saw these places on Animal Rescue TV on Saturday morning…
the first is a beautiful sanctuary for horses near Los Angeles in Acton, CA… the horses are given lots of room/acreage to roam… and they also participate in the Horses for Healing program… when I lived in Arizona a few years ago, I met some gorgeous horses at a sanctuary… they all surrounded me including a few ponies and gave me so much love, it was precious. I had been reading the Tao of Equus by Linda Kohanov which is an incredible book about the spiritual and healing power of horses.
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy is a therapeutic modality. The horses facilitate psychotherapeutic change by interacting with people. Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) incorporates horses experientially for emotional growth and learning. It is a collaborative effort between a licensed mental health therapist, a horse professional, and horses working together with the client(s) in order to address the treatment goals.
“Why horses? Why not other animals?”
Horses are large and powerful, which creates a natural opportunity for some to overcome fear and develop confidence. The size and power of the horse are naturally intimidating to many people. Accomplishing a task involving a horse and overcoming those fears creates confidence and provides for wonderful metaphors when dealing with other intimidating and challenging situations in life.
Horses have the ability to mirror exactly what human body language is telling them. Many people will complain, “The horse is stubborn; the horse doesn’t like me; the horse is just like XXX;” etc. But the lesson to be learned may be that if they change what they are doing or how they are feeling within themselves, the horses will respond differently toward them. Horses are honest, which makes them especially powerful messengers. Horses respond immediately to behaviors, therefore appropriate consequences are received by the client(s). Horses are not judgmental—they respond consistently to what is shown to them.
http://www.horsescare.org/index.php
Move From Fear and Towards Love
with Anna Twinney & Melisa Pearce
Wednesday, June 5th,
6:00pm MT
(8:00 pm EST, 5:00 pm PST)
FREE webinar!
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/408259298
Melisa and Anna met through their participation as contributing authors in the book Horse as Teacher, a Path to Authenticity. Discovering the commonality in their interpretation of horses and humans they have begun to work more closely together and today collaborate on several projects.
During this webinar Melisa and Anna will discuss and share how horses interpret our fear, their natural response and how they lead humans away from it when understood. Melisa will share about her experiences with horses claire-sentient abilities that she sees everyday as she partners with horses who emotionally heal humans through her Equine Gestalt process. Anna will be sharing as a Natural horse trainer who has traveled the world working with and studying horses behavior. She will share how they are effected in ways you may not even be aware of when you are working with them and what you can watch for with your horse.
www.touchedbyahorse.com
Visit Wolf Mountain Sanctuary and sing with the wolves…
http://www.wolfmountain.com/Visit%202011.htm
Similar to the pit bulls and parolees concept, this sanctuary works with military veterans and wolves.
http://www.warriorsandwolves.org
