Equine Therapy Case Study

What do people think about when they are asked the question: What is role of a horse? Some may say that horses are for horseback riding or racing, while others may say that horses are for pulling a wagon. What about utilizing the assistance of a horse for psychotherapy? According to McVeigh (2012) equine therapy dates to 600 BC as documented by the Ancient Greeks. In 1875 it was documented that French physician Cassaign verbalized that equine therapy helped to treat certain neurological disorders (McVeigh, 2012). Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) is an emerging and innovative form of psychotherapy that is becoming an increasingly popular treatment for mental health issues (Lee, Dakin, & McLure, 2016).
Experiencing and therapeutic change

• Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations governing the professional’s scope of practice.
• Licensure and/or registration to practice under a governing board/body or as a member of a professional association that requires strict accountability (EAGALA, 2017).
First Component: Pretraining webinar provides introduction of foundation and key principles of EAGALA Model
Second Component: Five-day Fundamentals of EAGALA Model onsite training which involves an experiential learning process that will provide students with tools to effectively incorporate horses into the mental health treatment process and personal development goals
Third and Fourth Component: Post-training assessment and submission of professional portfolio
After certification: Two hours of mentoring are provided
EAGALA and the Global EAGALA Network are available to professionals (EAGALA, 2017).

Practice as EAGALA Certified Equine Specialist
• Requires 16,000 hours or equal to approximately three years full-time work experience of hand-on work with horses
• Completion of at least 100 hours of continuing educations in the horse profession and equine science. To

EAP is a category of experiential therapy. Experiential therapy focuses on the concept that experiencing is the catalyst for therapeutic change. The goal of EAP is to change the client’s negative experiences into positive experiences through connectedness with a horse through collaboration of a licensed mental health profession and a certified horse professional in a conducive environment. EAP assists the client to improve self -esteem, communication skills and relationships while addressing life’s challenges. EAP continues to require more