Equine therapy harnesses the healing power of horses

CrossCurrents

 

Karen Shenfeld

In his treatise On Horsemanship, the ancient Greek historian and soldier Xenophon noted that “horses greatly appreciate” certain “courtesies.” Xenophon, who lived from 430 to 355 B.C., is often cited as the original “horse whisperer.” His prescribed methods for caring, grooming, mounting and training horses for the battlefield and parade ground remain distinguished by their reliance upon gentleness in lieu of the whip and goad.

It has been recognized for more than two millennia that how humans treat horses influences the animals’ behaviour; now researchers are beginning to gather evidence that contact with horses can positively affect humans. “Horses have an intuitive nature and an incredible capacity to mirror who we are,” says professional horsewoman Melanie Gray. “They can help us to change how we react and respond to others.”

Gray founded the Partners in Process Equine Learning Centre (PPELC), a registered non-profit organization situated at Melody Acres, near Owen Sound, Ontario. In August 2008, the Department of Justice granted the organization $250,000 to run a three-year pilot project, “Connecting Youth in the Justice System with Equine Assisted Illicit Drug Addiction Therapy.”

At the heart of the project is an innovative equine-assisted psychotherapy (EAP) treatment program, aimed at youth 17 and under who have come into conflict with the law because of their substance use. All participants have been referred to the program through the courts, says youth and family counsellor Mark Pratt, who is on staff at the PPELC and works in tandem with Gray.

EAP programs are most often jointly facilitated by a licensed mental health pro­fessional and an equine professional, according to the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA). The accrediting organization describes EAP as a brief, experiential therapy in which participants learn about themselves and others by participating in activities with horses, and then processing feelings, behaviors and patterns. The focus of EAL is not riding or horsemanship, but on-the-ground activities.

In the pilot program with substance-using youth, Gray and Pratt work together with individual youth once a week, for 12 weeks. Each session lasts between one and one and a half hours and takes place in an indoor riding arena. “In the first session, we place the youth in the arena with two or three horses,” says Gray, “We ask the youth to just observe them. One horse may be standing quietly, and another may be running and bucking. After a while, we ask the youth to choose which horse most represents them and why.”

It’s a revealing process, says Pratt: “They immediately pick a horse and begin talking about their lives, sharing what is going on in their families or what is happening at school. Most of these youth have shut down emotionally as a means of survival. It’s amazing how quickly contact with the horses enables them to open up and get in touch with their feelings.”

Follow-up sessions involve more elaborate activities, designed to help youth build self-esteem, develop trust in others and change their behaviours. “In one of the later sessions, I set out coloured pails around the arena, filled with hay and oats,” Gray explains. “I then ask the youth to label the pails with the names of the different substances they have been using, and then to keep the horses away from the pails – not an easy task.”

At each session, Pratt sets up a flip chart in one corner of the arena and sits the youth down to discuss and reinforce what they have learned while interacting with the horses. As a counsellor, Pratt uses a wide range of techniques garnered from cognitive-behaviour therapy, solution-focused therapy, strategic family therapy and even Jungian therapy. But Pratt is quick to give credit to the horses for the program’s success. “Many of these kids are wounded and lonely. You can watch them develop a real bond with the animals.”

It’s this unique connection and the promise it holds that lies behind other forms of equine therapy. “EAP is only one of several equine-assisted interventions currently being harnessed by mental health professionals,” says Darlene Chalmers, a social worker on staff at the University of Regina’s Faculty of Social Work. “Equine-assisted learning (EAL), for example, also involves on-the-ground activities with horses to facilitate experiential learning, self-awareness, growth, healing and personal transformation, but unlike EAP, this type of program does not involve a licensed psychotherapist.”

In a recent study exploring the benefits of EAL published in Pimatisiwin, a Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health, Chalmers and her co-authors describe an EAL pilot project that has received federal funding under the National Anti-Drug Strategy to work with First Nations female youth at the residential White Buffalo Youth Inhalant Treatment Centre near Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.

“The EAL project is part of our six-month residential treatment program for First Nations girls between 12 and 17 who are addicted to inhaling volatile solvents,” says executive director Ernie Sauve. The program takes on 10 girls, referred from communities across Canada.

“Our curriculum uses different modalities and is founded upon a First Nations culture-based model of resiliency, as well as a Western health promotion approach,” says Sauve. Holistic in design, the program aims to nurture and renew the “inner spirit,” the “motivator and animator of one’s life,” and to reconnect youth to their kin, community and culture. White Buffalo’s EAL program fits in especially well with the centre’s culture-based treatment curriculum. “In Western Cree and other First Nations cultures, the horse is revered as part of the circle of creation,” says Sauve. “It possesses an intrinsic spiritual value.”

White Buffalo’s EAL program is delivered at the nearby Cartier Equine Learning Center (CELC), a private vocational school certified by the Government of Saskatchewan and the Saskatchewan Horse Federation. The girls are brought to the CELC twice a week to participate in horse-focused, on-the-ground exercises. “Each exercise has been devised to teach a particular life skill, such as the ability to trust, articulate ideas, listen actively, or act with appropriate assertiveness,” says Tamara MacKinnon, CELC’s program director.

The girls work in teams when interacting with the horses. In one exercise, two girls are challenged to lead a horse through an obstacle course. The girls are positioned on either side of the animal, and each girl holds a lead rope, one of which is much shorter than the other. They are not allowed to step over set boundary lines, and they must also keep both ropes off the ground.

“Many of the girls referred to the White Buffalo Centre have never been exposed to horses,” Sauve says. “Interacting with this new life form revitalizes their sense of connectivity to the natural world.” Many are initially fearful of the animal, but in overcoming this fear, they develop self-confidence and the ability to trust others. As part of their pilot project, White Buffalo and the CELC have joined forces with a diverse team of researchers to gather data to demonstrate, according to accepted scientific standards, that EAL programs are effective.

Sauve is confident in the healing power of horses: “By 2050, First Nations peoples will number 50 per cent of the population of Saskatchewan. Our programs at the White Buffalo Centre are part of an urgent proactive social investment in the health of our future.”

 

 

• Print
  Share |