Motivation and emotion/Book/2023/Equine therapy and emotion

Equine Therapy and Emotion:

How does human interaction with horses, impact emotion? How can this be used in therapy?

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Overview

Figure 1. Czekajlo. Retired standardbred 'Red' interacting with a participant in an Equine Assisted Learning exercise.

The social herd, prey nature and ensuing heightened sensitivity to reading energy and subtle changes in their environment, enable horses to co-facilitate teaching a wide range of life and coping skills. Due to their sensitivity, horses react and respond to people differently based upon the person’s current, and ever-changing,  emotional state. The horse supplies biofeedback, providing the clients and the therapeutic team or coach with information regarding the clients’ mood, somatic experience and changes within those moods/experiences  This provides an opportunity for learning and skill building. https://rdansw.org.au/programs/rda-nsw-connections/

Suggestions for this section: Engage the reader with a scenario, example, or case study, and an accompanying image Explain the problem and why it is important Outline how psychological science can help Present focus questions

What is Equine Therapy? What is Emotion? How do horses and humans express emotion? How can this be used in therapy?

Animals and Therapy - History

• Summarise (briefly) the history of using animals as human companions and in human therapy. Link to Wiki page. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal-assisted_therapy Motivation and emotion/Book/2011/Animals and emotion Motivation and emotion/Textbook/Motivation and emotion/Animals
• Illustrate with two examples (Canine Assistance Animals and Riding for the Disabled Link Pegasus RDA and Guide dogs). https://pegasusact.com.au/ https://guidedogs.com.au/

Equine Therapy - Why horses?

What makes equines appropriate for human therapy?

Give a brief history of horses as human ‘partners’.

Equine Social Order and Herd Behaviour

• Explain horses as a herd animal with a social order. Link to Pat Parelli and Buck Brannaman clips. EAL Greg Kirsten & Sheez Like the Wind

Equine Communication

• Explain how horses communicate their emotions with each other? Link to interviews with horse owners on YouTube. (Evidenced in herd behaviour - non-verbal communication cues i.e. affect, and response to natural instinct). Link to videos of home herd..

The horse as a prey animal

• Highlight that horses are a prey animal with an automotive flight response. Link to videos of examples from home herd.

Emotion - Universality (Horses and Humans)

Eckman's Six Basic Emotions

• Explain the universality of happiness, sadness, fear, disgust, anger and surprise as expressions.
• Illustrate humans expressing the six emotions (Link to photos)
• Illustrate horses expressing the six emotions. (Link to photos and videos of untouched brumbies in home herd exhibiting Eckman’s six basic emotions – in their natural state).

Experiencing Emotion - psychological and neurobiological processes

• In horses
• In humans

Equine Human Experiential Learning Therapy

How do horses communicate their emotions with humans?

• Answers in link to questionnaire results from (horse trainers, riders and enthusiast)
• Link to YouTube video of home herd and Case Study: Lexi and Rex (Feature Box)

Interview Questions

1. What types of therapy are horses used for? How? Why? (examples: Gestalt Therapy, DBT, CBT and Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation).
2. What impact can this have on human emotion?

• Link to Bronwyn's interview with https://www.racinghearts.com.au/ on YouTube
• Link to Bronwyn's interview with Remount https://remount.org.au/ on YouTube
• Link to Bronwyn's interview with EAT Australia https://equineassistedtherapyaustralia.com.au/ on YouTube
• Link to Bronwyn's interview with practitioners and clients of Tumut RDA - Equine-facilitated psychotherapy (EFP) and equine-facilitated learning (EFL) https://rdansw.org.au/programs/rda-nsw-connections/ on YouTube

Link to YouTube video of home herd and Case Study: Lexi and Rex (Feature Box) and Amelia and Honor - Kosciusko Brumbies.

Conclusion

Suggestions for this section: Present in alphabetical order Use sentence casing Include the source in parentheses

References

Adams, C., et al. (2015). The Helping Horse: How Equine Assisted Learning Contributes to the Wellbeing of First Nations Youth in Treatment for Volatile Substance Misuse. Hum Anim Interact Bull 1, 52-75. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26793794/

Bachi, K., J. Terkel, M. Teichman (2012). Equine-facilitated psychotherapy for at-risk adolescents: the influence on self-image, self-control and trust. Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry 17, 298-312 doi:10.1177/1359104511404177. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21757481/

Coetzee, N., Boyce, S., & Masenge, A. (2022). The Role of the Eagala Model in Promoting Psychological Wellbeing in Adolescents: A Mixed-Methods Approach. Society & Animals, 1-23. doi:https://doi.org/10.1163/15685306-bja10092 https://brill.com/view/journals/soan/aop/article-10.1163-15685306-bja10092/article-10.1163-15685306-bja10092.xml

Earles, J. L., L. L. Vernon, J. P. Yetz (2015). Equine-assisted therapy for anxiety and posttraumatic stress symptoms. J Trauma Stress 28, 149-52 doi:10.1002/jts.21990. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25782709/, F., E. Walderhaug, A. Kern-Godal, J. Lysell, E. A. Arnevik (2020). Complementary horse-assisted therapy for substance use disorders: a randomized controlled trial. Addict Sci Clin Pract 15, 7 doi:10.1186/s13722-020-0183-z. https://ascpjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13722-020-0183-z

Mueller, M. K., L. McCullough (2017). Effects of Equine-Facilitated Psychotherapy on Post-Traumatic Stress Symptoms in Youth. Journal of child and family studies 26, 1164-1172 doi:10.1007/s10826-016-0648-6. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10826-016-0648-6

Tsantefski, M., L. Briggs, J. Griffiths, A. Tidyman (2017). An open trial of equine-assisted therapy for children exposed to problematic parental substance use. Health Soc Care Community 25, 1247-1256 doi:10.1111/hsc.12427. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28147452/