Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy Learning

Posted by HERD Institute on January 15th, 2020

Finding the right words to express the special way that horses help humans to grow their awareness has been a thought provoking process. Equine Facilitated Learning and Coaching includes the horse and the human as partners in providing personal and professional growth experiences for individuals and groups. Equine-assisted learning certification

Equine - Horse

Facilitate - to make easier or less difficult, to help forward (an action, a process, etc.), and to assist the progress of (a person).

Learning - the acquisition and development of memories and behaviors, including skills, knowledge, understanding, values, and wisdom. It is the product of experience and the goal of education. Learning ranges from simple forms of learning such as habituation and classical conditioning seen in many animal species, to more complex activities such as play, seen only in relatively intelligent animals

You may have a sense of what I am saying if you meditate or communion with nature. You have experienced those delicious moments that are beyond words. The moments when you feel you are one with everything while the wisdom of the ages sinks into your cells. These are the moments of experience I seek, moments that are bottomless, wide in girth, and endless in time. Kairos, with his sensual, prehistoric, and calming energy, invited all of us to venture into the infinite state of connection. EFL Training for Individuals

Many equine experiential learning training programs focus on 'doing' something with a horse in order to have an equine experience. I recently offered a presentation in Boulder. One participant criticized the equine-based demos I facilitated. She claimed the session were not experiential enough. This participant needed to touch or interact with the horse to have an experience. I see value in physically interacting with horses, and I also see the value of connecting through non-doing activities, thus encouraging people to experience through the energy of their hearts verses their heads.

Equine Facilitated Learning and Coaching is based in the philosophy that through interacting and creating relationships with horses a person may explore and learn new ways of understanding how they interface with the world around them. Horses are non-judgmental beings that facilitate learning in a positive and immediate manner. It is often easier to learn a life lesson from a 1,000 pound horse, than through a friend, supervisor or business partner. Horseback riding program

There are no pre-established judgments or defensive posturing that often block learning experiences with our human counterparts. During sessions with horses, the horse's nature brings to the surface aspects of the client (behaviors, habits, skill levels) that they may have previously been unaware of. Once the person reaches new levels of awareness of self, higher levels of trust, intimacy and respect are reached with the horse. The learning happens on a visceral experience and lodges deeply into the memory cells of the body. Through understanding the horse and the horse's nature, and learning in the moment how to best communicate with horses, the human's growth is exponential. It is only through great levels of understanding and mutual acceptance and awareness that higher more intelligence levels of communication such a play can emerge.