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Equine Spiritual Outreach
Program - Equine Assisted Healing
Horses are gifted animals and in a therapeutic
situation have proven to be great teachers and instrumental in
promoting positive emotional growth among children.
Connections with a horse such as those offered in our Equine
Assisted Healing sessions is beneficial for individuals with
high emotional needs or simply to reduce stress in one's life.
 What makes a horse so special. First, horses
are consummately honest creatures with strait-forward
personalities, so they do not have the ability to lie. Because
they can sense what people are feeling, it is very difficult for
a child to lie, hide their actions, or manipulate a horse. In a
relationship with a horse a child could experience two very
diverse situations. One is where the horse becomes fearful
around someone who is loud, aggressive, ill-mannered, deceitful,
or controlling. The other is where the horse responds
cooperatively to the child because it feels safe and peaceful. The child figures out through actions what works for the horse,
what makes the horse respond as a partner.
Another
gift is a horse’s calming effect on people, especially those
suffering from grief, trauma, interpersonal issues, or
psychological difficulties. Relationships burdened with highly
charged emotional environments are such a contrast to a child’s
rapport with a horse that communicates mainly through body
language. The horse/child experience is all about establishing
contact, connecting to each other and influencing each other
without domination or abuse, emotional baggage, worry or fear.
Because a horse doesn’t lie and never judges, the child is
involved in a reciprocal interaction with another living being
that is purely wholesome and honest.
 Carla
has worked with children from Child and Family Services and seen
first hand that a connection with horses can help a child heal. She says of equine
assisted healing:
“Horses are great teachers for
children. One cannot lie to a
horse; they can sense what you are feeling, whether it is fear,
mistrust or love. Horses do not judge us so I find they can
break down walls that people generally cannot penetrate.
It is truly amazing how quickly we see good outcomes for
children from guided interaction between children and horses."
"Given the gentle patient
nature of our horses, and their training combined with my
experience working with children with higher needs, Rene and I
want to help more children. We are fortunate to be able to
have the resources and location to provide this
opportunity for equine assisted healing to the private sector.”
 Horses have the added benefit of being very
social creatures, with a strict hierarchy and societal rules
that are very similar to human communities.
In
equine assisted healing children learn about themselves, other people and
the world. A curative environment not consisting of four
walls and an office, but a corral or field is effective from the
get-go. The natural setting is less confining and does not give
the child the feeling of being so scrutinized.
 The child does not need to have any experience
with horses, and we are not teaching the child to ride or train
a horse and we certainly are not providing a training
environment for the child. Simply our role is
to help the child learn the right way to deal with a horse. A
horse is good as a therapeutic tool because the horse seeks
simple clear commands. The child that learns how to deal with a
horse in the right way becomes the natural leader the horse
wants. To the horse and the child this is an equal
relationship, rather than one based on control.
Imagine a child who is having difficulty
connecting with other people, unable to communicate
feelings, unable to concentrate or control emotions, the
level of frustration evident in every gesture. The child
is fragile. Now imagine that same child partnered with a 1200
pound animal, walking side by side around a coral or a pasture,
being the leader in the coral, having the horse respond to this leadership
role, the child’s focus on
the horse, the horses focus on pleasing the child, returning
affections, their mutual respect, the hand extended, the horse eating
from this little
hand, the child being able to stoke the horses strong muscles.
  Startling
contrast isn't it? Understanding two things, first
that horses are different and more gentle around children and
second that the horse is honest, straight forward and does not
judge, we can see profound things happen when the child accepts
this relationship at face value. The child’s focus becomes
the horse and their mutual relationship. There is no space
or time in the relationship to be fixated on past or negative
events and the horse accepts the child with absolute honesty and
no manipulation which helps break the cycle of emotional pain
the child may have endured in previous relationships.
Horses allow us to connect with a
living being, one that is not destined to hurt us emotionally
because, no matter what the circumstances, they will not reject
us. Horses are loving thinking beings who don't judge and
accept us unconditionally. Therefore, dealing with
a horse gives a child a really positive non-judgemental experience.
Emotional healing is about peeling
back the layers of the past, breaking the cycle of pain and
suffering, identifying what triggers negative feelings and
behaviours and building a set of skills to handle such emotions
in a positive way. Horse have similar emotions to people
(when a horse loses a foal or a parent it becomes stressed and
sad just like we can be) and horses can exhibit behaviours
similar to people, too, especially if treated poorly.
Otherwise a horse is calm, patient, and responsive. When a child
with high emotional needs connects with a horse, a living
breathing powerful being and received its unconditional love
this affirmative relationship lessens or removes the child's
fear of being emotionally vulnerable.
We've mainly been talking about
the emotional needs of children. However, the benefits of
our program extend to more diverse groups.
Adults can learn how to cope with
stress due to their jobs, relationships, etc,
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Learn helpful
ways to keep your cool,
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Learn
techniques to help you to work under pressure,
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Learn ways to
build better relationships,
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Reduce worry
anxiety and guilt
Anyone can learn how to deal
with the negatives that pop in and out of our lives.
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Find your
inner strength and become more self-assure
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Learn to
become a better listener
- Develop skills to help
deal with conflict
- Expand your awareness,
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Develop
emotional control
Equine programs can help with Team
Building Exercises. Working with horses helps individuals
to learn about leadership, loyalty, trust and focus. People are fluid and never stop
changing and growing. The tools obtained in our program
are useful through the fluid change and what one can learn to
rely on in really tough times. This is especially helpful
when people need to work together, rely on each other, work within
deadlines, and deal with diverse personalities and human
characteristics.
At Fayebrook our training
techniques are a counterpart to Our Equine Assisted Healing
programs. Our horses thrive, the people they connect with
benefit immeasurably from such a really uplifting, receptive,
and positive experience.
Inquiries about
Equine
Assisted Healing and our Equine
Spiritual Outreach
Program
and Team Building Exercises
should be directed to Carla.
Phone: 780-373-2330
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