Equine Assisted Therapy: horse in relation

Abstract

Equine-assisted services (EAS) is a form of therapeutic mediation that facilitates and requires the practitioner's participation, contributing to the promotion of physical, social, and cognitive well-being Although the horse is mainly seen as an important therapeutic element in physical rehabilitation, it also should be seen as a symbolic element in a therapeutic process. The image of the horse has power but also a freedom that allows the reactivation of internal paternal images. It can also allow a return to maternal containment through warmth, support, rocking, and odors. In this way, the horse can be seen as an object of care, feeding, preparation, and manipulation by the other; it can be seen as a possible support for the projection of the subject's lived experiences, their own body, and the relationship with the other (Silva, 2018; (Yorke et al., 2008). It is known that children established emotional bonds with horses in different ways, and in many cases, participants could empathize with the animals. Empathy is suggested to be imperative for healthy emotional and social functioning, being an emotion intrinsically linked to parental care (attachment) and often in deficit in this population. Considering the above-mentioned, we have developed a study to understand the effects of EAS intervention on socio-emotional competencies in three institutionalized children (aged 5, 6, and 9 years), selected by convenience. 17 sessions of EAS were developed individually, once a week for 45 min. Beyond the observation, two questionnaires were performed: Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and Assessment of Children’s Emotion Scales (ACES). The first one allowed us to understand the abilities and difficulties of children, while ACES enabled us to assess children’s ability to recognize emotions and the accuracy of their attribution. This research allowed us to observe an improvement in the socio-emotional skills of the participants, specifically in favoring the affective relationship, adhering to rules, solving problems with identification and/or developing appropriate solutions, and developing a relationship with the horse. Consequently, there was a positive impact on intrapersonal skills with marked improvement in self-regulation and self-control, in addition to an improvement in the intentionality of movement and adequacy of gesture to the context. In short, children developed new adaptation mechanisms and some horsemanship skills. It is suggested that studies be conducted on a greater number of children in the future, including individual and group intervention with a higher frequency of sessions per week. This type of intervention underlies a renewed educational and therapeutic approach, contributing to mental health promotion in this population.