The most important foundations for a fulfilled and happy life are laid in the womb of the mother and in the first years of life. When we grow up as children in a secure bond, we can live our impulses freely and every feeling can be expressed in the way that is right for the moment. This little person lives every moment in a permanent state of flux, curious, open and alive. The experience of loving closeness and attention enables us to develop trust in ourselves and our existence.

In the course of our development, however, this original expression changes due to painful and sometimes life-threatening experiences, such as violent assaults, abuse, neglect or loss. We become acquainted with meaninglessness, fear, shame, helplessness or powerlessness. All of this settles over our healthy core like a fog that slowly obscures our clear view of who we actually are. Out of the experience of having to protect ourselves, we develop survival structures that may have helped us to cope with or survive unbearable experiences in the early days of our lives, but which today are often extremely detrimental to our lives as mechanical adaptation strategies.

We now know that part of our nervous system reacts independently and autonomously, beyond our voluntary control. This autonomic nervous system has a considerable influence on human behavior, especially when real or perceived danger is imminent. If a situation appears – or is – threatening, parts of our body are activated so that we can defend ourselves or flee. In extreme situations, our nervous system can even ensure that we no longer need to feel or even “freeze”. We find ourselves in a kind of state of emergency that provides us with protective support when we are overwhelmed. This frozen state can be “stored” by our cell memory for a long time and sometimes leads to the nervous system no longer finding its way back to a balanced, neutral state. Those affected are then often unable to sleep when they are tired, are easily irritable, depressed, chronically tense, withdraw, have anxiety or everything seems pointless to them. Self-doubt and self-criticism are the order of the day.

Horses help people to deal with trauma in a self-empowered way. The decisive factor for the therapeutic process in this context is the energetic rootedness of horses in themselves, their ability to be present in the moment, their predominantly regulated state and the tendency to always return to this balanced point of calm. The predominantly regulated nervous system of horses supports the neuroception of safety in humans. Neuroception is a term coined by Dr. Stephen Porges, the founder of polyvagal theory, which describes the ability of all mammals (including humans) to constantly and subconsciously scan their environment for potential danger. When we feel we are in danger, the sympathetic nervous system, one of the three circuits of the autonomic nervous system responsible for flight and fight and thus for our protection, produces a defensive posture and thus reduces our ability to open up emotionally and make deep contact with our life energy and other people. In other words, if we don’t feel safe with people and situations or if our emotions and feelings threaten to overwhelm us once again, we have, to put it simply, no opportunity to engage in growth and development.

People can make use of horses’ ability to be balanced. Most of our clients feel safe in the presence of a regulated horse, which is either grazing calmly, dozing quietly or standing relaxed next to a client, and they experience such situations as calming and unobtrusive. The ventral vagus, the part of the horse’s nervous system responsible for social interaction, calm, balance or relaxation, therefore also helps people to regulate themselves and carry their states of fear, tension, sadness or pain more easily. After these feelings have been allowed to calm down somewhat, many clients describe this connection, or what it evokes, as healing, touching, heart-opening and warm. It is not uncommon for feelings of security, trust and safety to arise.

These are attributes and processes that many people lost a long time ago in the human-human relationship, but which can be experienced positively again in the human-horse connection. This initiates and promotes a process that neurobiologists such as Dr. Gerald Hüther refer to as renegotiation. Here, through a mindful and careful approach, an individual pace appropriate to the situation and a trusting and safe environment, experiences that are stored in the brain as painful or life-threatening are supplemented with positive associations or ultimately even replaced. This creates opportunities to modify and transform our reactions to old experiences. Self-reflection and personal development, including the dissolution of old patterns or emotional limitations, become possible.

This support of people’s ability to regulate themselves through horses is seen as one of the foundations of equine-assisted trauma therapy. People who come into contact with horses regularly report that tensions decrease, that something within them calms down and more inner peace emerges. Slowly, the connection to other people also becomes easier again.

Our work is not about moving someone in a certain direction, but about carefully recognizing and experiencing the current state in the here and now. In this way, the ability to relate to oneself and the fulfilling feeling of becoming more capable of action and self-determination can develop.

You can find the online form for further training further down on this page.