“Horses are my therapy” This topic comes up quite often and it is something I feel warrants a conversation.
Why do we put our mental health needs onto the horse? Did the horse sign up for the job of caretaker, listener, healer, or counselor? Horses, I have found, are an animal that many humans are drawn to. There is a good amount of science and research out there as to how horses affect us physiologically, which in turn, yes, can help us feel better mentally. But the idea that the horse is a therapist is a bit backward in my mind.
In deep caring, in daily work, in the accomplishments and failures. From the grit it takes to stick with something, to see something through, in the joy of a new foal or the loss of an old soul… In the blood, sweat, and tears… Through the vet bills and endless education that comes through the ups and downs. By the constant and never ending self-improvement. With the maturity it takes to put the horse's needs before your own. THIS is the therapy. The reward for these basic efforts IS our therapy. It IS how we find peace and joy. It IS how we grow stronger and more resilient. It is HOW we heal.
It’s in the service to something other than ourselves that we receive therapy, not the horse itself. If you are wanting therapy without effort, a horse is not your answer. IF you understand that by giving you also receive - then you will make a connection with a horse you never dreamed possible.
- Sarah Orloff, Still Waters Equitation
Note from the author: I received some interesting feedback from this article. In no way am I saying that horses do not help us heal or that when we are with them we don't receive a form of therapy. What I am trying to suggest here is that we step back and shift the perspective a bit. That we do not think of what horses do for us but what we can do for the horse and in turn what that selfless perspective does for us.
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