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Benefits
Research have demonstrated that EAL has positive impacts on participants’ Mental Health and Behaviours. Horses are exceptional teachers, they can detect and respond to humans’ subtle nonverbal messages and reflect our emotional state back to us in a comparable way, acting as mirrors. Trained facilitators are then able to interpret the horse's nonverbal communication and provide participants with opportunities to develop positive behaviors, therefore creating life altering change.
Partnership with horses provides long-term mental health through emotional wellbeing and nervous system regulation. (Hemingway, A. (2020). Understanding equine assisted interventions, The role of emotional learning Research OUTREACH, 115)
Horse-based learning built into class schedules has been demonstrated to have lasting positive effects on both wellbeing and academic achievement, leading to progressive improvement in character skills and grade-point average (Ho, N. F., Zhou, J., Fung, D. S. S., & Kua,P. H. J. (2017) Equine-assisted learning in youths at-risk for school or social failure. Cogent Education, 4).
Horses have been shown to help patients suffering from trauma experience bonding, reduce psychological distress, and improve well-being (Herbette, Guilmot, & Heeren, 2011; Yorke, Adams, & Coady, 2008).
Learners with autism demonstrated improved communication, imagination, empathy, motivation, calculation skills, responsibility, and well-being while interacting with animals. (Zenega, Phillips, Nyashanu Ekpenyong (2021) Exploring the Impact of Animal Involvement in the Learning Experiences of Learners Mainly With Autism in the English West Midlands Region: A Qualitative Study)