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Writer's pictureDr Helen Sharp

A Clarion Call for Togetherness

Helen Sharp reports from a positive day in Enniskillen for the equine assisted riding and the vital neuroscience which proves the method’s potency when it comes to supporting people with additional needs.


Last week CAFRE and One Equine welcomed a packed house to their collaborative event, The Movement of the Horse - Understanding Equine Health, Performance and Training in Equine Assisted Services. “Connecting humans, health and horses” is the motto of One Equine, a charity with a dedicated team of passionate people who share the mission to “deliver positive change in the provision of Equine Assisted Activities throughout Northern Ireland.” Collaborating with CAFRE, and gathering at the Enniskillen equine campus, well over 100 attendees were warmly welcomed with lunch and an opportunity to meet up with friends and colleagues in the Equine Assisted Activities (EAA) sector. This collaborative meeting of both minds and ambitions for EAA is the crux of why the day was so successful.


Invigorating

Split into three topics, presentations covered Equine Movement and Ground - work Training with Rupert Isaacson of Horse Boy Method and Terri Brosnan from ChildVision, Equine Health and Movement with veterinary physiotherapist Clare-Maria Campbell, and Equine Facilitated Therapy Education for Allied Health Professionals deliveredby Ulster University with occupational therapy lecturers Orlagh Daly and Clare McMonagle.


Rupert and Terri delivered an invigorating presentation on therapeutic riding and the vital neuroscience which proves the method’s potency when it comes to supporting people with additional needs. The take home message was that movement of the horse is so much more than just a ride on a pony, science has proven its efficiency in improving motor skills, balance, strength, postural control, coordination and sensory processing to name but a few. The duo also drove home the message of self-care for practitioners and the need for collaboration and kindness within a hugely burgeoning sector at risk of being fractured without solidarity.


There are many calls for regulation within the sector to define a set of professional standards, and rightly so. Equine assisted services covers a wide range of activities including:


Hippotherapy - occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech-language professionals utilise equine movement as a therapy tool;


Therapeutic riding - experienced in- structors with specialist training to work with students with disabilities;


Equine assisted therapy - provided by licensed/credentialed healthcare practitioner who offers services such as counselling for the purpose of treating mental health disorders and improving a person’s mental health;


Equine assisted learning - led by a certified facilitator, these professionals include equine interactions with a focus on wellbeing, self-esteem, relationship building, personal growth, teamwork and academic skills;


Equine assisted psychotherapy - the psychotherapist practitioner incorporates elements from interactions with horses and the environment into their existing clinical approach.


Along with the establishment of the Human Equine Interaction Register and the Accredited Practitioner RegisterTM, some inevitable jostling and questioning as to who ‘governs’ the sector has ensued. Much of the discussion around the CAFRE tables over coffee was focused on the hope that those who see fit to appoint themselves or others in the position of ‘rule maker’ are able to work together for the good of the professionals and the horses in any area of EAA practice.


Feelings were that the sector should not be wrangling over who ‘owns’ it or whose accreditation is better than others, but that what’s needed is a coming together to push the agenda and to do the best possible job to advocate for the value of equine assisted activities to provide a comprehensive, safe and accessible service for those who really need it.


Oxytocin

Clare-Maria Campbell offered us an illustration of the importance of musculoskeletal health for horses working in an equine assisted context. Sometimes overlooked, in terms of fitness, horses undertaking work such as this need to be as fit as any other horse in regular work. They need to be able to transition well and collect, which in turn helps open up the learning receptors of the brain. “When you work at a rhythmic canter, particularly a soft collected canter, you get a euphoric response from the child because that hip-rocking rhythm causes the body to produce the feel-good hormone oxytocin.” Rupert explained. “When the horse is dancing lightly underneath you and rocking your hips like that, whether in piaffe, passage or terre-a-terre [canter on the spot], our bodies get flooded with oxytocin.”


Oxytocin was certainly the order of the day as we were encouraged to practice our silly walks, to play tag and to hug the person next to us – and it worked, looking around the group who were tired and cold at the end of the day, spirits were high and attention was focused after a good laugh and a run about. Point well made.


Orlagh Daly and Clare McMonagle delivered a truly fascinating discus- sion on hippotherapy and on the Ulster University postgraduate certificate in Advancing Practice, Equine Facilitated Therapy, the first Ireland and UK equine facilitated therapy course of its kind. They also shared some case studies that palpably moved the room, evidencing the powerful effect the 2,000 multidi- mensional movements of the horse can have for patients with medical, sensory, physical or behavioural needs, in just one 30-minute session.


Following dinner, The Irish Field’s own Leo Powell led a lively discussion with the panel. Consensus was that healthy horses and healthy people was the equilibrium strived for and by working together to support one another, a healthy sector can achieve great things.










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