Equine therapy field growing as more people see horses' benefits

Horses are helping people with mental health issues, dementia and terminal illness, and more are being referred for therapy by health professionals

THE equine-assisted therapy field is continuing to grow as more people see the benefits horses can offer.

Dementia, mental health and terminal illness are some areas in which equine-assisted therapy is proving beneficial, and providers are reporting an increase in patients referred by social prescribing (when health professionals refer patients to community support).

The Way of the Horse, founded by Dina Shale, treats children and adults for conditions such as stress, anxiety and trauma – including those who come to her via social prescribing. The business also offers training courses on delivering equine therapy.

“We’re seeing the industry grow, especially with people who are not horsey. Most of the people that come to us have never been around horses but they are looking for an answer and we have the solution,” Ms Shale told H&H.

“Our programmes are ‘trauma-informed’, so it’s teaching people to develop and understand their bodies. We use horses to demonstrate the fight and flight mechanism and we help people to understand what stress is and how it manifests in the body.

"Our bodies do the same sort of thing as horses' do when they are scared of things; when we feel fear, we respond either by going into fight or flight.

When you understand the basics of the science behind what is happening in your body when you feel anxious or stressed, you have a chance to calm that nervous system and the tools to regulate it."

Grace Olson of Heaven Stone Healing provides equine-assisted therapy to people with terminal illnesses, and has had clients referred via social prescribing. She told H&H the equine-assisted therapy industry is "talked about more".