5 Benefits of Equine Assisted Therapy

Equine therapy is a healing process. This therapy includes horses that help promote psychological and physical growth. Individuals suffering from mental illness, post-traumatic stress syndrome, those recovering from drugs and alcohol addiction, depression, and various other health issues benefit greatly from this type of therapy.

Equine therapy teaches a person to be responsible, compassionate and caring towards all life forms. It involves daily activities such as feeding, grooming, haltering and leading a horse.

Benefits of Equine Therapy

Equine therapy is offered to individuals to analyze their behavior, thoughts, and emotions. The main goal of the therapy is to develop necessary skills such as self-confidence, accountability, and care for others, etc. These skills are imperative for an individual to maintain and enjoy sobriety. Here’s how people can benefit from Equine therapy:

1. Physical exercise

Working with a horse can make an individual physically fit. Riding a horse can give them strength, balance, and muscle control.

2. Learning to cope with feelings

Equine therapy is the best way to get in touch with your feelings. A person can learn to address their issues calmly instead of getting hyper, which often leads to situations like blaming others, rejection or internalization of the problem. When you work with a horse you’re forming a bond.

3. Setting Boundaries

Dominating or controlling a horse is not an easy task. Horses can clearly indicate their discomfort when someone tries to invade their personal space. From this experience, an individual can learn about boundaries i.e., how to set their limits with others.

4. Healthy relationships

Horses form a unique bond and relationship with the people who care for them. This type of relationship can help individuals rebuild their confidence after struggling with the negative consequences of addiction. This can help them in making their personal relationships stronger. Horses have the tendency of adapting their handler’s demeanor and character, thus if you show a horse you can be gentle and caring, they will reciprocate the same behavior. Forming this unique bond with a horse will teach you about forming similar bonds with people.

5. Socialization skills

Addicts face issues when trying to socialize with other people. Horses communicate emotionally. A horse’s reaction to a human action can help an individual learn how to socialize with people and open up to them emotionally.

An individual recovering from drugs and alcohol addiction can attain other benefits from equine therapy, such as:

• Building interpersonal relationships
• Social responsibility
• Gaining a positive attitude towards life
• Self-regard
• Flexibility and patience
• Problem-solving skills

So choose equine therapy to heal your emotional and physical self. It is extremely beneficial for recovering addicts or individuals who are looking for different treatment options or therapies to complement their addiction treatment.