MENDIN' FENCES - Equine Assisted Counseling
Providing tools to better manage your life

What Is Equine Assisted Counseling? Equine Assisted Counseling (EAC) utilizes horses to increase each participant's awareness of their thoughts, words, and actions. Through the use of counseling, team building, and equine activities clients learn how to recognize dysfunctional patterns of behavior and how to define healthy relationships.

Why Horses? Because of their ability to observe and respond to non-verbal communication, horses are much more effective at confronting behaviors and attitudes than people. Horses also respond to our physical body language, which conveys more than half of what we mean. In other words, the horse acts as a mirror for the client. So while people might say things like "The horse is stubborn," or "The horse doesn't like me," they soon discover if they change themselves, the horse responds differently.

How Does Equine Assisted Counseling Work? In this type of counseling, the horse acts as a metaphor for relationships, which provides clients the opportunity to look at what works, what doesn’t work, whose needs are being met, whose problem it is, and to take responsibility for recognizing how personal actions affect others. Through their experience with the horse, clients learn to observe and respond to behaviors of the horse instead of staying stuck in their current patterns. Clients also learn about their attitudes toward their temptations or addictions and identify the behaviors that can lead to relapse, handling frustration, challenges, and fear, while also learning healthy communication and problem-solving skills, and solutions that will lead to success.

Note: To protect client confidentiality, Individuals featured in the photos on this page were volunteers and not actual clients.

Examples of Equine Assisted Activities Life's Little Obstacles Temptation Alley Give and Take

Bridlewood Stables & Equestrian Center Bridlewood Stables is located in beautiful Flower Mound, Texas, which is part of one the fastest growing counties in Texas: Southern Denton County. Flower Mound is just 28 miles northwest of Dallas, 25 miles northeast of Fort Worth and three miles north of the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Bridlewood is the host facility for Dr. Trotter's EPIC Training for mental health professionals and her Mendin' Fences Equine Assisted Counseling for clients. For more information and directions, visit the stable's Web site.