Why Horses?

Why Horses?

Horses are beautiful, intelligent, sensitive and strong animals. Horses live in the present moment, in awareness and with pure authenticity. They also model embodiment and connection to their unique selves. These capacities are profoundly important for human health and wellbeing. 

Working alongside horses in a therapeutic or educational space can offer clients safe, authentic and non-judgemental relationships, which can be harder to come by or to trust in our human to human relating.  Horses can offer co-regulation for clients, where the horse's calm and settled nervous system impacts the client on a biological level in the way a parent or caregiver's might in early life. Experiencing co-regulation many times is a key component in the development of a person's self regulation capacities - a crucial aspect of lifelong mental health and wellbeing. 

Horses who are healthy seek closeness with people can open up a client’s capacity, yearning and want for closeness, affection and connection. This emotional safety and trust engage the client’s brain-body responses and offers the potential for new body and mind memories of safety and relationship to grow and for new neural pathways to form. This safe space created between the horse-client and practitioner then offers a real-time opportunity to experience support in a way many have never before experienced. 

In Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, we utilise the principles of non-judgment, patience, trust, a beginner's mind (not knowing), non-striving, acceptance and letting be  to cultivate conditions for wellbeing. Horses epitomise these qualities and sitting in presence alongside horses can magnify the impacts of this practice.  

This approach to mindfulness, wellbeing and therapy all have the capacity to unlock new layers of healing and wellness for clients, in a way traditional settings or approaches may not.