Sounds interesting. I'd keep researching it.

At first, I wonder if putting two "tweaked" beings together might be dangerous. Then again, it might be brilliant. Maybe rehabilitate the horses first and THEN put them with people to show that there's hope???

Only downer I see is the $$$ for liability insurance.

But if you have a dream, keep working toward it! I think it's awesome you're doing it! Maybe it could be a working thesis paper? I'd write it down and show some advisor or someone who knows a bit more. But write it down first, so someone doesn't say it's not good and then steals your idea.

We have such a ranch near my house. There are several in town. I have not been able to mind my manners well enough to volunteer at any of them, but I think they are a wonderful idea.

I have not sorted the memory to a degree I can trust, but I think I might have been a test subject in a 1960s evolution of this theory. I later (?) snuck back into the paddock and mounted the horse I was permitted to ride therapeutically. Big words for a mute child. Even saddle and bit were big and unfocused concepts for me. The horse responded and we were off. An horse rustling posse was formed before we returned. Another traumatic memory was born.

That horse is still in my dreams.

I do know horses heartbeats sync up with those they bond with. if you can have a good match... it could work. I dont mean like any horse to any person. Working with animals is a broad concept and not something I have origionally though of, but i think my idea of how to go about it is origional. It might even be possible to fund it. For some, the therapy could just be being in the barn, away from a typical therapeutic setting. for others, it will involve the animal. Those that wish to can ride or learn to. like i said, i have time to figure it all out. i was just wondering what some thoughts were about it.

I had such emotional neglect that i was heading to be a cold child.Then i wsa sent to live in m y ftaher's cattle ranch and although the abuse to me there got worse, much worse...

Animals taught me empathy.Whatever empathy i have animals taught it to me.I do not know who i'd be if it wsan't for them.

EXACTLY. i grew up with a very abusive mother and constant fighting. but i had my animals. all kinds of them. otherwise i would not know love. My grandmother was my mother figure who loved me, but she committed suicide, as far as i know it was suicide. So animals were all i had, and the forest.

I have PTSD, and had a career as a hospital chaplain in a major trauma center, a hospital in a big midwestern city. It's possible toe be a "wounded healer," as Henri Nouwen called it. It takes humility to continue your own PTSD recovery but also use it to come up alongside patients in their moment of trauma. I commend you; you have great challenges and great rewards ahead of you. Keep us posted.

As to animals & helping people, I served a year as chaplain to a severe Alzheimer's unit. It's not the same as PTSD, of course, but introducing an animal into the unit really helped there, too. In our case it was a gentle black Labrador Retriever who roamed the unit at will. People whose social skills had lapsed brightened up in the pet's presence, and petting the dog soothed them with tactile contact as much as the dog enjoyed being petted.

I can imagine interacting with horses might be similarly beneficial with people like us recovering from PTSD. Not just riding them, but grooming them, caring for them. It all might be rewarding interaction. Good luck as you seek the funding and other needs to make your vision a reality.

Muji

Animals were just something else to feed and worry about, so I didn't want anymore when the kids left home.

In 2009, I had a breakdown and cocooned in our home. The feral cats in our neighborhood looked like they worked so hard at just everyday living, so I started feeding them. Gads, those cats have taught me soooo much: they obviously have "attachment" disorders from not being touched early enough, are hungry for affection, yet resist, need help but are afraid. Sound familiar?

Eventually we caught the fertile ones and had them fixed and then turned them out again. Built them a winter shelter, insulated and and protected them from the weather. Took one of them in, a declawed cat, no less that had anxiety so badly that she needed meds of which we couldn't afford at 69 cents a day! We loved her to wellness and passed her onto to a couple with a quieter home (no grandkids).

So I'm with the rest of ya', abused animals of all kinds and abused people CAN do healing work together!

Best of wishes in your horse adventure.

i think that's a fantastic idea, and i really respect your goal of rescuing and helping both animals and people. noble ambitions and i wish you all the success in the world.

i've always said: those that save animals have halos the size a' texas!

It makes sense that animals can help- much of what we feel is expressed in nonverbal cues. So with animals we can "discuss" the stuff that defies words.

A recent study was done, i might have mentioned this before, where horses heartbeats sync up to be in tune with those they are close with. and its specific people, or specific members of the herd. they don't like everyone, or get along with everyone. its just a beautiful bond when that happens. there is a calming that happens.

I have two horses now to whom i love dearly... we are bonded, but there is another type of bond that im hoping i can find for people and their matched horses. i found this once. it was amazing.

there was this horse of my moms, my heart still breaks for her as my mom did not care for her the way she should have been. the first time i laid eyes on this horse, something happened. she came, put her head in my chest, and it was like i could feel her... i could communicate with her... and she understood me, after a while of riding together, she understood things other horses dont, she was considerate of me. one time i lost my boot in the mud, was hopping around in a foot of mud, she had had a hurt foot, limped over to me. i grabbed on her neck to steady myself, and she took me a few feet over to where i had lost my boot, i grabbed it then she took me to dry ground. if i told her i would let her eat in a field of fresh grass after a long ride, you better believe that she wasnt going to move until she got what i promised. we spent a late night out one day after the sun went down because she was going to get her fresh grass. any other time she would never stop at that field. i dont even know how to explain it. it was amazing. it was like the movie avatar where you are bonded to your animal. i wish she had been mine. i wish i could have kept her. i could feel a similar bond with her offspring as well. The horse I have now we know each other very well. i have had her for 14 years. but its not like that.

I would sign up for that treatment.

I think animals can provide powerful therapy. And the ability to connect with another living thing can be very strong.

Ever see that show "Pitbulls and Parolees"? How pitbulls can create such strong connections with people with criminal pasts because they both face similar discrimination.

One thing I might worry about with horses, is they are very strong and physically powerful creatures how likely is it that a horse will hurt a person who isnt trained in the process? Just playing devil's advocate.