Psychology at Sweet Briar

    A horse, with its mane and tail flowing in the wind, runs playfully across a field. Trailing far behind him, panting with exertion, is a young boy of approximately 15 years of age. Running as hard as he can, he is no closer to catching the horse now than he was 2 hours ago when he began the exercise. Standing 100 yards away is a stoic older man, arms crossed over his chest, a detached look upon his face. Nearby, a frazzled woman holds out a handful of hay towards the horse, trying to entice it to come near enough to be caught, while simultaneously trying to keep the horse out of her comfort zone. Two adult observers, who watched intently for the entire two hours, call the family in to talk and allow all three participants some time to diffuse. The horse will still be in the field tomorrow, waiting to break down the family barriers by playing "hard to get."

    While some people may think that the activity just described is simply a few people trying to catch a difficult horse, there is also an enormous amount of psychological information about the participants that can be extracted and then appropriately dealt with. This is one example of an equine assisted psychotherapy session, also known as EAP. EAP utilizes the unique characteristics of horses to reach people on issues such as abuse, trust, communication skills, cooperation, eating disorders, marriage and family difficulties, depression, and many other problems. This unusual form of psychotherapy is effective because it relies on the horse to be the real therapist, allowing the client to gain awareness of issues they were unable to face before.

    EAP is considered to be an experiential brief therapy approach that combines the efforts of a licensed therapist, a horse professional, and of course the horse (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association, 2002). The focus of EAP is not on riding skills or obtaining horsemanship knowledge, but instead on the client and the personal needs and struggles which he or she brings to the session. In fact, 90% of EAP sessions take place on the ground, involving challenging activities with the horse (EAGALA, 2002). By doing these activities and then processing them with the therapy team, clients are able to learn about their own feelings, behaviors, and patterns of interactions. Because the client’s needs and issues drive EAP, it can be used effectively to treat a variety of problems such as the ones mentioned above. The horse simply brings out the issues, thereby allowing the therapist and client to process them together, regardless of what they are.

    For example, one EAP session that I have been privileged to observe was called "Extended Appendages." During this activity, three clients (usually two parents and a child) work together to saddle a horse. The three people link arms, and each becomes a body part: the middle person is the "brain," the left person is the "left arm" and the right person is the "right arm." The "arms" can only do what the "brain" instructs them to do and are unable to talk, while the "brain" is unable to carry out any actions apart from the "arms." During my experience with this activity, the "left arm" became quite frustrated when the "right arm" did not know how to saddle a horse, the "right arm" was almost in tears because she felt unappreciated and unable to do anything correctly, and the "brain" was having trouble allowing the two "arms" to work through the problem instead of reaching out his two real arms and doing it himself. With an actual family of clients, this activity is a phenomenal way to observe the way the family reacts to many other problems and how well they work together and communicate. In this example, the therapist could point out that the father, as the brain, apparently had some control issues and did not trust the abilities of his wife and daughter. The daughter, acting as the left arm, had considerable horse knowledge before therapy and was quite condescending towards her mother, who had no horse knowledge whatsoever. The therapist could bring this up and investigate whether or not this was a pattern in other areas of life as well. Finally, it is worth noting that the "right arm," the mother, was unable to deal with the negativity from both her husband and daughter, and shut down to an extent. These could be interaction patterns within the family that lead to considerable dysfunction and unhappiness for everyone involved. However, working with a horse could bring them to light and allow them to be dealt with.

    Since EAP appears so similar to other experiential learning methods, such as ropes courses, why bother with the expense of a horse? While this is a valid question, it can be answered quite simply: working with powerful live animals provides direct feedback not available when using inanimate objects. Clients who work with horses can conquer fear and build self-confidence. Horses are also social animals, much like humans, and are experts at nonverbal communication and body language. Clients can learn about the signals they send out by observing how the horse reacts to them. Naturally very sensitive to emotions, horses can many times pick up on issues such as fear or anger that the client would rather hide. Finally, as the example of the "Extended Appendages" shows, because they are social creatures, horses provide insight into group dynamics by responding to the apparent hierarchy among the clients (Refuge Services, 2002).

    An important issue in the EAP field is what qualifies as true equine assisted psychotherapy. For it to be called psychotherapy, there must be a licensed therapist there to work through the issues that the exercise with the horse may bring up (EAGALA, 2002). Just because an observer is providing insights, it does not necessarily qualify as therapy unless the observer is trained and licensed. Also, anytime the worlds of horses and humans meet, there is a potential for injury. This is quite natural considering that the horse is fundamentally a prey animal and humans are historically predators. To watch for safety issues, as well as provide insights into the body language and responses of the horse, an EAP team includes a horse expert in addition to the therapist (EAGALA, 2002). Together, the horse expert and the licensed clinical professional are able to understand the interactions that occur when humans and horses interact during a therapy session. Finally, the EAP team needs to have a solution-oriented focus (Kersten & Thomas, 2002). The philosophy of equine assisted psychotherapy is based on allowing the clients to find their own answers and be themselves, questioning which behaviors are working right then and why. By having this client-centered focus as well as an EAP team with a clinical professional, a horse professional, and a horse, equine assisted psychotherapy may be able to help clients when traditional therapy proves ineffective.

    As equine assisted psychotherapy becomes more popular, it is important for the public to know who has been trained in these skills. In 1999, Greg Kersten and Lynn Thomas founded the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) with the goal of encouraging professionalism, training, and ethics within the field of EAP (Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association website). As the organization has grown since that time, EAGALA has been able to effectively promote EAP across the country, certifying therapists and horse professionals alike in the method of safe and effective EAP. In addition, EAGALA also provides its members with information on the latest occurrences in the field, connections to other EAP teams, and articles on new and innovative techniques (EAGALA website). EAGALA has done a superb job so far in gaining respect for the field of EAP, and is currently working on being recognized by insurance carriers as a legitimate form of therapy. Of most importance, EAGALA provided a code of ethics for the emerging field, insuring safety, high standards, and professionalism within the field (EAGALA, 2002). While equine assisted psychotherapy is still relatively new, it is quickly becoming known as an innovative, safe, and professional alternative to clinical therapy. For more information on equine assisted psychotherapy or the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association, please see the EAGALA website at www.eagala.org.

Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association. (2002). Equine assisted mental health resource handbook [Brochure]. Santaquin, UT: Author.

Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association website. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2002, from http://www.eagala.org

Kersten, G., & Thomas, L. (2002, March). Equine assisted philosophies: Defining our field. Handout used with session presented at the annual meeting of the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association, Columbus, OH.

Refuge Services. (2002). Equine Assisted Psychotherapy [Brochure]. Lubbock, TX: Author.