Ever wonder how a horse could help you cope with grief, trauma and emotional pain? Turns out, horses possess an evolutionary advantage that enables them to pick up on our most subtle emotions, while at the same time not being judgmental and even uncovering emotional blind spots. That means they are the ideal tool for teaching people how to deal with everything from a life-ending diagnosis and physical death of a loved one to miscarriage, divorce and much more.
“As a prey animal, horses don’t rely on vocalization to communicate, because using sound would give away their position to a predator,” says Gail Carruthers. An equine-guided learning teacher, she founded and owns Skye Blue Acres, a 187-year-old farm in Puslinch, Ontario, Canada where she operates a non-clinical Equine Learning Center — called the Equine Intelligence Agency — that helps clients manage grief and major life losses.