Equine-facilitated trauma work helps clients explore their feelings and work through communication challenges. This is an outlet that includes activities in an equine environment that promotes emotional growth in persons suffering from ADD, anxiety, depression, trauma, substance abuse and so much more.

 “On the ground” therapy is used which incorporates a connection between troubled humans and highly sensitive animals. As prey animals, horses are hyper vigilant, constantly scanning their environment for potential danger. People who have experienced trauma can really relate to that.

Often, the horses approach the clients to introduce themselves. Over the many years that I have been doing this work, it never fails that the horse who picks the human (or vice versa) has a similar story or disposition as the one they choose. Each person is paired with a horse that shares some common experience or way of approaching the world. It is pretty amazing.

By allowing the horses into their space, the clients established a bond that could not be replicated by another human. All of the horses we use have their own trauma and some have a lot of difficulty trusting humans. So, for them to initiate contact is a pretty big deal.

Working in this partnership allows one to become more confident in their ability to read situations and perceived threats, in their ability to regulate the flight/ fight response and most importantly learn how to recreate safe boundaries!