Horses as psychologists?

Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (along with other animal assisted psychotherapy) is one of the fastest growing areas in counseling.

check out http://www.eagala.org/ or type in Equine Assisted Psychotherapy in google for more info!

Aside from the physical therapy they have provided for years (http://www.narha.org/), they are now proving themselves as excellent assistance in counseling and confidence building and emotional stability.

An old anonymous horse poem:

Let me teach you.

When you are tense, let me teach you to relax.

When you are short tempered, let me teach you to be patient.

When you are short sighted, let me teach you to see.

When you are quick to react, let me teach you to be thoughtful.

When you are angry, let me teach you to be serene.

When you feel superior, let me teach you to be respectful.

When you are self-absorbed, let me teach you to think of greater things.

When you are arrogant, let me teach you humility.

When you are lonely, let me be your companion.

When you are tired, let me carry the load.

When you need to learn, let me teach you.

After all, I am your horse.

I think horses are better psychologists than people are, for sure. When I went away to camp for the first time at age 7, I was terribly homesick and would cry when no one was looking. The only place I could really be alone was in my camp horse's stall, so I would go in there with a brush and pretend to be grooming him while I cried a little and whispered to him, asking him if he ever got homesick or missed his mom. That wonderful old gelding listened to everything I had to say, and provided me with an outlet for my anxiety and (of course) became a very huggable and comforting friend. His name was Aspen, and I will always be grateful to him for comforting me during my first 2 weeks away from home.

Gosh, I have SO many stories about various horses and how they are my shrinks...that was just the first one that came to mind! Congratulations, by the way, on overcoming your fear. I am not very keen on swimming in deep natural water either, though I think I would feel much better about it if I were on a horse!

Good for you!

I don't know about curing me of any phobias, but I know that my horse's companionship and love give me a lot of support in these troubled times. I can go for a ride and the entire world goes away. I have a strict rule that there are no clocks in the barn. When you are in the barn, you are in the barn and no where else. So, my horse helps me to live in the moment instead of the past or the future.

Yes. My best and favorite mare helped me to learn the valuable lesson of "letting go". Its been said that in your lifetime, you will only get one GREAT horse. She was mine. We had 8 great years together. I came to the stark realization that I couldn't do better for her and what she needed and deserved.I decided to place her for sale. When I sold her, I interviewed the prospective buyer 3 times, watched her ride and then went to evaluate her facilities before I finalized the sale. The day the trailer came, I loaded her and stepped out. At that moment she realized I wasn't coming. She looked over her shoulder as we closed the rear door and gave me this look of alarm. She whinnied all way the down the lane.

I cried for a week, but knew I did the right thing for her.

Yeah I can't do heights, I want too but can't my legs start to shake, my knees buckle, my hands get sweaty and I get dizzy on a 6 foot ladder, so this is my story, my sister in law, and I went riding and we some how got into a gravel pit, I've no idea how deep it was but I do know you needed a pair a binoculars to see the top, so anyways my fear less sister in law and her trusty Arb went up and up, tried to get me to go, and my every so ALWAYS listens to me QH, decided enough is enough and looked like fun, so she went and no matter what I did to try to change her mind, she went!!! Yeah scared the heck out of me, hung on for life, but once up there that was awesome, think more to be alive. LOL

Well, no, but when he started putting his head down and running off at the canter he certainly created a new phobia. =P

Kidding. Actually, I think my boy helped me in the long run. I've been used to very stony horses who are good school-horses because they don't react to unconscious cues. However, if my weight's too far forward or back, it upsets my gelding and he'll never let me get away with it. So he's taught me to be more cue-conscious and better-seated at the canter/trot. I have a lot to thank him for. =]

When I was young, long rides by myself were my catharsis when a relationship bit the dust, or my parents just didn't understand me, etc. I would catch myself talking out loud...even raising my voice...as I rode around with my horse's ears ****** back as if to say "I'm listening". It probably kept me from saying or doing things I might have regretted. So, yes, horses are the best psychologists.

I for sure can't come up with a story like yours, but to me horses are my every day "psychologists", meaning whenever whatever goes wrong I just "escape" to my buddies, go for a ride or do other work with or around them, it usually just takes a few minutes and I have my balance back, to me it's just being around them makes me feel like I'm in a different world...

I think horses act like psychologists all the time. They teach us to rise when we fall, they teach us to put trust in them. They teach us many things we just sometimes don't realize it.

They taught us to ride and showed us that there is nothing to be afraid of.

Yes, my fear of heights...my trainer thought we were ready to jump so we did. It wasn't high at all, but I held on to his main in 2-point position and felt his neck and that made me feel better. After we landed and came down to a walk, he stopped and looked back at me as I was petting him and smiling. I think he knew what he'd done. It kinda doesn't make sense, but it makes sense to me.