Healing with Horses with our unique Equine Therapy Wellness through Horsemanship Program
Our unique programs offer you the opportunity to connect and work with horses to become more aware of yourself and the impact you have upon others in relationship. Horses value and respond to authentic connections, so we are encouraged to feel safe and embrace all of who we are in their presence. Horses are naturally grounded, aware, and connected; being around them encourages us to be the same. They value trusting relationships with their herd, which can include the people around them. They are exceptionally perceptive of people’s feelings and use that information in order to decide how to behave.
Horses provide space for us to be in line with our true natures and allow us to try new things without incurring judgment. They offer unbiased, effective, and immediate feedback to us in response to our behaviours and our choices.
Horses are experts at reading body language and perceiving human emotions and, therefore, respond to each of us as unique individuals. This special relationship provides an opportune setting for people to learn more about themselves and their patterns in the relationships they form.
The gentle, nonverbal character of horses means that working with them is experiential, creative, and necessarily genuine.
We can support you with
Assertiveness
Confidence
Developing and maintaining relationships
Emotional awareness
Empathy
Impulse control
Problem-solving skills
Social skills
Trust in others
Trust in self
Why our horses?
Non judgmental and unbiased. Our herd only react to a client’s behaviour and emotions with no threat of bias or any judgment of their emotional experience.
Feedback and mirroring. Horses are keen observers and are vigilant and sensitive to movement and emotion. They mirror a client’s behaviour or emotions, conveying understanding and connection that allows the client to feel safe. This also allows for clients to maintain a sense of self-awareness, using the horse’s behaviour and interactions for feedback and opportunities to check in and process what is happening in the moment.
Managing vulnerability. As processing can be painful, aligning these with the horse’s experience in the moment allows for things to be easier to approach and process through.
Staying present. Many people who struggle with anxiety find themselves stuck in worry about their past and fear about their future. Our herd create the opportunity for clients to stay present and focused on the task at hand. Since our horses are vigilant and sensitive to behaviour and emotions, they can sense danger and respond with a heightened awareness, which typically leads to a change in their behaviour. We teach clients to read these and respond to this.
Bonding. Following trauma it is often thought by clients that they won’t be able to bond with someone again and feel that personal connection. But with their horse, they feel that connection. They are then able to take that into the rest of their lives and into their relationships.
Focus. Presence, attention, mindfulness, boundaries, social cues and much more.
Other potential benefits
Adaptability
Distress tolerance
Emotional awareness
Independence
Impulse control
Self-esteem
Social awareness
Social relationships