It’s likely that you’ve heard of emotional support dogs.
But have you ever heard of emotional support horses?
It’s a thing. Not only are they beautiful creatures, but they are also believed to have healing abilities.
Meet onyx. A 13 yo thoroughbred. This is Stephanie’s emotional support horse. She is in the Army National Guard now and…
Posted by Dianne Ritchie Spelter onTuesday, July 27, 2021
“Horses also have an incredible healing power, and they help countless people every day through equine therapy. Equine therapy is emotional healing encouraged by interaction with horses. This helps people with various needs, ranging from anxiety and depression therapy to therapy for people on the autistic spectrum,” Horse Nation writes.
Horse Nation explains that when a human spends time with a horse, their heart rates sync up.
Horses have heart rates that generally beat slower than a human who is feeling anxious. A slower heart rate can help a human feel calmer.
“To promote social harmony and keep the herd together, horses possess a number of evolutionary hardwired qualities. These include: being accepting, tolerant, kind, respectful, honest, fair, non-judgmental, compassionate, and forgiving. All of these innate equine qualities are also utilized when a horse interacts with a human,” a study explains.
Equine therapy is said to help with building self-worth, improving communication, building trust and self-efficiency, socialization, and learning to respect and establish boundaries.
As a result, it has been used as a complementary therapy to help treat anxiety, addiction, depression, PTSD, pain, and fatigue.
“Without a doubt, spending time with horses has an incredible healing power that can help just about anyone. Whether it takes form in spending a day roaming the hills and fields or passing a few hours grooming and feeding in the stables, horse and human share an amazing bond,” Horse Nation Writes
Horses are said to also be able to read the body language of humans, even when they don’t know the human, which is helpful in a therapeutic setting.
“Horses can tell the difference between dominant and submissive body postures in humans, even when the humans are not familiar to them, according to a new University of Sussex-led study,” Science Daily reports.
The girl in the viral video below may have been familiar with this type of sensitivity in horses.
She decided to pretend to be sad to see how her horse would react.
The video shows her setting up her phone in a barn and sitting down on the dirt floor while the horse is having a drink or eating. She starts to pretend to cry which causes her horse to eventually look up and over at her.
The horse picks up a piece of hay and slowly walks it over to her sorrowful owner.
The horse gives her the hay, then gently nuzzles her mom’s leg.
The horse eventually puts her face toward her mom’s face to comfort her.
It’s truly amazing to see how intuitive and loving these animals are.
The video ended up being viewed almost 12 million times on YouTube.
You can watch the incredible reaction of this horse in the video below.
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