Interacting with horses can produce profound healing for people with mental and emotional wounds. Two innate equine traits, hyper-vigilance and herd-based social skills, are the basis of the horse’s power to heal a past emotional trauma or damaged feelings of self-worth.
Hyper-vigilance ~ This equine survival skill is often acquired by a person who has grown up in an alcoholic or abusive family. In equine therapy a bond can grow between a hyper-vigilant horse and a fearful hyper-vigilant victim of emotional trauma. In the presence of a horse, an abuse victim can feel safety, acceptance, and compassion, perhaps for the first time.
Herd-Based Social Skills ~ To promote harmony in the herd, horses are accepting, respectful, honest, fair, and forgiving. Horses do not judge, but they accurately read and mirror our behavior, attitudes, and feelings, including our subtle intentions. This mirroring is seen by how the horse responds.
Equine therapy is the fastest, most accurate way to discover who you are and what you present to the world. It opens the door to change.