What is Equine Therapy? A Unique Approach to Addiction and Recovery

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If you find yourself among the millions of people who battle with addiction and want to stop, chances are you have questions as to where to start. We’re here to help.

The journey of addiction recovery is multi-faceted. As such, it’s often those who help you along the way that can make a big impact on your long-term healing. But it’s not just treatment professionals, friends, or accountability partners—or even humans, for that matter. Sometimes it’s horses, too. Equine therapy—and other experiential therapies—can be a powerful tool for overcoming addiction and achieving sobriety.

What is Experiential Therapy?

Before we dive into equine therapies, it’s important to understand experiential therapy and what it means for addiction treatment. So what is experiential therapy? Often part of a holistic addiction treatment approach, experiential therapy is all about immersing yourself in a specific, intentional experience. A core belief of experiential therapy, the American Psychological Association explains, is that “true client change happens through direct, active ‘experiencing’ of what the client is undergoing and feeling…both on the surface and at a deeper level.”

During the hands-on experience, treatment professionals will engage you directly about your inner feelings associated with the present experience and your past, helping you integrate and apply your experience to your recovery. In this process, you’re able to pick out the negative emotions, shame, and stress associated from past traumas and treat them directly. Experiential therapy can also help you learn healthier ways to cope with stress, cravings, and other addiction triggers. Common experiential therapies used to treat addiction and mental health disorders include:

  • Music therapy
  • Art therapy
  • Psychodrama
  • Outdoor therapy
  • Play therapy
  • Recreational therapy
  • Equine therapy

What is Equine Therapy?

Equine therapy, also known as equine-assisted therapy (EAP) or horse-assisted therapy (HAT), involves participating in specific activities alongside horses while guided by treatment professionals. Taking on many forms, equine therapies utilize the unique bond between horses and people to facilitate both emotional and physical healing and growth.

As horses are highly intelligent animals, they’re actually receptive to your emotional and cognitive needs. Because of this, horses will require trust and compassion in any human interaction, yet they’re also capable of giving it back themselves. And with their size and appearance (some horses can weigh 2,000 pounds or more), horses also invite equine therapy participants to step out of their comfort zones and develop self-confidence. All of these characteristics set the stage for meaningful and effective experiential therapy.

Activities can vary, but equine-assisted therapy is usually centered around participants learning from their hands-on experience with a horse, followed by processing and discussing their feelings and behaviors with a treatment professional. Equine therapy experiences often include grooming, feeding, leading, or riding a horse, depending on your treatment needs.

People have been using horses for therapeutic purposes for thousands of years, dating way back to Ancient Greece. Fast forward to World War I, and horses were used to help rehabilitate wounded soldiers. In the Mid-Twentieth Century, equine therapy started gaining more traction as a complementary resource for physical therapy. From there, its popularity and acceptance grew in both the mental and physical health communities.

Today, equine assisted therapy is utilized in a variety of ways to treat people with physical, cognitive, and emotional challenges. In fact, leading dual diagnosis treatment centers in the US use equine therapy to treat both mental health disorders (such as anxiety, depression, and PTSD) and addictions (both substance-related and behavioral).

Equine Therapy for Addiction Treatment

Equine therapy for drug addiction or alcohol addiction provides a unique treatment approach that easily stands out from other rehab methods. Consequently, it can also provide unique and impactful results in recovery.

When you’re participating in equine therapy for addiction, the goal in some ways is to learn how to build trust with another living being. Because horses are attuned to our feelings and moods, you as the participant can connect with the horse and cultivate a relationship. Not only does this lead to trust over time, but it can also be incredibly emotionally rewarding for you.

Horses, unlike people, also don’t judge you. In the process of caring for and connecting with your horse, this non-judgemental relationship allows you to be honest about the difficulties and emotions that have driven your addiction. These skills that you develop can easily translate into navigating recovery successfully long-term. Studies have also shown that alternative or complementary therapies such as equine therapy can even help those in treatment programs remain in and complete their treatment, shares Substance Abuse: Research and Treatment.

How Equine-Assisted Therapy Works

If you’re considering a drug addiction treatment and relapse prevention program that offers equine therapy, what should you expect? First of all, equine therapy programs are not like your typical psychotherapy or group therapy sessions, and that’s intentional. Each equine-assisted therapy session will look different due to the unpredictability of working with animals.

Your level of participation in some ways depends on your comfort level with horses. Your therapy team also works with you throughout the process to ensure you’re ready to participate in whatever task you’re asked to do. An equine therapy session, explains Healthline.com, may include non-riding activities such as petting the horse and giving it treats. You could also be asked to feed, groom, and care for the horse, which helps cultivate the relationship. Some people may get to lead or walk the horse on the grounds.

Some programs offer assisted or monitored equine riding therapy, too. You may ride in a barn or arena with the assistance of staff and your therapist. Sometimes you may participate in a trail ride or even learn how to do vaulting exercises (combining gymnastics and dancing on horseback) with your horse.

No matter your level of activity, equine-assisted therapy sessions typically last about an hour. Some people may participate in only a few sessions during their addiction treatment. The duration of these sessions may take place over a few months. But you may also see the value of continuing various forms of equine therapy in aftercare as a part of your long-term recovery.

The Benefits of Equine Therapy

What makes equine therapy so worthwhile in your addiction treatment journey? If you stick with it, this unique form of experiential therapy can make a considerable impact on your healing. Some of the main benefits of equine-assisted therapy that you can experience include:

Learning How to Build Trust

Addictions of any kind are often rooted in past trauma. If you have a hard time trusting others, it can be difficult to open up enough to heal from both your trauma and addiction. However, equine therapy can create a safe space for you to learn how to build trust and be vulnerable with others. By doing so, you can finally address the painful experiences, traumatic memories, and negative feelings associated with your past. And as you build trust with your horse and participate in the activities, you also learn to trust yourself.

Communication Skills Development

Because a horse can’t talk back to you, equine therapy requires you to develop your nonverbal communication skills, which are important both in your treatment as well as in sobriety. In the process of working alongside horses and other people, you’ll also develop better interpersonal and social skills, listening skills, boundary-setting abilities, and assertiveness. All of these communication skills will make your overall therapy experience—and your long-term quality of life—more successful.

Better Emotional Regulation

Addiction can come from unhealthy coping mechanisms associated with emotional dysregulation, or the inability to manage your emotions and feelings. However, because equine therapy challenges you in a healthy way, it requires you to navigate potential difficult emotions in the moment, including stress. As a result, you learn how to better regulate your emotions over time, which also helps with developing better coping skills for addiction-related triggers.

Enhanced Mindfulness

Mindfulness meditation is an important recovery practice in its own right. Yet cultivating mindfulness is also one of the many benefits of equine-assisted therapy, too. Working with horses requires you to focus on the situation at hand and remain present. As you do this over time, the mindfulness techniques you develop help you get better at managing the overwhelming thoughts and negative feelings that so often lead to addictive behaviors.

Improved Self-Esteem and Self-Confidence

Of all the equine therapy benefits, this may be one of the most impactful long-term. When addiction has controlled your life for so long, it’s hard to believe in yourself. However, by learning a new skill and overcoming your fears in equine therapy, you realize that you can, in fact, do hard things and accomplish your goals. This leads to increased self-esteem, self-confidence, and a sense of personal responsibility.

Equine Therapy and Addiction Treatment at Defining Wellness

Equine assisted therapy can be the key experience of your addiction treatment that helps you finally achieve long-term sobriety. That’s why we incorporate it into our comprehensive, holistic treatment approach at Defining Wellness Centers in Mississippi.

Our addiction recovery program combines hands-on experiential therapies with evidence-based treatment practices (such as cognitive behavioral therapy and medication-assisted therapy). This creates an ideal treatment regimen for helping you overcome your addiction or dual diagnosis and reclaiming the life you deserve. To learn more about our equine therapy program and addiction treatment process, contact our team today.

Begin your Recovery Today

If you are ready to take the step towards a new life, call Defining Wellness today and learn more about how we can help you.