These emerging approaches—also sometimes called “emotional horsemanship”—seek to prioritize horses’ emotional worlds in our relationships with them and make space for plenty of equine agency. And the people who engage in and share them range from dressage trainers and saddle fitters to equine-assisted learning facilitators and bodyworkers.

If that sounds broad, it’s because it is. Through the lens of what I will refer to as trauma-informed horsemanship, horses and humans process emotions similarly, and this includes manifestations of stress in the body.

In turn, all of this emotional and physical baggage affects health and behaviors of both horses and humans in our relationships. By opening new channels of communication and seeking to truly listen to ourselves and our horses, these approaches have the potential to give equestrians new insights into why their horse might be uncomfortable or acting out.

The Feedback Circle

Colorado-based dressage trainer Nahshon Cook describes the human-horse emotional relationship as a feedback circle or an energy loop.

People often carry unresolved emotions as tension or even injury in their own bodies. This, in turn, affects how they move on the ground or in the saddle. Perhaps your hips are tight and your horse is unable to move his back freely. Over time, this can lead to both emotional stress and mechanical injury for the horse.

A horse “acting out” in response may trigger fear and more tension in the rider.

“Horses balance their behaviors—often unwanted behaviors—on stuck emotions in our bodies,” says Cook. “They are protecting themselves from trauma in the life of that person.”

Similarly, equines often carry their own history of emotional and physical trauma. And because horses are flight animals, they tend to internalize any resulting distress, regardless of the source.

Distress Due to Trauma

Claire Aitken, a South Carolina-based saddle fitter and equine massage therapist, sees this every day in her work, and must adjust accordingly for truly beneficial results.

“From a therapeutic perspective [before working on a horse], it’s important to take all of their history into account because these traumas that so many of them have, they hold in their body,” says Aitken.

This stoicism, combined with horses’ general tendency toward generosity with and forgiveness of the humans in their lives, makes it easy to miss early signs of discomfort. When we fail (even unintentionally) to respect their subtle attempts to communicate distress, such as opting out of work, for example, you may be driving your equine partner to escalate to behavioral issues that will be heard.

To interrupt this cycle and rebuild it as one with space for recovery, we must learn to listen better to what the horse wants and needs.

Acting with Aggression

When Kim Hallin, the founder of equine facilitated learning company Unbridled, LLC brought her horse Tempo into the world, it was with the intention of having a sport partner.

But the spunky filly was about to challenge everything she thought she knew. From birth, Tempo was not interested in passively following someone else’s path for her. And after a major injury early in life, the stress of recovery led her to develop severe aggression toward humans.

“Horses are flight animals, and [Tempo’s] flight was taken away,” says Hallin.

She explains that Tempo’s injury required frequent, often invasive, treatments and drastic reductions in her physical freedom. It didn’t take long for the young mare to connect humans with a loss of autonomy.

And although Hallin was trying to help Tempo heal, “[I was] the one opening that stall door every day but [not] letting her out. She came to associate humans with a loss of control over her body.”

Even after Tempo regained access to turnout with the herd, she retained her aggression toward humans, charging the fence whenever someone approached. And despite Hallin’s natural horsemanship skills, the situation did not improve. They made progress during training sessions, but interactions outside of those controlled environments triggered her aggression.

“[Training] wasn’t healing our relationship,” says Hallin.

When Hallin recognized Tempo’s behavior as resulting from trauma rooted in unmet emotional and instinctual needs, she was able to ask the horse what she needed and take steps to give her more choices. That is when she started to see real change.

From Shutting Down to Autonomy

Indeed, the fundamental take-home lesson for all of us, regardless of discipline, is probably the importance of autonomy, or providing the opportunity for our equines to consent.

Cook has earned a reputation as someone who works wonders with a horse whose body has shut down—a horse that may not have many options left. The first time he met the 21-year-old horse we’ll refer to as Zeus, the horse reared and struck at him as soon as he stepped into the arena.

When the horse stopped fighting and stood still for a moment, Cook was struck by his physical condition. Zeus’ medical history includes polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM) and completely degenerated suspensory ligaments, among other problems. His pasterns were parallel to the ground, and he was unable to flex to the left due to a large knot at the base of his neck.

Despite this, Zeus had likely spent a long time stoically performing dressage movements for his human before his will and his body finally sent up a vehement protest.

“That was his expectation of what a trainer in the arena was,” says Cook. “He had to protect himself. He did not feel safe in his lessons, so he’d started to turn his body off.” That was what had led his humans to Cook.

It took a year before Zeus was ready for a lesson. But when he eventually opted in, he easily executed a Spanish walk, and happily offered piaffe, both movements that unlocked tension in his back.

“In that moment, he guided me to movement that felt good in his compromised body,” says Cook.

Trauma-Informed Horsemanship Requires Listening for Consent

Trauma-informed horsemanship teaches us that consent is essential, even if we aren’t asking horses for such active engagement or performance.

Hallin sees a need for better consent practices in the world of equine therapy. It is too easy for a horse to shut down in those settings, and that will have negative consequences for horse and human alike.

“Are we re-traumatizing people when we’re having them participate in or observe nonconsensual therapy sessions with the horses?” she ponders.

Aitken is also careful to begin every therapeutic or saddle-fitting assessment by focusing on connection.

“Oftentimes, if there’s a horse that hasn’t been listened to in a while, just being there and listening to what he’s saying is a huge deal,” she says.

The variety of techniques available to modern bodyworkers allows Aitken to adapt to the horse’s wants and needs, whether that is simply synchronized breathing or energy work or physical manipulation of some sort.

Key Takeaway: Finding a Path Forward

As essential as consent is, it’s often just the beginning.

Trauma-informed horsemanship doesn’t stop with just horse or human. Professionals like Cook, Aitken, and Hallin have embraced the approach more as a philosophy than a methodology, using it to shape a holistic lens that considers the whole emotion-body cycle and makes space for healing in horses and their people.

“You don’t have to do anything but honor what [the horses] tell you,” says Cook.

But first, we have to get better at listening.

This article about trauma-informed horsemanship appeared in the October 2024 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post What is Trauma-Informed Horsemanship? appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

On August 8, the deadliest wildfire in the United States in more than a century raced across Maui. The flames, stoked by powerful winds from Hurricane Dora and a high-pressure system north of the island, reduced much of the historic town of Lahaina to ash. Though little could have been done by first responders to stop the flames as they raced east, the heartache and despair felt by Lahaina citizens is real — and one woman, her team, and 14 horses are dedicated to helping them heal.

Paige Deponte, founder of Spirit Horse Ranch, is no stranger to trauma — it’s been the driving force behind the creation of her nonprofit that focuses on helping adolescent and teen victims of abuse address their trauma in a holistic manner, integrating both emotional and psychological aspects of healing.

It became strikingly evident that more than just children needed help after the Maui wildfires.

“There are more than 7,000 people in hotels and interim housing,” Deponte says. “And there has been an increase to more than 500 domestic abuse calls each month since the fires.”

The magnitude of recent events and the depth of people’s distress is manifesting itself in a myriad of negative ways. Knowing that they could help, Paige threw open her barn doors to anyone who had been affected by the fires — children or not.

“What happened in Lahaina wasn’t just the loss of people,” Deponte says. “But the loss of [people’s] entire lives. Their businesses were in Lahaina, their friends and their community… that’s all gone.

All wildfire survivors are grappling with their losses. Some are navigating the system and hoping to rebuild their lives in Lahaina; others feel the overwhelming reality of the arduous rebuilding process. With environmental challenges and cost increases, some Lahaina residents may feel pushed out.

The people involved in the fire are trying to process so many emotions, Deponte says.

“They’re experiencing things like pain, loss, grief and overwhelm; they’re feeling scattered, and confused,” Deponte says.”They feel rage and a loss of identity… the list goes on. I had people come to me who said, ‘I saw things in Lahaina that I don’t want to tell a single soul.'”

The ability to give voice to traumatic experiences is incredibly important to the healing process — it’s the first step in manifestation or forward motion. “They tell the horse what they want… what they really need in their life right now. Once you talk about it out loud, you can manifest it. It’s incredibly powerful for the mind,” Deponte says. “I knew that the horses could hear them. The horses would lift that burden.”

Spirit Horse Ranch uses Trauma Informed Equine Assisted Service, which focuses on partnering with horses to provide a healing environment. What Deponte has found, however, is that many fire survivors simply need a place to grieve. “Some [people] just lay on the horses and they cry. The horse holds space for them,” Deponte says.

Those at Spirit Horse Ranch encourage not just those who lived through the fires to come and heal, but also anyone who was affected emotionally, especially those first responders who were on the front lines trying to save people and structures.

Meeting people where they are is one of the core tenets of equine assisted therapy. “We say ‘Where are you right now?’” Deponte says. “Your response or reaction to trauma today is what we work with.” Many of those who lived in Lahaina had beautiful lives they loved, explains Deponte, and now that’s just gone. “Their mind struggles to handle it.”

Paige — and her 14 four-legged team members — is helping heal all Maui residents affected by the deadly Maui wildfires and showing them that life can be beautiful again.

Click here to learn how you can help Spirit Horse Ranch in their efforts.

This article about Spirit Horse Ranch’s efforts to help those affected by the Maui wildfires is a web exclusive for Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

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