——————————————————————————————————————–
Mental Health professionals are amazed at the results of an experiential therapy bringing powerful and immediate effects. It is so subtle, that only those involved can truly interrupt the results. Yet the experience will be remembered forever.
In this case the Mental Health pros are simply guides and the true healers are not human. Metaphors for life’s lessons are strangely and accurately delivered by the species known as Equus or the Horse.
Imagine you arrive for your health appointment and as you stand next to your practitioner in walks a heard of horses. They are there with a message for you. Would you be scared, happy or try to hide? No matter what, you would be concentrating on that exact moment.
“It was the most successful method I had ever found” said Lynn Thomas, a mental health professional and the founder/ executive director of EAGALA an Equine Assisted Growth And Learning model of Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP). “I found that people can often find the best solutions for themselves when it comes to mental health. With the EAGALA approach of letting the horses be themselves around people on the ground, it helps people to be able to discover themselves. The horses never fail to bring results.”

Not a horse woman herself, Lynn was so thrilled the program always worked, she was moved to tell the world. Creating her own modality in 1998, she developed a curriculum to mesh the Equine Specialists (Professional Horsemen) and Mental Health professionals into a working team. Extensive training and strict adherence to the EAGALA modalities are mandatory by both to achieve accreditation in the worldwide program.
The process of the method depends on directed metaphors. Connections and team work between individuals in life is a learned skill and horses have worked out the naturally correct method of achieving results. When people mix with horses natural human personalities are shown. In working with the horses using games and props to create outcomes based on trial and error, we learn to connect with flexibility to shift focus and work towards solutions through adaptation.
Scary? Yes it’s scary to people that don’t know horses. The horse never fails to give the appropriate personal understanding every time. It is the unity with the horse that heals. Each participant must process the experience as it plays out in their life.
Styles of workshops and individual practitioners specialize in the different needs and uses of the therapy. Special programs for corporate teams, at risk youth, families, 12 step programs, veterans, personal and spiritual growth or energy are available.
EAGALA is publishing it’s 7th edition training manual this year with translations in both Spanish and German. Their membership currently stands at 3500 caring souls worldwide.