While equine therapy has been employed as a more inviting modality for those who are otherwise treatment resistant, can it really be a replacement for traditional talk therapy?

Certainly, with substance abuse cases, and with adolescents, practitioners have often relied on the addition of horses to elicit responses that would otherwise not be possible in human encounters. Horses are much less threatening than people, and simply being in their presence can result in a physiological calm, that can then pave the way to effective communication with a therapist.

But is equine therapy enough to tackle some of the weighty therapeutic issues people face, or is talking things through with a licensed professional necessary?

Avid equine enthusiasts have long attested to the healing power of horses, and swore by their time with them, yet these people are also familiar with horses, and more than likely not entirely mystified by their responses.

In almost an instant, when a loved horse behaves in particular way, his owner will adjust her behavior accordingly, thereby providing the response that the horse is searching for. As an example, a typically bold horse may suddenly become quite tentative, and require more strength and leadership from his rider. should the rider not respond with this, the situation would escalate, and perhaps become dangerous. And while this scenario involves some understanding for those not accustomed to horses, it happens in a matter of seconds.

Yet let’s consider that the person is not familiar with horses, and while not on the horse’s back, is faced with his novel responses. Would instinct take over, as it does for experienced equestrians, and cause the person to react in a way that both provides the horse the resolution he is looking for and illuminates therapeutic issues?

Well considering that horses respond almost exclusively to what is happening with people on an unconscious level, their behavior would indicate therapeutic underpinnings that might otherwise be missed by people. Even seasoned therapists can agree that they have all, at one time or another, been duped by a client. Sure the client may say “everything is fine,” only for the therapist to find out later that just under the surface, a volcano was brimming. In this case, increased questioning and interface with the therapist will often inflame the client’s defenses and obfuscate the truth even further.

But to a horse, the truth — housed in the client’s physiology — is never hidden, and therefore what is occurring with her on an unconscious level is as clear as day. And this is exactly what the horses responds to, and continues to, until the client acts in accordance with her physiology. Essentially, if she is feeling angry — even if she is not aware that she is — she should act that way. For to a horse, no amount of talking will replace what needs to be addressed physiologically. And for our equine partners, that is the therapeutic issue.

Photo by Librarian Avengers, available under a Creative Commons attribution license.

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From Psych Central's website:
PsychCentral (March 1, 2011)

Mental Health Social (March 1, 2011)

Dr. Michael Zelman (March 1, 2011)

    Last reviewed: 1 Mar 2011