What´s Equine-Assisted Therapy?

‘There is nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse’ (unknown). Whoever this quote may be related to, he or she knew about the strong relationships that can be created between humans and horses. Documents referring to the use of this extraordinary relationship in recovery processes date back until the old Greco-Roman times (Bachi, Terkel, Teichman, 2011).
The assumption that human-animal bonds can have positive psychological effects for the person investing into such a relationship (Bachi, Terkel, Teichman, 2011) has led to the establishment of equine-assisted therapy, which is a form of psychotherapy. It makes use of the framework of attachment theory (Bowlby, 1958) and assumes that horses can serve as
a secure base and a haven of safety from which one can explore and return for comfort. Horses have some qualitative attributes that make them useful tools for therapy. One the one hand, these animals have a non-judgemental nature and do not care about appearances or mistakes someone has made. However, on the other hand, they do care about the emotions of others in their surroundings and are highly sensitive towards them. This requires people physically near to the horse to be aware of their own mental states and to control them. This phenomenon of affect mirroring thus leads to a constant emotional awareness in the people engaging with the horse.
Although research in this field is limited, equine-assisted therapy has been found useful for the treatment of depression or anxiety (Wilson, Buultjens, Monfries, Karimi, 2015), for restoring self-control, trust and general life satisfaction (Bachi, Terkel, Teichman, 2011) and similar phenomena. One particular group of people which could benefit from such effects are prison inmates.
Imprisonment has negative psychological effects on inmates ranging from feelings of loss of control over their own life and general life dissatisfaction to low self-esteem and depression (Tomar, 2013).
Isolation, no contact to their family and friends and being under constant supervision poses a challenge on inmates of how to cope with their loneliness, emotional disturbance, and diminished sense of self-worth. To help themselves, prison inmates mostly engage in emotion-focused coping strategies (Picken, 2012). According to Moos and Billings (1982), this approach works by distraction, trying to manage hostile feelings and practicing to forgive others, by sharing feelings, building social bonds and creating trust, as well as by practicing to redefine perceptions of situations. Combining the needs and problems of prison inmates with the beneficial attributes of horses as therapeutic mediums might be a promising combination to a successful coping approach. As a matter of fact, equestrian programs are offered in some prisons especially in America. In such horse training programs inmates engage in vocational training by building skills and providing supervised care for the horses. Such programs are different from the typical equine-facilitated therapies but nevertheless build up on the same assumption, that human-horse bonds can have positive psychological
effects.
Some research has proven the effectiveness of such programs in terms of positive behavioural, cognitive and social effects on inmates (Strimple, 2003) and reduced recidivism rates (Strimple, 2003) in short-term. However, there is still considerable debate about long-term effects of such interventions. Thus, there is a need from the side of society and especially from the side of inmates, to research the effectiveness of such programs more intensely since especially reduced recidivism rates and successful rehabilitation are beneficial for both sides.