Bournemouth University finds connecting with rescue horses helps young people with anxiety

A new study has found that connecting with rescue horses can help reduce anxiety and improve social skills with young people with anxiety.

Researchers from Bournemouth University have worked with TheHorseCourse in Weymouth to evaluate an intervention for 166 youngsters aged between eight and 18-years-old who experienced multiple mental health and behavioural issues, including anxiety.

By the end of the course, the young people have demonstrated an increased ability to remain calm and focused which was previously not achieved through standard treatment.

Ann Hemingway, professor of public health and well-being at Bournemouth University who led the study with research assistant Kezia Sullivan said: “The young people we worked with would not engage with mental health services or talk-based treatments so there is very little support available for them. TheHorseCourse intervention provides a fun and positive experience for them where they don’t have to keep talking to people about what has happened to them, and they are able to connect with the horses.”

During the programme, the youngsters learnt how to play games with the horses, including pushing a ball, walking under hoops and jumping over small obstacles.

Instructors at TheHorseCourse taught the children to remain calm which is vital to gaining the trust of the animals and being able to play the games.

Professor Hemingway added: “Not all of these young people were calm at the beginning of the intervention, but this course is able to change that quickly and profoundly.

“Afterwards, they had developed a new sense of calmness, and confidence and could express feelings of happiness and achievement, which may not be their experience of learning and development in their everyday lives.”

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Bournemouth University has been working with TheHouseCourse and other centres for several years to research the benefits of equine-assisted learning for mental health and societal issues.

This latest study, which has been published in the Mental Health and Wellbeing journal, builds on growing evidence of its success as an intervention, including how it can help reduce the incidence of domestic violence.

Harriet Laurie MBE, CEO of TheHorseCourse, said: “I think the interesting thing about this way of working is the ability to embed skills such as self-calming, maintaining a strong focus, and even empathy without ever having a therapy conversation.

“We teach all these things as skills rather than seeing them as attributes of character – and it is the relationship-based horsemanship that demands these skills. This gives us a unique and powerful context – it is fun, it is challenging and it is rewarding – achieving beautiful communication with horses and getting psychosocial skills under the radar!”

Featured image via Bournemouth University