Equine Assisted Therapy

This week we are going to continue to look at Equine Assisted Therapies! Branch Out Learning & Behaviour Therapy is creative therapy program, right here in Cranbrook that supports children. They offer behaviour consultations, with strategies and assessments, as well as parent coaching. 

I was fortunate enough to have a conversation with a Mental Health Professional, who is from Cranbrook, but currently practicing in Kelowna BC. “It is a unique modality of therapy and I think that horses have so much to teach us”. This practitioner does not personally offer equine-assisted therapy, but was lucky enough to get an introduction to it, and has shared online that “Equine Assisted Therapy has really grown in popularity in recent years (for good reason), as it is an evidence based practice that is able to work with varying mental health challenges (coping with, trauma, anxiety, self-esteem etc.)”. 

See the video below explaining Equine Therapy: in this video, equine assisted therapy is explained, and someone without a horse background is taken through some steps of equine assisted therapy!

Azmaira H. Maker, Ph.D., stated in her article Equine Assisted Therapy: A Unique and Effective Intervention: “Equine Assisted Therapy can be a powerful and magical way to assist our children and adolescents in multiple social, emotional, physical, cognitive, and behavioral domains. Equine Assisted Therapy is being recognized as a more integral part of psychotherapy and mental health and can serve as a unique and effective intervention that should be considered as a resource by parents and professionals.”. 

Although I have never been a part of an actual, structured equine assisted therapy program, horses have helped me tremendously throughout my life, and can think of countless people who I know would say the same. This summer, I was lucky enough to attend Heart of the Horse, an event that Niki Flundra puts on. On their website, Niki shared her vision for the event: “My dream for Heart of the Horse is to showcase the remarkable ability and unlimited magnitude of both horse and trainer.   I want the world to see how inspiring and how positive an impact horses can make on us. They have the innate ability to show us our honest and true selves and have such a way of teaching us, helping us and healing us… I want to share all the ways they make us better and help spread knowledge from those who have mastered  a higher and deeper level of horsemanship . I want to inspire connection so that we can all further our own  journey as  students of the horse.” – Niki Flundra

This year, they had many amazing guest speakers, who spoke about how horses have helped them throughout their lives. The speaker that resonated with me the most was Lacy Rowan, who shared how horses helped her immensely through her battle with cancer. Check out this Instagram video!

Equine Assisted Therapy Activities

Activity 7 was reflective journaling. Rather than typing my feelings I have attached a photo below on my journal entries. 

Activity 8 was a focus on trust building. This activity was done by blindfolding myself and following my horses movements as they were led by my sister. Even though I am very comfortable with horses, this activity was challenging for me. I chose to do this activity with my younger horse, as I do not have as strong of a trust with her as I do with my other horses. This activity was uncomfortable for me to start with, however, by the end of it I was really enjoying myself and felt as though I had a deeper trust in my horse, and more bodily awareness. 

Activity 9 was mindfulness and mediation. The workbook says to guide clients through a mindfulness practice in the presence of a horse, so I just listened to the following video of mindfulness meditation, while sitting with my back leaned up against my horse laying down.

Prior to doing this activity I was feeling quite stressed and had a lot on my mind. Throughout the practice, my mind kept wandering, but I was able to bring myself back because of the guided video. Overall, this was a great activity, and left me feeling much better afterwards. My horse stayed nice and calm throughout it, and I was so close to her that I was able to feel her inhaling and exhaling, which was very cool!

Next week we get to take a deep dive into the topic that I am most excited for – Therapeutic riding!