What is Equine-Assisted Coaching?
Originally published in Invisible Illness magazine on Medium, March 30, 2021
by Kimberly Carter
How a new life coaching trend blends self-improvement with equine-assisted learning.
Crying, I sat down on the grass. A massive black horse dropped her head to my level and nudged my face. My coach, and accountability partner, watched in quiet witness. In that moment, I felt the walls I had spent a lifetime constructing break apart. Vulnerable and raw, I was finally ready to face my demons and form new habits. I was ready to heal.
My story is the story of so many people who find breakthroughs in equine assisted learning (EAL). Facilitated by an educated practitioner, the sessions are experiential, learning by doing, by moving. The presence of a horse is immensely grounding, a somatic encounter that brings me back into my body.
It’s no secret that horse guided therapies work. In the 5th century BC Hippocrates, the namesake of the Hippocratic Oath, is often attributed as saying, “Riding in clean air strengthens body muscles and keeps them in good form.”
We’ve known for some time that riding works for people who are battling physical limitations. The motion of the horse increases balance, mobility and strength in the body. But modern practices in equine therapy consider the whole human, and the whole horse — riding is often not required.
In most communities, you can find horse-related specialists that tackle cognitive, emotional and social growth. The list grows each year as researchers study more ways that horses help humans.
Changing the Narrative
Monique Ravesloot, founder of the EquineFlow method of coaching, was part of a Dutch consultancy group when she signed up for a corporate team building event at a horse stable. “At the farm we discovered unproductive habits and got in touch with feelings. We removed roadblocks standing in the way of performance, and we healed old wounds. Some people even cried, which is unheard of in corporate training. The outcomes felt very therapeutic.”
Now an expat living in America, Monique left the rat race and teamed up with a neuroscientist to better understand why EAL produced positive outcomes in situations where traditional paths of growth often fell short.
Focusing on horse-assisted modalities that encouraged the mapping of new neural pathways, Monique watched her clients develop fresh methods for coping. The stories they told themselves began to change, their internal dialogue shifting from negative to positive. With the gentle guidance of the horse, her clients realized that they had personal power and choice, often for the first time in their lives.
Monique says, “Horses are healing. Nature is healing. Feeling truly understood by someone who has gone through what you went through is intensely healing. If you mix these with new ways of thinking, you get something very powerful, which is something that the world desperately needs right now.”
Healing From the Heart
After a lifetime spent with horses, I knew that my internal radar pointed me toward riding stables well before we had words to name the therapies. Early childhood trauma led to anxiety, depression and eating disorders. I sought horses out instinctively. I didn’t know why they helped, but understood that their presence offered grounding and relief, a way to mentally reboot so that I could rejoin life with a renewed sense of purpose.
Research from the Heart Math Institute focuses on Heart Rate Variability (HRV), a key indicator for health. Using a magnetometer to study the heart’s energy field, researchers discovered that a horse’s heart field is five times greater than a human’s, and capable of influencing how our HVR balances into a state of healthy coherence.
Anne Baldwin, PhD at the University of Arizona, conducted a 2018 studymeasuring HRV in older adults interacting with horses. The findings suggested “that engaging with horses benefits humans, indicating an enlivened state without stress.”
It may be that the horse’s ability to respond to stress — their fight/flight response mirroring our own — and their biological need to let that stress go when it’s no longer needed, allows horses to balance into a coherent state with other herd members.
When we’re interacting with the horse, we become part of the herd.
In his influential book, The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel Van Der Kolk, M.D. explains the importance of regulating HRV in trauma survivors, “Lack of coherence between breathing and heart rate makes people vulnerable to a variety of physical illnesses, such as heart disease and cancer, in addition to mental problems such as depression and PTSD.”
As he outlines the modalities beneficial for battling the myriad symptoms of Complex PTSD such as yoga, writing and dancing, horses are prominent in case studies that suggest positive relief.
Spending Time in the Field
So where does equine assisted coaching fit into all the different methods of human growth? The science is young when it comes to studying why horses help. Coaching is just one method that blends emotional regulation with personal empowerment.
Coaching is not therapy. It serves a different purpose, with or without a horse, but coaches often work together with a client’s medical team. Coaches do not diagnose or treat any illness.
Coaching provides a safe space to explore new tools, to set goals, to break free of old habits. Arriving as I am, the horse doesn’t care what I did to alleviate my anxiety last week, or the month before, or when I was twelve — the horse just cares about who I am that very moment. The horse has its quirks. I have mine. We explore them together.
My coach is there to suggest a better way of doing things, an accountability partner that witnesses what I’m doing and suggests alternate paths when I hit a mental block. My coach doesn’t tell me what to do, the choice is up to me.
Equine coaches are also free to discuss their personal past and the struggles that led to their calling. The result is organic, raw and unscripted.
Monique describes a recent session, “When I asked which horse a client connected with the most, she responded with a nod of her head in the direction of Cielito Lindo. I asked what it was in him that drew her in. She answered, ‘He was wounded too. I feel we are kindred spirits. I love the other horses too, but they seem so carefree. Cielito is different. He knows what it is like.’ ”
For that reason, Monique feels that it is important for coaches working within her system to accept the journey of their personal struggles with pride, and to be honest with their clients about their experiences. “Show me what you have dealt with. Because it brings humility and patience, true compassion.“
Where to Find A Horse Coach
You can start right here. I see clients in person at Bramblewood Stables in Taylors, SC and I also meet people in virtual sessions and through clinics at different riding facilities.
If you’re not in the upstate of South Carolina and are curious about in-person coaching, do a search and see what is offered in your community. Local riding stables are a wealth of knowledge, and may be able to refer you to the right spot if they don’t offer EAL activities at their facility.
But, if you don’t have access to a horse, you do have all the tools you need to bring the power of horse therapy to you. Simply stand outside, notice your breath, feel the ground beneath you, and harness the wisdom of the horse as your arrive at a fresh start with every beat of your heart.