Why Horses?

Our deepest need as humans is to be connected to another.

As herd animals, horses have the same needs, and they help us see how we ‘step into relationship’.

As the ultimate prey animal, horses are highly attuned to their environment, and consequently, they sense emotions, read subtleties in behaviour and are very sensitive to the energy around them.

They are very responsive to human energy and intention and thus help us understand our internal dialogue, body language and emotions much better.

Horses provide immediate, non-judgmental feedback about our communication style, our inner calm and energy, and our self-awareness. They are powerful co-regulators, and being in their presence can dramatically calm our nervous system.

Horse owners from time immemorial have known that spending time with horses makes us ‘feel better’.

The Heart Math Institute and others have now proven that a horse’s resting heart rate is slower than a human’s and their electromagnetic field projects much further. A synchrony happens when we are in their space, which can be enhanced if we are conscious about our breathing, our thoughts and our movements.

Some tangible benefits of Equine Assisted Learning:

• Radical grounding – horses demand our attention through their sheer size and presence. Calming activities such as quietly grooming a horse can reduce stress hormones and activate our parasympathetic nervous system. Anxiety states are subdued and, in its place, a calm joy ensues.

• Improved Communication Skills – in our experience, people do their very best to connect with the horse or pony, which often requires modifying their own style. Much can be learned about human-to-human communication when also learning to speak ‘horse’.

• Improved Self-Efficacy – often people lack confidence to try something new when they have seldom experienced the ‘felt sense’ of connection, of success, of trust, of mastery. Through horse or pony interactions, young people can truly learn these ‘felt senses’, and thus this ‘experiential’ learning can be so empowering (especially compared with theoretical learning alone).

• Improved focus and stamina – often Neurodiverse people can find it hard to concentrate in classroom settings. Equine Assisted Learning provides a fun, safe and engaging way to learn.

• Enhanced Emotional Intelligence – horses provide opportunities to gain insights into our conditioned (automatic) responses, our boundaries, our empathy and awareness of others. We can then recognise and regulate emotions better.

• Digital Detox – we consistently observe that people of all ages find it easier to disconnect from their phones and other devices when engaging with the horses. The connection is simply so absorbing that time seems to slip away — participants often look up after several hours to realise they haven't thought about their phones once.