This week I had a session of equine-assisted psychotherapy. It was a completely new experience for me! I’m a psychologist who’s always loved horses, so in my personal Venn diagram of interests, equine psychotherapy was always going to lie firmly in the middle.
Now, my ‘woo’ detector is as sensitive as most other Brits’, but I’m equally committed to learning as much as I can about healing and how the nervous system works. I am finding that the longer I practise as a clinical psychologist, the more I accept and respect the interplay between science and art, evidence and intuition, observable and abstract.
I spoke with Casey Bradford, Clinical Psychologist and director of Deap Healing. She put me at ease right away by saying “It’s hard to put what happens into words!”
Casey invited me to come and experience the therapy for myself. She has a herd of six Arab horses, which from my childhood reading I knew to be one of the most ancient breeds, known for its smaller size and exquisitely sensitive nature.
On approaching the field, she had a warning for me: “Just so you know, the horses really won’t like it if you talk about theory. They can sense you getting into your head”. Before going into the field, we practiced a calming grounding exercise to get into the best state in which to meet the horses.
On the phone, Casey had said “The horses are the therapists, actually”. I didn’t fully understand what that meant at the time - it sounded odd - but I started to get it. Casey stood by and periodically offered interpretations of some of the horses’ behaviours. This definitely helped the rational, thinking, intellectualising part of my brain take a rest.
One horse in particular came over to greet us both. She seemed so curious and watchful. I had the impression that she had been waiting for me. She seemed to want to be close, in fact she came to stand right by me and stuck to me like glue for the best part of an hour. I felt an intense sense of protection and holding.
Casey skilfully held an amazing balance between giving information about what may be going on and giving me space to absorb the experience. She was like a translator to the horses’ behaviours, as she knows them so well and is very experienced in holding this containing experience for her clients.
Casey was closely attuned to both me and her horses’ behaviours, even tiny movements that I would never have noticed: a movement of the head, a breath, a holding of a particular position. She held space for me to free-associate - a time-honoured and highly effective way of accessing emotional material that normally lies beyond conscious awareness. It’s a state which isn’t usually accessed that easily, because you need to feel safe, open and vulnerable all at the same time. Casey made some links between what the horse was showing and how I may be feeling.
I guess we bring something totally different to interactions with animals compared to humans. With humans we can have this lightning-fast mental tickertape of am I okay how is this going oh their face just changed what does that mean what can I say now to make them feel more comfortable ah yes that seems to have worked okay what were we talking about again right I’m going to say this next...
You can let it all go and just be. What a beautiful break. Time seemed to slow down.
Containment is a key component of psychotherapy, the real ‘bread and butter’ of the work. It is the process whereby difficult emotions are brought out of internal experience, held, processed, and returned in a way that feels more manageable. Hopefully, you’ve experienced this before — when you’re anxious or distressed, and someone’s soothing presence helps you feel calmer and as though things are more manageable — that’s containment. Parents do it with their children (ideally), and a repeated experience of containment is one of the key building blocks of psychological development. Sometimes we didn’t get it at key moments in life, so therapy is one way to make up for it later.
Horses seem to have this same natural ability to provide containment, holding space for you without bringing their own stuff into the mix. They are so sensitive to emotions, too. If you’re ready to just be with them, they’ll mirror that back to you perfectly and give you the gift of presence.
The horse also helped me attend to the quality of our connection - she wasn’t just doing all the work for me. Casey did warn me — there was a moment where I got into my head and started talking about theory! (The psychoanalytic concept of maternal reverie, if you’re interested. The horse wasn’t. When I mentioned it, she immediately - and I mean immediately like that exact same second - turned her back on me, walked off and did a poo.)
After some exploring, the horse came back. I felt her give me many gifts during our time, one of which was an immense and concentrated sense of love and acceptance.
Upon leaving, she was still connected and watching.
Some time later, I am still experiencing a deep sense of calm and connection. It was a profound experience that certainly reached far beyond what can be achieved in a session of talk therapy. I feel as though I got so much from it that I don’t need to go back for a while - but I will definitely be back at some point.
I highly recommend the service. Casey is currently setting up as a non-profit social enterprise, so that more people can experience the amazing benefits of equine-assisted psychotherapy.
Try it out! You will absolutely get something important from it.
You can contact Casey on her website https://deaphealing.org/
Email info@deaphealing.org
Photos: Casey Bradford
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