"Equine therapy can provide an adoptee with a full-circle form of treatment that can touch upon each one of the seven core issues they might face, plus many more. These seven issues are as follows, and can be addressed with equine therapy in the following ways:
- Loss – By working with a team of professionals and establishing a relationship with a horse through equine ground exercises, adoptees can begin getting settled in an environment where they feel comfortable discussing their feelings of loss and begin addressing them.
- Rejection – It can be easy for an adoptee to feel rejected by their biological family, so equine therapists can help them begin to develop a relationship with their horse that is reflective of their efforts to make the relationship successful. This can show them that in many cases, they will get in return the efforts that they put into their relationships, making them less fearful of rejection in the future.
- Guilt/Shame – Feelings of guilt and shame surrounding their abandonment can cause an adoptee to carry these emotions with them like a burden. Similar to dealing with loss, working with a therapist and a horse simultaneously can allow an adoptee to open up about their emotions in ways that allow both of them to address the issues with purpose.
- Grief – Grief can quickly make an adoptee slip into depression, therefore their participation in equine therapy can be hugely beneficial, as it keeps them active both mentally and physically, and provides them with an outlet for emotional distress.
- Identity – Equine therapy, its exercises, its counseling and the horse’s overall power of delivering an emotional connection can greatly improve an adoptee’s self-esteem. By doing this, equine therapy can help an adoptee develop their own sense of identity, rather than feeling like they do not have one as a result of their adoption issues.
Intimacy & Relationships – It can be complicated for an adoptee to get close to others, as they are fearful of being abandoned once again. Therefore, similar to how equine therapy works on addressing rejection, it can help an adoptee develop strong communication skills, establish understanding of others and learn the true value of relationships so they can prevent withdrawal from friends, family and significant others.
- Control – Because most adoptees have nothing to do with their adoption or their abandonment, many of them can begin to naturally desire to control everything around them to prevent anything else life shattering from occurring. Working one on one with a horse can quickly show an adoptee that they cannot control everything because horses are often confident enough in themselves to push back when someone tries to negatively control their behaviors. This allows adoptees to understand positive control and learn how to apply it to their lives." http://herdbyahorse.com/2013/04/12/treating-adoption-issues-with-equine-therapy/
