by Cassidy Nunn –
Emily May has been a true “horse girl” from a young age, and began taking riding lessons at seven. When she moved out west to Victoria for university, she was eager to keep horses a part of her life and applied for a part-time job with Victoria Carriage Tours (VCT). In this way, horses continued to be present throughout her undergrad degree at the University of Victoria and while completing her masters in Counselling Psychology. Emily dreamed of pairing her talents with horses along with her passion for psychology, and after some time spent researching a variety of certification programs, she found her calling with Equine Assisted Therapy and went on to complete her Facilitated Equine Experiential Learning Certificate (FEEL) in May 2018. These days she still works a few shifts at VCT, but focuses her energy on her blossoming Equine Assisted Therapy practice at Horse Wisdom Farm in Saanichton. Her business partner, Katarina Sjoblom is the owner of VCT and the beautiful 20-acre farm that 33 horses, some riding, many working carriage and a few retired, call home.
To set the farm up for her practice, Emily converted the laundry room in the horse barn into her discussion room and throughout her FEEL practicum she worked with a few of the retired carriage horses, training them to use in her practice. Percherons Zeke, Sassy and Grey Mollie are her main go-to equine facilitators for the program. No riding is involved in this type of counselling and most of the activities happen on the ground in the large round pen on the farm. To horse people, these face-to-face activities resemble natural horsemanship techniques, but come from a different perspective. Typically, Emily’s clients are not horse people, although she says she has had some of this type of client come to her and they generally leave the sessions having learned to interact with their favourite animals in a different way. Sessions begin with an approximately 40-minute discussion, then an activity with the horse, followed by a debrief. Most sessions are two hours and Emily says she will often see progression after three sessions – something that could have taken closer to 10 sessions in private practice without the interaction with the horses.
Animals are increasingly used in therapy. With horses, Emily says: “the idea is that they are mirrors, so they tend to lend a hand with introspection.” She focuses on promoting better wellness and health through mindfulness-based techniques. When the sessions in the round pen begin, Emily teaches her clients how to approach the horses and ask for their consent: “we only touch the horses after the horse consents to be touched,” she says.
At Horse Wisdom Farm private, group or corporate sessions are all offered and those who would benefit from this type of therapy is anyone experiencing anxiety, depression or PTSD, among other issues. Emily adds that she finds this type of therapy is a great option for those who don’t want to talk that much about themselves.
If you feel that Equine Assisted Therapy might be a good fit for you, you can find out more information and contact Emily through her website: www.horsewisdomfarm.com.
