The advent of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) and Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) in the past decade has birthed a quiet revolution. The growing credibility and value of therapeutic work done with horses has opened new possibilities for the therapeutic community and the people they serve. EAGALA is the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association. The association’s been going for 10 years in the USA with great success, but it’s still only a fairly recent arrival here. Trainers from the States will be arriving at the beginning of April to boost our number of practitioners.
An EAGALA session involves a horse and two therapists, one an equine specialist and the other a trained counsellor. It’s not about teaching riding or horse care skills and the person doesn’t need any previous experience of horses. The client does not actually ride the horse - they simply share the same space. EAL is where a person can learn about themselves, other people and interacting with the world. The result is a cutting edge model designed to facilitate insight, relational health and positive change. EAL is an accredited form of therapy appropriate for individuals, couples and groups. This modality can stand on its own as a form of treatment or can be a powerful adjunct in collaboration with other therapies.
It’s been clinically proven that just being in the vicinity of horses changes our brainwave patterns. They have a calming effect which helps stop people becoming fixated on past or negative events – giving the client a really positive experience. EAL is an experiential and short-term approach for real and lasting change. It is a unique opportunity that goes beyond the traditional to restore balance in people’s lives while teaching problem solving, leadership, clear communication, goal setting, and social skills.
The process begins by interacting with the horses, then identifying and reflecting with the therapists on what has transpired. Participants learn new strategies to achieve goals outside the arena. Talking is minimal as the horse provides critical feedback that no human can offer. Like humans, horses each have their own distinctive personality. Horses intuit our emotional states and respond accordingly, and therefore we learn the most valuable of lessons: by changing ourselves the world around us can change. Horses are finely tuned observers of even the subtlest behaviours. Instinctively, as prey animals, their survival depends on their ability to sense any underlying emotional current in their environment. Thus, they are experts in mirroring back what humans project through emotions and behaviours. We invite the client to explore their interactions with the horses, and the metaphors that inevitably emerge, to bring about insight and change.
A client who was a boundary pusher at home with his parents tried to push the limits of being understanding with the horse on a given task and, of course, could not achieve the required outcome. The lesson was learned. Bringing things back a bit and delivering what the horse expects of you in a certain timeframe means they respect you, understand your needs and will oblige happily. It is a lesson that is easily translated into human interaction. The “stubborn, antagonistic” horse might just change their behaviour miraculously when the human interaction with them changes their own behaviour first.
People don’t change unless they are challenged and encouraged to practise new behaviours outside their comfort zone. The most lasting changes occur when people discover their own answers to questions. We know the most effective and long lasting personal growth occurs through active participation. With EAL, interaction with the horses and processsing with the therapist and equine specialist help lead people to that place. Clients can practice new behaviours in a safe, therapeutic environment and learn that in changing themselves, they do have the power to change the world around them.
As a counsellor on a YOUTube clip from EAGALA noted, copious counselling sessions talking about one’s dysfunctional behaviours, and the fallout thereof, to the people around you, can be so successfully brought to life by the non-verbal communication of a horse in a few short sessions. Plus, there is an “out of your comfort zone” factor in being in a space with a large animal instead of in a comfy chair in a counsellor’s room. The experience is an in-your-face incentive to participate actively in your own therapy.
Jenny Gibbons
www.horsesense.org.nz