On a warm summer’s day, inside the sand-covered floor of the Tocal Agricultural College arena, it’s the horses who have taken the reins.
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As somewhat experts in the field of assisted psychotherapy, the horses are on display to show humans how it’s done.
“How horses can help people really is the million dollar question,” mental health professional Jen Black said.
“They are basically experts in non-verbal communication so they challenge people to really be authentic and to be in touch with what’s going on inside and not just flick things off as it were.”
Ms Black and her sister Louise Campbell, an equine specialist, are at Tocal this week for the first Pacific conference of the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) .
Here they will work and meet with various social workers, health professionals, educators, equine specialists and psychiatrists on how horses and humans can work together to tackle such issues as post traumatic stress disorder, addiction, eating disorder, sexual abuse, autism and depression.
Ms Black and Ms Campbell joined the worldwide association in 2009.
“Horses just seem to know exactly what to do to allow a person to express themselves,” Ms Campbell said.
“It’s very hard to explain but there is this honesty about them helps you be really honest.”
Founded in 1999, EAGALA now has more than 3500 members in 38 countries across the globe.
“You can’t tell a horse you are feeling OK because they are not listening to your words, they are reading your body language and they are interpreting things for themselves,” Ms Black said.
“They probably know what’s going on quicker than we do.”
