
Who benefits from equine-assisted therapy?
Equine-assisted therapy can be helpful for people with ADHD, autism, anger problems, dementia, depression, addiction problems and PTSD.
Relevant associations
This information has been vetted by a professional member of the welldoing directory
Last updated on September 3 2015
