Equestrian Psychotherapy

Yesterday my unit and I visited Legends Equestrian Psychotherapy in Bergheim, TX. I set this up for our unit meeting as I have always been very interested in how horses relate to children with mental health issues. It was pretty amazing to see how the horse even responded to me, who is somewhat sane. :) I got to ride Cesar, the 1800 lb Belgium horse. He was the biggest one out there. We started off by being introduced and grooming him in order to build some kind of bond. The instructor said if I was angry or unstable at any point during this exercise, Cesar would have moved away from me and would not have allowed me to groom him. Then I was able to get on him. Any time I would collapse my stomach or stop breathing Cesar would stop walking as this to him is a sign of me being "unstable" or not comfortable or scared. Horses or should I say animals, are extremely in tune with humans' emotions and energy so even the slightest movement they will feel and interpret it the way we are thinking about it in our heads. So in this kind of therapy, Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy (EFP), the therapist is able to see the child and their emotions directly through the horse. The horse mirrors the child's or person's emotions both conscious and unconscious allowing the therapist access to unspoken information and the child's emotions are then unveiled. The horse is the direct connection between the child and the therapist. This kind of therapy is very successful in treating children with ADHD, PTSD, anger issues, autistic children, children with personality and children with conduct disorders. This was such a neat opportunity to see first hand. Below are some pictures of me riding Cesar.