equine assisted emdr

Trauma isn't just a bad memory. As psychiatrist Dr. Paul Conti explains, trauma is something that overwhelms our coping skills and changes how our brain functions – affecting mood, sleep, behavior, and how we move through the world.

The challenge with trauma is that our natural responses often work against healing. Guilt and shame cause us to avoid the very thing we need to confront. Our brain gets stuck trying to recreate the traumatic situation, attempting to "make it right" this time – what Dr. Conti calls repetition compulsion.

Why Traditional Talk Therapy Isn't Enough

When logic and emotion collide, emotion wins every time. Trauma lives in the body and the limbic system – the emotional center of the brain – not in the thinking mind. You can understand your trauma intellectually and still be controlled by it.

We need something from outside ourselves to move past trauma. We need new eyes on the problem.

Horses provide what trauma work requires: immediate, honest feedback that bypasses your thinking brain and speaks directly to your nervous system.

A horse doesn't care about your story. They respond to what's happening in your body right now – the tension you're holding, the breath you're not taking, the emotional state you're trying to control. They're 1,200-pound mirrors of your internal state, and they don't lie.

This creates the conditions for healing that therapy rooms often can't:

• Presence over avoidance – Horses demand you be here now, not lost in repetition compulsion
• Body-based processing – Trauma stored in the body gets accessed and released through movement and breath with the horse
• Safety without words – Connection happens before language, allowing processing that goes deeper than talk
• Immediate feedback – The horse shows you when you shift, offering real-time evidence of change

Equine Assisted EMDR

When we combine the power of EMDR – a proven trauma therapy – with the unique feedback horses provide, we create conditions for profound healing. The bilateral stimulation of EMDR helps reprocess traumatic memories while the horse's presence keeps you grounded in the moment.

The Path Forward

Dr. Conti notes: "I have not seen one person who has addressed the trauma but become less functional." Healing doesn't make you weaker. It gives you back the energy you've been spending on survival.

Working with horses doesn't erase what happened. It changes your relationship to it. You walk in carrying what you've been carrying. You walk out different.

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