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Hope For A
Child, by Garry
Stauber
 Anyone who
reads these articles with any regularity knows that I am a true sap. A
disgrace to all that manhood stands for, and I am well aware of it. I
don’t think I have always been a sensitive wimp, but somehow it
happened. Like most men, I stay far away from chick flicks, but I only do
it to keep from crying. It might be age that brought on my annoying
sensitivity. Maybe it’s because I now have a granddaughter. When
she calls me “Gupa”, I melt with just the sound of her voice. But I am
a sap, and that’s what I am, so I apologize in advance for the following
sappy story. I have a column to write, and here goes.
This week I read an article on www.indolink.com.
It was written by
E. Creely, who recently was looking through old photos she kept in a
cardboard box. Ms. Creely stumbled across the photo of a nine-year-old
girl that she had kept over the years. Time had erased the young girl’s
name from her memory, but not the memories of the sweet innocence of the
girl. I could never do her story justice but briefly, she had met this
young girl and introduced her to a horse in a pasture across the street.
It appeared the girl had no other friends. So she would take the child
over and they would pet, groom and play with the horse together. They had
received permission from the horse’s owner and she shared many happy
days with the young girl and the horse. In hindsight, Ms. Creely wished
she had spent more time with the young girl, but she moved on as people
do.
The point of the story is that Ms. Creely now wondered the fate of this
young girl. How hard had the world made her? Or had those few brief
moments in time with the loving horse and a friend had positive impact on
this fragile young child?
Ms. Creely writes, “I like to believe that her fate had been changed by
that horse and that no name-calling occurred and that she never rebelled
against her vulnerable, sweet and developing 9-year-old self. No goth
years, no dreadful makeup, no trading in affection for sex, no booze. No.
No. No. Just a girl who became a woman because of a horse. So simple, so
good, so there . . . “
"Doc, it all started when I was a child.."
Illustration by Jessica Young
What a wish! Did it come true? We will probably never know. But the impact
of kindness and the love of a horse is powerful. You see, I know a young
boy who had a horse. It wasn’t a horse that would catch the attention of
an equine expert. In fact, this horse had no great heritage or papers or
pedigree. Its conformation was less than perfect. It didn’t even have a
special name. Like many horses of that era, she was named
Flicka, in honor of the equine heroine of the long-running TV show and
movie.
But the horse was gentle and the young boy loved her very much. He would
spend hours climbing on her back, pulling her mane, lifting her legs and
just rubbing her. He would play on her back for hours, in a fantasy world
where he was a cowboy doing cowboy things while she stood perfectly still.
He would play with her for so long his grandmother would have to tell him
to give the horse a break and put her away for a while. Ironically, Flicka
never seemed to mind and always looked forward to coming out to play with
the boy. She may not have been special to anyone but to the boy, she was
his best friend.
Ms. Creely, you may never know the outcome of the life of your
nine-year-old friend. But psychologists today tell us that touching and
caressing animals is a powerful form of therapy. Humans give and receive
love from animals that they are unable to receive from humans. This is why
equine-facilitated therapies are becoming so popular.
In fact, animals can play a huge part in the process of healing for most
mental illnesses. Animals are used to help wounded humans start the
“socialization process,” which is vital in healthy human development.
In many therapeutic programs, clients are given the responsibility of
caring for a plant or small garden, and then progress to smaller and
later, larger, animals. The ultimate desire is for the client to
develop social skills, including empathy and concern for the welfare of
others, and to take responsibility for interacting in socially acceptable
ways.
Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy and Equine Experiential Learning are now
becoming very popular in the U.S. But they were probably founded in
Germany. Three hundred years ago, two German physicians, Gerard van
Swieten (1700-1772) and Anton de Haen (1704-1776), believed horses were
very valuable for the treatment of mental illness. Germany has been at the
forefront of the movement to standardize therapeutic riding, including
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP). By 1977, Germany had developed
a basic model of therapeutic riding. Dr. Wolfgang Heipertz, the author of
“Therapeutic Riding, Medicine, Education, and Sports” stated that the
activity of equine therapy was designed to "motivate, diminish
anxieties, develop trust, learn self-evaluation, self-esteem as well as
socialization skills.”
The United States has been slower in recognizing the value of equines in
the treatment of mental health issues. The primary focus of
therapeutic riding programs from 1960 through the 1980's was for the
physically disabled. The Equine Facilitated Mental Health
Association (EFMHA) was formed in 1993, as a section of the North American
Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA). With the founding of EFMHA,
standardization for equine-facilitated psychotherapy has begun and
insurance carriers are now beginning to pay for equine-facilitated
treatment.
Martha McNiel is the founder of DreamPower
Horsemanship, a NARHA Member
Center providing Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy. She says, “One
of the values of using horses is that clients can be 100% who they are in
front of the horse, and receive honest feedback from the horse. If
the person has caring, loving feelings they want to express, the horse
will receive those feelings with an open heart. But if the client is
feeling angry or deceitful, the honest horse will reveal that right away,
too. A horse is an amazingly accurate biofeedback machine.
Horses show us what is really going on inside ourselves.”
One of the keys for human growth and healing is the acknowledgment and
honest expression of feelings. Horses provide a visible way for
humans to learn about themselves, their inner feelings and relationships.
For example, if a person struggles with anger management, working with a
horse can help the person learn how to control their anger in order to
successfully gain the horse’s cooperation. An anti-social teenager
can learn how to control his aggressive behavior and become more patient,
as he learns to work with a horse.
Every one of us knows a story about how an animal, or a horse
specifically, has touched someone’s life. But what you may not have
known, Ms. Creely, was that you were actually doing a form of equine
therapy with your young neighbor. You were helping her to grow and mature
into a happier, healthier human being. The behaviors you were
developing in that young child were building her self-esteem and
socialization skills. So you have reason to be hopeful for her future.
As for that little boy with Flicka, I happen to know how he turned out. He
had his share of hard times. He certainly didn’t grow up to be anyone
famous, he did not become a president or a movie star. But he learned to
love and care for others. He has become Chairman of the Board of an Equine
Facilitated Psychotherapy program and donates a day a week with his
horses to work with troubled teens. But today he is just an ordinary guy
who, like most horse people, tries to help when he can, loves his kids and
his wonderful granddaughter that calls him Gupa.
Thank you, Ms. Creely, for the wonderful story you have written about your
friendship with this young girl. It touched me. But most of all, thanks
for caring for a young child and for touching her life.
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Copyright Garry
Stauber © 2004 All rights reserved. The above article is
the property of the Author and may not be duplicated or redistributed in
any way without permission. Visit Garry on-line at Dream Adventures.
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