As a horse lover I'm always looking for ways to spread the word on horses and their therapeutic impact. Because horses are heard animals, they depend heavily on their senses to keep them safe which enables them to sense emotion on a very high level. The most unexplainable scenario and great example is when a therapy horse senses a child with a disability, and how the horse shifts their demeanor to help the child. Now you might be thinking....well, huh, it's a therapy horse so of course it should be accustom to sensing issues. This is not the case. Many therapy horses are brought into the therapy world because they cannot be ridden or used for any other purpose but they still offer the ability to read emotion which has become extraordinarily valuable in the world of equine therapy. There is no way to train a horse to specifically sense a disability or trauma (PTSD etc), but they know how. How is this possible? There are many studies continuing to help define and understand the emotional capability of a horse. In the interim horse therapy is growing rapidly to be a very dependable and successfully proven source of therapy.
There are so many ways to get involved in equine therapy and one of my favorite, perhaps slightly less intimidating is Mini Therapy Horses. This program has been designed with the intention of giving back and helping those in need.
Learn more about Mini Therapy Horses