Using Horses in Therapy with Troubled Teens

Author: Luke Hatch, MSW, CSW

While working as a therapist for troubled teens in a working ranch program, I have had the pleasure of seeing some great change among these troubled teens. I have often wondered what components of these adolescent's treatment have contributed to their change. One of the tools that I have seen used the most is therapy involving horses, also called equine therapy. There are many reasons why this tool is so affective in helping troubled teens.

The relationship created between the troubled teenager and the horse can be one of the greatest assets of having equine therapy. This bond can help change the life of an adolescent. Carl Rogers, a famous psychotherapist, was a pioneer in making therapy more client-centered. He brought out how important the relationship is in therapy. In his writings he emphasized how the relationship creates safety for the client to feel free to experience a full range of emotions. He called this experience of feeling and experiencing the emotions, "pure culture" (Rogers, 1961). This pure culture can be experienced working with horses. The bond that someone creates with a horse can be a special therapeutic relationship where change can happen.

After a relationship is created with the horse the teenager can learn some other important lessons. The teenager learns how to work with the horse instead of power struggle with it. Most teenagers in these programs have gotten into the habit of getting into power struggles with their parents. If they try to power struggle with an animal as big as a horse they will most certainly fail. I have seen horses read the teenager so well that they have no way to get what they want with the horse until they change how they approach the horse. They are taught to work with the horse in a collaborative fashion in order to get what they want from the horse. This lesson can then be translated to the home with their parents.

Being with a horse has an existential value to it also. Horses seem to bring out a calming effect in those that work with them. This can be an excellent way for these adolescents to learn how to cope with their stress, anxiety, or depression. When a teenager learns how to cope with life they will be successful at anything they pursue in the future. Horses are special animals and will continue to teach us how to work with adolescents in a better way. The horses in each of the programs that use them have influenced thousands of adolescent's lives throughout the years.

Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person, a therapist's view of psychotherapy. Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston.