Horse therapy: RI charities step in as VA falls short
Veterans Voice
I was intrigued when John Cianci told me about the February luncheon at the Tiverton VFW Post. The special guests were … horses!
Yep, full-size, honest-to-God horses walked into the VFW, led by Carol Ann Silva, who runs the Medicine Horse program at her nearby Silva Spirit Farm. She wanted to introduce veterans to equine therapy, which uses horses to help treat post-traumatic stress disorder.
William Patterson studies the behavior of horses. “A utilitarian partnership, primarily centered around work and transportation, has evolved into a connection that encompasses companionship, sport, therapy, and more,” he wrote.
As I dug further – especially into the VA role in equine therapy – my colleague Greg Sullivan wrote a piece for the March 7 Providence Journal on the topic. He mentioned veteran participation funded by charities such as United Way of Fall River and the Rhode Island Foundation. So why wasn’t the local VA financially supporting these services?
First, I wanted to verify I was on solid ground in advocating for these programs.
Patterson wrote, “Interacting with horses can have a range of psychological benefits, including reduced stress, increased self-esteem and improved mood. … Equine-assisted therapies treat conditions such as anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.”
In 2022, Columbia University published a study in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry showing that using the connection between people and horses can jump-start the healing process for veterans who suffer from PTSD.
“Through horse-human interaction, veterans can relearn how to recognize their feelings, regulate emotions and better communicate,” said Dr. Prudence Fisher, lead investigator.
By their nature, horses are skittish, and so are people with PTSD. “This presents an opportunity for veterans to recognize and understand fear responses,” she added.
Her colleague, combat veteran Dr. Yuval Neria, said, “We have a perfect storm where both the human and the animal are preoccupied with the same problem.
“Horses are naturally responsive to verbal and nonverbal cues and thus provide good feedback to the veterans about how they are communicating,” continued Neria.
Unlike with dogs, which grant love unconditionally, relationships with horses must be earned, the researchers noted.
Fisher concluded, “Veterans relearn how to build trust and how to trust themselves again – valuable tools to help them succeed with family, work and social relationships.”
Who provides equine therapy in Rhode Island?
A quick internet search showed Medicine Horse was not the only source of equine therapy locally.
Dare to Dream Ranch in Foster offers a number of recreational therapy options for veterans, including fly fishing, woodworking and horticulture, in addition to equine therapy.
Beachwood Integrative Equine Therapy (IET) started in Charlestown and now has centers in four other states. Instead of going to a hospital or sitting in an office, veterans do their therapy work at a horse farm in South County.
Executive director Lynne Phipps told me Brown University researchers concluded that Beachwood’s process “helps people heal from anxiety in one-third of the time and at one-third of the costs of traditional therapies.”
Phipps described a Marine with PTSD who bonded with Beachwood’s horse, Pikksie Wish. After just 10 sessions, the Marine said, “This changed my life. This saved my life.”
Last year Rhode Island PBS visited Veterans Equine Therapeutic Services,