August 2020 Issue

EAST COAST EQUESTRIAN August 2020 Page 23 Real Estate Reach families with horses and equestrian professionals looking to relocate to this region with an ad in East Coast Equestrian . For more information, call (717) 509-9800. The news East Coast horse owners need to know Please resubmit your events through the end of the year to steph @ eastcoastequestrian.net Please provide event name, location, city, state and contact information for inclusion at no cost in our calendar. Attention Event Organizers! For Mental Health Therapy, Just Add a Horse and get the horse to follow her in a circle. Molinari points out the importance of body lan- guage and a confident voice. She demonstrates a confident stride and encourages the client, without offering specific direc- tion. “People learn in all kinds of ways,” Glassman says. “And traditional forms of therapy are around talking, which, if you’re articulate and words come easily to you and you’re comfortable expressing emotions, that’s a good outlet.” But the client on this day is shy and timid and ex- plaining her difficulty with issues of confidence might be virtually impossible. “If you come to me for therapy, you’ve chosen to come to me,” Homsher says. “Hope- fully we’ll develop a bond and trust, but there’s almost always a part of the person in front of the therapist who wonders ‘should I say this?’ ‘What are they going to think?’” “What if you’re afraid that you might say the wrong word, and you’ll be judged,” Glassman says. “So much of our thera- peutic world revolves around language. The spoken language. And so much doesn’t revolve around the unspoken language that’s expressed in gestures, like the way a horse will look at you.” Molinari says that the bonds that the clients build with the horses are amazing and very moving. She feels the emotion deeply. “I think for me, what I find is horses are clean. They don’t come in with an agenda. They’re a blank slate and they tune in to what you’re feeling and thinking, so they’re not judgmen- tal. I think that’s what allows the client to expose and be open and those things just fall into place.” She says that the horses—astute as they are at assessing body language—are especially great as “first responders” in a ses- sion. “You can try to hide, but if you go in anxious, or if you go in frightened, they know right away. They can pick up on it. It’s amazing.” AWinning Therapy Homsher says that equine-assisted therapy can be helpful for a wide range of clients. “It’s something that can be suited to anyone,” he says. “I can’t be so bold as to say this will work on everyone, because there are therapeu- tically resistant people who come to see a therapist. They know something’s wrong, but they’re still resistant.” He says that they have worked with couples having trouble with their relationships, individuals suffering from depression and PTSD and even a high school football team. “The horses are amazing—how quickly and effectively they get someone to go to the heart of what’s bother- ing them. (Continued from page 19)