Equine empowerment

Longtime therapist Cindy Aldrich, of Seavers Brook Farm in Springfield, thinks horses have the power to heal.

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2017-09-08 / Front Page Equine empowerment Farm promotes healing power of horses By KELSEY CHRISTENSEN kchristensen@eagletimes.com Cindy Aldrich stands with Bella, a quarterhorse mix, at Seavers Brook Farm. — KELSEY CHRISTENSENCindy Aldrich stands with Bella, a quarterhorse mix, at Seavers Brook Farm. — KELSEY CHRISTENSENSPRINGFIELD, Vt. — If you have chronic pain, chances are your first thought would be to visit a clinical therapist, where you’d convene in a sterile office and work on techniques for alleviating pain. But, what if the answer to your pain was simply spending time with horses? Longtime therapist Cindy Aldrich, of Seavers Brook Farm in Springfield, thinks horses have the power to heal. “I’ve been a physical therapist for [about] a thousand years, and I’ve come to realize a lot of pain is not only physical, but also emotional that’s held in the body,” Aldrich said. “I teach people about what horses have to teach us: centering, being grounded, and being present in the moment.” Aldrich has been offering healing workshops, Inner Journeys with Horses, through the Wholistic Wellness Center at her farm for four years. Aldrich grew up with horses, but she was never competitive. In 2000, she and her husband began caring for a draft horse team. Aldrich says she became interested in healing with horses when she developed her own back pain. “The best way I had to get over that was to work with the horses,” she said. With Inner Journeys with Horses, there is no riding involved. Rather, the horses coach clients to be more assertive, to be aware of their body, to problem solve, and more. “Horses are really authentic, meaning their outsides match their insides, which is not always the case with people,” Aldrich said. “They’re only interested in what’s in your heart. They’re not interested in what’s in your head.” Inner Journeys with Horses are available through either 90-minute private sessions, or half-day group workshops. Aldrich’s forthcoming workshops will take place Sept. 30, Oct. 28, and Nov. 18. Private sessions are typically available on Thursdays. Aldrich has worked with Melisa Pearce in the Equine Gestalt Coaching method and with Alan Seale in Transformational Presence Coaching to tune her craft. At a healing session, Aldrich uses a number of activities to help clients through their problems. One activity, Meet the Herd, resembles meditation, and requires participants to summon an awareness of their body and discuss what thoughts came up for them in the process. Sometimes, Aldrich will have clients groom the horses, except the exercise isn’t about getting the horses clean as much as it’s about noticing the horse’s response, recognizing what works and what annoys the horse, and establishing a heart to heart connection. In another activity, Aldrich might have a client move a horse around an obstacle course, gradually increasing the amount of liberty the horse has to take the lead. “It becomes a metaphor for things happening in your life,” Aldrich said. “Sometimes you have to start over again, sometimes you go around and around. Sometimes you have to be assertive.” Aldrich says that asserting oneself to a horse creates a memory of what assertion feels like in the body, which the client can then reproduce in their own lives. A lot of times, she says, clients will begin by whining, coaxing, or begging before growing angry and eventually asserting themselves when trying to work with a horse. “It’s really empowering for women to know you can just ask for what you need,” Aldrich said. Not only are horses more responsive to emotion than cognition, Aldrich thinks they are particularly sensitive to changes in energy by nature. “Being prey animals, they are very sensitive to energy. Their personal energy bubble is 15 feet, where ours is three,” Aldrich said. “I believe they are healers themselves.” Aldrich also stresses that fear of horses need not be a deterrent to equine assisted healing. “There’s nothing like working with fear to feel empowered,” she said.