In the moment with horses

I was so pleased to read Roberta Caiazza's 'personal journey through equine therapy', in the December issue.

I am a consultant counselling psychologist and an equine therapist, and I wrote my doctoral thesis on why equine therapy works so well. I was able to use these theories in my NHS practice, where I won a research grant to use them with my clients. The success of this therapy has not been noted nearly enough in our field. I appreciate the importance of testing out and working with theoretical models of therapy, for NICE guidelines etc… but every once in a while it's so important to put our heads above the parapet and try something new.

Without meaning-making and alliance with our clients, we are nothing and therapy becomes a futile attempt. In equine therapy, the horse is the therapist, and I have countless examples of horses engaging extraordinarily well with clients. Even where clients are terrified of horses, this too can be brought into the therapeutic space to be explored. Equines are gentle giants, curious about us but also needing to make meaning from their perspective, continually assessing whether someone is a threat to them. They do not judge, they are simply in the moment, reading our energy and continually assessing but also with a desire to 'be with us'.

I have worked with incredibly challenging and difficult-to-reach clients who have had many years of unsuccessful therapy, being sent from one service to another with little or no success. Equine therapy has allowed clients to be with horses in a non-threatening space: no need to act out, just to be with. To help empower the disempowered by given them an alternative voice. To explore the pureness of this relationship and how the growth and healing of clients is central to the process.

The creativity and meaning that comes from working with an equine is a truly innocent space where we can be vulnerable but also at one with a sentient being. Surely this is and should be at the heart of what we do as therapists and psychologists?

Dr Julie Scheiner 
CPsychol., CSci., AFBPS