Raven Rock Ranch

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Why Equine Facilitated Therapy Works

The part of the brain that is “shut down” when a person experiences trauma is the limbic section. That is the part of the brain that governs emotion, therefore, affecting relationships. When a person is traumatized, the limbic brain puts them into a constant state of “hyper-vigilance.” When we are in that state, it is not possible to form a relationship. Therapists cannot access the limbic part by talking to it, assuring the traumatized person returning home from the war, for example, that everything is fine and not to worry. The only way to access it is through experiential learning.

Horses’ brains are almost exclusively limbic. And, being a prey animal, they absolutely MUST be in relationship with those they live with (horses in their herd and/or people in their lives) for survival. They are in constant search of relationship. Children cannot trust people when they have been betrayed by them, but will trust a horse. When they are together, they regulate each other’s behavior and their own. That ability to regulate behavior and to open up the channels of relationship then transfers over to relationships with the people in their lives.