At Lasata Farm, qualified Equine Specialists are on staff to contract with licensed mental health professionals. Together we partner with our herd of horses to create space for powerful experiential gains that occur through utilizing proven professional models of practice.
What is EAP and EAL?
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) incorporates experiences with horses for mental and behavioral health therapy and personal development. A licensed therapist works with a horse professional to connect a client with horses to address treatment goals. Based on its intensity and effectiveness, EAP is considered a short-term, or “brief” approach.
Experiential in nature, participants learn about themselves and others through activities with the horses. We then process (or discuss) feelings, behaviors, and patterns relating to these experiences. This approach has been compared to the ropes courses used by therapists, treatment facilities, and human development courses around the world. EAP has the tactile and emotional advantages of horses, which are dynamic and powerful living beings.
Not all programs or individual classes qualify as Equine Assisted Psychotherapy. To obtain licensing in the U.S. and proper qualifications abroad, a true EAP program must involve mental health professionals. The focus of EAP is not riding or horsemanship. Instead, EAP requires the client or group to apply certain skills through ground activities involving the horses. Tools utilized and developed through EAP include non-verbal communication, assertiveness, confidence, attitude, creative thinking and problem solving. Others include leadership, taking responsibility, teamwork and relationships.
EAP is a powerful and effective therapeutic approach that has an incredible impact on individuals, youth, families, and groups. EAP addresses a variety of mental health and human development needs including behavioral issues, attention deficit disorder(ADD), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), substance abuse, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, relationship problems and communication needs.
Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) is similar to EAP with the focus on learning or educational goals. EAL utilizes the mental health professional teamed with a horse professional to work with a client and horses. The focus however, is on learning specific skills that are defined by the individual or group, such as improved product sales for a company, leadership skills for a school group, or resiliency training for our military warriors.
Why Horses?
We are often asked, “Why horses? Why not other animals?”
Anyone familiar with horses can recognize their unique ability to influence people in profound ways. The relationships that develop through training, horsemanship instruction, and daily care greatly impact the people involved.
Naturally intimidating to many, horses are large and powerful. They create the opportunity for some to overcome fear and develop confidence. Working alongside a horse, in spite of those fears, creates confidence and provides wonderful insight when dealing with other intimidating and challenging situations in life.
Horses naturally provide other benefits to humans. Their care requires a work ethic, responsibility, assertiveness, communication, and a healthy relationship. Like humans, horses are social animals, with defined roles within their herds. They would rather be with their peers. They have distinct personalities, attitudes and moods; an approach that works with one horse won’t necessarily work with another. At times, they seem stubborn and defiant. They like to have fun. In other words, horses provide vast opportunities for metaphorical learning, an effective technique when working with even the most challenging individuals or groups.
Horses require work, whether in caring for them or training them. In an era of immediate gratification and taking the “easy way”, horses require people to be engaged in physical and mental work to be successful, a valuable lesson in all aspects of life.
Most importantly, horses mirror human body language. Many complain, “This horse is stubborn,” or “That horse doesn’t like me,” etc. The lesson is that if one can change, the horses will respond differently. Horses are honest, which makes them especially powerful messengers.
