Healing humans with horses

There may be a species and language barrier between humans and horses, but Connie Guthrie and Carol Hollis White say the relationship their addiction patients build with the animals can shed light on their relationships with people.

“In the relationship with the horse, [there are] feelings that would come up in real life that maybe I wasn’t even aware of, and in a therapeutic setting it was safe enough for those feelings to come up. And the horses provide a comfort and a safety,” Guthrie said.

Guthrie, a Mountain Brook resident, and White, a Homewood resident, lead the adventure-based counseling program that is part of UAB’s Addiction Recovery Center. The four-week program includes one day at a climbing wall, one day at a ropes course, a day of acting out scenarios about participants’ family life and a day at Vintage Creek Farm in Sterrett.

Guthrie helped to start the program about four years ago, when she saw the benefits of equine therapy in her own life and wanted to apply it to addiction treatment. 

“I wanted to share it here in Birmingham to people who needed it, especially trauma advisers,” Guthrie said.

White joined the program about a year ago, though she’s been a therapist for about 25 years. Her interest began with her daughter, who attended a Special Equestrians therapy program for a physical disability until she graduated high school. Aside from the physical benefits, White said her daughter felt a deep connection with the horse she rode for years.

“She began to say things like, ‘I can think about something, and he understands it,’” White said.

After her own research and owning a horse, White said she experienced that connection for herself.

“They can tell if a human being is being authentic, or if a human being is safe or wants to go or stop or turn in a circle,” she said.

Part of the healing of the program, Guthrie said, is simply that it’s fun to be outdoors and interact with the horses. However, there are lessons along the way that the participants can apply to the rest of their lives.

One of the first tasks for the addiction recovery participants is to choose a horse and put a halter on it. For some, this means facing a fear of horses, uncertainty about what to do or unwillingness to ask for help. If two participants choose the same horse, they also have to work out whether they’ll share or whether one person is willing to give up the horse or wants to stand his or her ground to keep it.

Guthrie and White’s job is to watch, listen and show their participants how the situation in the barn mirrors their decisions in real life.

“If that’s the only thing they get from the day, that’s huge for somebody who’s never been empowered to ask for what they want, or for someone who’s never shared,” Guthrie said. 

Once the group begins handling their horses, the lessons continue. White said horses are sensitive to humans’ emotions and personality, and it shows in the way they respond. While relationships between humans can be more complex and difficult to understand, she said a horse’s reactions are simple and direct enough for the recovery patients to see things in a new light.

White recalled one participant who was being too passive and having a hard time figuring out how to lead her horse because she was afraid she would hurt it. Because she didn’t set boundaries, White said the horse ended up stepping on her foot.

“She basically let the horse run over her, and it stepped on her foot, which was awful for her, for her foot, but the light bulb went on. She was like, ‘Oh, my God, I get it now. If I do not take care of myself, I get hurt. And I can take care of myself without hurting somebody else,’” White said. 

Guthrie and White said every time they bring a group to the barn, the participants seem calmer and happier on the way back. “And they can verbalize what they learned,” White said.

Guthrie is certified through the American Society of Experiential Therapists and has undergone additional training, specifically for equine therapy. White is working on her certification, as well. They bring groups to Vintage Creek about once every four weeks, but agreed they would like to do so more frequently.

At the barn and throughout the adventure-based counseling program, Guthrie said it is “joyful” to get to help her patients understand their behaviors and how their choices led to addiction, despite being successful students or professionals in many cases. 

“They have a disease, and this kind of work helps them make sense of the choices they’ve made and why they make them,” Guthrie said. “I get to come out here and enjoy myself and watch people make huge shifts, and that’s the most gratifying thing in the world, to feel like I was with someone when they learned something that’s going to change their life,” she added.