Veterans’ Therapeutic Partnership with Horses: A Review of the Literature

This article summarizes literature review of current research on the use of equine assisted activities and therapies in the veteran population and provides implications for practice and research. Utilizing electronic databases CINHAL, Medline, and PsychInfo, a search was conducted for studies within the last five years. Search terms included: Equine Assisted Activities (EAA), Equine Assisted Learning (EAL), Equine-Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP), EAP, Equine Assisted Therapy and Veterans. On average, each database yielded eleven to fourteen relevant studies on equine assisted activities and/or therapy and psychotherapy, but most were not related to veterans. Common themes were identified and explored with a secondary search such as: Equine Assisted Psychotherapy in Veterans and Equine Assisted Psychotherapy in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Substance Use Disorders (SUD) and Veterans and Horses. The results showed a gap in veteran equine assisted activity and therapy literature and a lack of theoretical frameworks in published studies related to EAP and EAA.

Keywords:Equine; Equine Assisted Activities and Therapies; Equine Assisted Psychotherapy; Horses; Veterans; Military