Equine Assisted Therapy: Mental Health Issues

Equine Assisted Therapy (EAT) is a great way to help people with mental health issues. It can help improve their communication skills, confidence, self-control, and many more things. Kids and Adults can participate in EAT depending on their disability. Equine Assisted Therapy can help many people become more comfortable and confident in their own skin. Equine Assisted Therapy has been around for a very long time. It was first recorded in ancient Greek literature when they used the horses for therapeutic riding purposes. It was first introduced to the United States in 1960. Other animals such as dogs and elephants are also used for therapeutic reasons but, horses are the most popular. They give faster feedback about the patient that they are …show more content…
On one day they might just wash the horse, on another they may lead the horse to a certain spot, and then further along with progress, the patient may even ride the horse. Engaging with these animals can help many different mental health issues. Most of the time when participating in EAT for mental health issues, you are going to stay on the ground and interact with the horse. This is where the most beneficial interpersonal skills come from. By learning to trust the horse and engage in taking care of it or putting a halter on it teaches communication skills. It teaches the handler how to ask questions when they need to and how to listen to instructions. If a patient is doing equine assisted therapy because they’ve had a stroke or a traumatic head injury it’s not only going to help them with communication skills, it will also help them with finding their balance again. Riding a horse can be difficult if you have no …show more content…
Participating can help them set boundaries and limits that they feel comfortable with. People who get involved with EAT could have experienced physical, sexual, psychological, or emotional abuse. Experiencing things like these can cause children or adults to lack trust with other humans. Feelings like these make people feel out of place or anxious around large or certain amounts of people. When a person has no trust for the people around them it can cause low self esteem, social problems, and it can also make people feel like they have no control over their own lives. Being around the horses and working with them regularly can help these victims gain trust around the horses. Horses can sometimes be intimidating when you first walk up to them just like some people are intimidating to these victims. Once they see that they can slowly build a bond and trust these horses, they realize they can do the same thing with people. EAT can also help abuse victims with their social skills, if a person has never been around horses before they are going to have multiple questions about the horse before becoming comfortable around them, the only way they can get these answer is by asking their instructor therefor this is causing them to initiate conversation with other people. When a person with this sort of background starts completing tasks such as washing, feeding, or leading their