Sean Homsher with therapy partner Alibi at Blue Bell Equine Assisted Therapy. Credit Leslie Molinari
“All of a sudden,” Saly Glassman says, “we are horses.”
She’s explaining how the convergence of COVID 19 and the consequent strictures squeezing people’s lives today have profoundly altered the way people see the world. “But what is most interesting about it to me is that if you think about the world of the horse—the horse is a prey animal. Every moment there’s danger. ‘That paper bag could kill me, why did you move that trash can? Now my whole world is different, and I have to memorize everything again!’ This is the world of the horse, and the horse has learned to be vigilant.”
She says that people deal with all sorts of emotional and psychological issues even when there’s no menacing virus haunting their homes, workplaces and the stores where they shop. COVID 19, though, has made it harder for people to ignore these issues. “It’s creating in and of itself a series of mental health challenges that were disguised before” by the daily routines of commuting, working, stopping after work to pick up dinner, etc. And people have had to be vigilant--like horses--in all sorts of places they once believed to be safe.
Horses have been part of Glassman’s life since she was a child, and she has competed—and won—at the top amateur levels. After a successful career in the financial services industry, Glassman decided to invest her time and resources into projects that could help people. Given her history, she knew horses would somehow be part of her plan.
Whether foxhunting or just riding the trails around her farm in Blue Bell, PA she says she has learned a lot about life from horses. After months of discussions and strategizing, Glassman’s Kindle Hill Foundation teamed up with Leslie Molinari, another life-long equestrian, and Molinari’s husband Sean Homsher, a licensed counselor and therapist. They envisioned a place where people could find help with issues ranging from PTSD to anxiety and depression in a safe, albeit non-traditional setting.
Molinari and Homsher opened Blue Bell Equine Assisted Therapy (www.bluebellequineassistedtherapy.com) in the barn and sprawling indoor arena on Glassman’s Kindle Hill Farm in March, just as the COVID 19 crisis put the brakes on businesses large and small.
Horses Are Everything
“I became aware of how horses could be useful in this through Leslie,” Homsher says. “Because horses are everything to her.” He says that when he was a graduate student, he did research on animal-assisted therapy with dogs as co-therapists. “At the time there was very little on equine-assisted therapy.” But once he finished school, he looked around for a way to bring horses into the picture. He found EAGALA, an equine-assisted therapy model that brings a licensed, credentialed mental health professional, a qualified equine specialist, and a horse together with clients who are given safe space to analyze their situations. “One of the reasons I chose to go through EAGALA for training is because it’s an evidence-based program,” Homsher explains. “They set up peer-reviewed research, with quantitative and qualitative analysis. With EAGALA there is a reason why things are done the way they are done. It produces results.”
Molinari, who has been involved with horses since she was 12 years old, believes that horses give back much more than people realize. “There’s such a mind/body connection with them,” she says. When she was rehabilitating former racehorses, people often praised her for giving so much to the horses. “No,” she told them. “They do way more for me than I do for them.”
This emotional connection is the essence of what Homsher believed they could capture through their therapeutic model. “There are things the horses can bring out in a client that would take me a much longer time,” he says. “I think I’m an excellent therapist, but I think the fact that the horse is able to be a non-judgmental tool, for lack of a better word, it’s a being that this client can look at and not be scared by.”
A Blank Slate
In a typical session, the client would be in the ring with Molinari, the equine specialist. Homsher observes from outside the ring as the client and the horse interact. A client struggling with self-confidence issues, for instance, would be asked to lead a horse from one point in the ring to another. The work is all on the ground, and frequently the clients have little or no experience with horses. Ultimately, the client is asked to take the lead rope off the horse and get the horse to follow her in a circle. Molinari points out the importance of body language and a confident voice. She demonstrates a confident stride and encourages the client, without offering specific direction.
“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 explaining 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. “Hopefully 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 therapeutic 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 judgmental. 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 session. “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.”
A Winning 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 therapeutically 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 bothering them.