30/07/2026
Apparently it is Equine Assisted Services Day 🐴💛 Ill have to pop this one in my calender..
So, naturally, we had to get involved.
“Equine assisted services” is a big umbrella term. Underneath it sit lots of different approaches, including:
🐴 Equine assisted learning
🐴 Equine assisted coaching
🐴 Equine wellbeing coaching
🐴 Equine assisted counselling and psychotherapy
🐴 Therapeutic riding
🐴 Personal development and emotional wellbeing work
They are not all the same, and they should not all be presented as though they are.
Different services need different training, boundaries, qualifications and levels of responsibility.
At Equimotional, our approach is equine wellbeing coaching.
That means we support people to explore things such as:
💛 Emotional awareness
💛 Confidence and self-belief
💛 Relationships and communication
💛 Boundaries
💛 Coping strategies
💛 Self-awareness
💛 Resilience
💛 Connection
We work in a trauma-informed, strengths-based and non-pathologising way.
We do not diagnose people.
We do not pretend horses have magical powers.
We do not place responsibility for someone’s healing onto the horse.
The horse is a partner in the experience.
They can help create opportunities for reflection, curiosity, connection, choice and learning. Sometimes that might look like a carefully planned activity. Sometimes it might be a quiet moment at the field gate. Sometimes it might be realising that the horse has wandered off because your carefully prepared session plan was apparently not on their agenda 😂
The value comes from the relationship, the environment, the practitioner’s skill and the meaning the person takes from the experience.
For us, good equine assisted work should always include:
🐴 Clear boundaries
🐴 Honest claims
🐴 Consent and choice
🐴 Safeguarding
🐴 Horse welfare
🐴 Appropriate training
🐴 Respect for the person in front of us
So, happy Equine Assisted Services Day from all of us at Equimotional to all the clients , horses & facilitators!
Many approaches.
Many possibilities.
And always, horses as partners, not therapists. 💛🐴
Love Charlie & Flick