We continue to study the psychology of human-horse interaction. This time we decided to delve into a rather complicated but interesting topic - "Ippovence". What is it, and how is it related to horses (or - what role is assigned to horses)?

We talked with our expert - Irina Dolmatova-Eggers, a certified specialist in Hippoventia (UK), Program Director of IFEEL Method (personal development and psychotraumatology with horses) in Europe and co-founder of EQUILOGY in Russia!

1) What is hippovention?

The term "hippovention" itself was proposed by Hans-Jürgan Bareiss in Germany as part of the "human-horse therapeutic interaction" model back in the 90s of the last century. He combined psychological assistance, psycho-correction, socialization, development of personality and skills with the participation or help of horses. In Russia, this term was first introduced in the research works of O. Lopukhova and K. Gazizov. Although corporate trainings with the participation of horses and other programs have already been held before. They just didn't call it that.

An interesting fact is that the term "hippovention" has not taken root in the international space. Here, the division into equine-facilitated (assisted) learning and equine-facilitated (assisted) psychotherapy is widespread - training and psychotherapy with the help or assistance of horses. But there is also a tendency to move towards one unifying term abroad.

Since hippovention is a direction of activity, it includes different methods of work, approaches and techniques of influence, from psychotherapeutic modalities to training and coaching.

Also different is the way the horse is involved and its role.

The horse can act as an object, the presence of which helps to create "challenges" for the client, as well as enhance human psychological and emotional dynamics. Here, horses can be the object of human projections, or the object of our behavior, body language, and state. Quite often you can hear that the horse is a mirror, with which I do not agree at all, since the horse is a living and feeling being. And there are also approaches where horses are taught in advance some tricks that the client can repeat under certain conditions and conditions.

In contrast, the horse can act as an independent entity.

Here the main thing is the ability and ability of the horse to make his decisions, being a "person" of another species. In such cases, the interaction in the session is built not so much according to the rules of a given exercise or element, but also based on the needs, the current state of both the person (client) and the horse, and the contact between them, which is always unique, comes to the fore. .

With such involvement, the horse is not “assigned” by the mirror, because initially we accept that the horse reacts in his own way and that he already has some state before meeting us, he may have his own tasks, desires and reactions, and we allow to manifest itself through interaction. That is, we receive feedback from a living being, and at the same time we work with the interpretation of the client. Of course, it is important to train a horse to communicate with a person in order to ensure safety. And this is a different communication format and a different approach to horse training. I call this "learning" the horse to show its agency (subjectivity) with people.

Agency (Agency) - the ability of an individual to act independently, to make their own free choices or to act on their own

By the way, it has been confirmed that horses perceive us as other creatures, show their behavior in different ways and interact with us than with relatives. That is, for them we do not become another horse in the herd, but remain exactly a man, a different species of mammals. And the contact takes place between two different individuals.

So depending on what role the horse has, the method of work, the approach to organizing the sessions, the ethics, managing the welfare of the horses and their training, and even which horses can participate will depend.

2) Where did this direction come to Russia from?

One could answer that this direction came to Russia exclusively from abroad (USA, Australia or Europe). Somewhere in the early 2000s. there were people who themselves studied according to a separate standard abroad and then transferred it to Russia.

But nevertheless, cooperation with specialists in Russia revealed that we also have completely original developments and approaches that first appeared in people in Russia based on their experience and interest (hippotherapy, working with children and people), and then knowledge was accumulated in focus and skills, including applying Western developments and publications.

3) What is its difference from hippotherapy?

Hippotherapy is an impact on physiology due to the biomechanics of the horse and the transmission of impulses from its movement to a person sitting or lying on it. It clearly defines what kind of horse should be, size, quality of step, and so on.

Hippovention is aimed at solving the psycho-emotional problems of a person (adult or child). Moreover, the key is that the interaction with the horse is managed (facilitated) by a specialist (psychologist, psychotherapist, specialist in pedagogy or coaching). By itself, communication with a horse in the stable or in the field, without purposeful interaction that develops or affects the human psyche, cannot be considered hippovention.

4) What is the effectiveness of hippovention?

I would single out just two vectors on which the effectiveness of sessions depends.

The first is directly the qualification of a specialist and the ethics of his work. For example, when choosing a psychologist, you are unlikely to want to deal with difficult situations in the family to a high school teacher. You will probably be looking for a psychologist or psychotherapist with experience in family relationships, as well as hippovention.

And the second vector is the role of the horse and the way it is involved, as far as the specialist knows the psychology and modern knowledge of the behavior of horses, as a different species.

The added benefits of horse participation in sessions are many and can be used in a variety of ways by hippoventiologists.

Features of the life and functioning of the herd as a single organism, their social connections, the work of the nervous and stress-regulatory systems of horses play their role.

Horses are naturally highly sensitive to changes in those around them and in their environment. Therefore, through the reactions and behaviors of horses, we receive the necessary feedback without human filters.

And by trying other response strategies, managing the state, a person can be aware of significant changes and learn new things, live his emotional experience.

Sessions with horses cannot be held in a psychologist's office. Therefore, a person travels to other conditions, changes the environment in which he is used to using protective mechanisms.

In addition, the horse is a living being, it 'touches our heart', helping to manifest the deep that we "successfully" hide from ourselves. It is often easier to entrust something to a horse than to another person.

These are still beautiful and large animals, and we can feel special affection for them, or vice versa, shyness. Our attitude towards horses, based on cultural characteristics, embedded meanings, our projections - all this influences and allows the specialist to create different challenges to achieve the goals that the client has addressed.

There are studies saying that the presence of horses can reduce a person's stress level. But be aware that there are also studies indicating that human stress can be transferred to horses, and this becomes a matter of animal welfare and the ethics of their involvement, even when the work is 'in the wild'. Other behavioral and psychological dynamics may arise between man and horse at the level of the nervous and limbic systems.

That is why the qualification of a specialist is still in the first place. What kind of contact with the horse it will help to create for the client, what will manifest itself during the session, and how it will be processed and integrated - the effectiveness of the session depends on this in aggregate.

5) What kind of clients turn to such specialists and horses for help? Do the horsemen turn?

Here, as in psychology, psychotherapy or developmental programs, the person himself is faced with a choice of whom to turn to, given his task. You need to look at what is offered, whether it matches your request (for example, building relationships or reducing anxiety), and whether the specialist has the qualifications and experience needed in your situation.

As for the members of the equestrians. It's different here. I know there are approaches to hippovention where the horse has to create a 'wow' effect that stimulates the nervous system and emotions. This helps to enhance perception and memorization of the experience given by the leader. These equestrian approaches are likely to work differently. In other methods, where the 'wow' effect is not excluded, but not the goal itself, and the specialist focuses and controls other processes and dynamics, it does not matter at all how much experience you have with horses.

For example, within the IFEEL Method, we create interaction through contact with the horse, understanding the work of neuro-perception, our own and the horse's nervous system and emotions, accepting the horse as a sympathetic and independent subject. Professional equestrian athletes, stable owners and those who could only meet a horse from a distance or in a picture can participate in our programs (and participate).

6) What dynamics in the development of hippovention do you note in Russia and the CIS countries? What are the difficulties of development in your opinion?

I remember when I became interested in this topic in 2015 (before that I worked as a project manager and top manager in large companies, and as an amateur I was engaged in show jumping), in Russia I found single offers. Now there are author's directions, more people are interested in this topic, more articles are being published.

I believe that hippopotence is a very promising direction for the development of the horse industry in general, as well as for improving the quality of life for ourselves and our horses.

Horse owners, riders and people in general have more opportunities to create and collaborate with the natural world.

As well as abroad, the key difficulty is in the education and assessment of the qualifications of specialists. This area of activity is not regulated in any way. And because of its diversity and capabilities, against the background of good specialists, there are those who discredit it for the sake of quick money or some other personal goals.

For example, activities in hippotherapy both in Russia and in the world are already well regulated, there are associations that control the quality of qualifications and services, train and license specialists.

In Ippovencia, only in some countries, and only in recent years, regulatory organizations have begun to appear and developments are underway that will help people navigate the training and services offered in the future.

In the meantime, you need to independently research the offers and ask questions to understand what exactly you will purchase. And it is not necessary to judge all activities by one session, and that everyone will turn out to be exactly the same, since impovencia is not a specific method, but a multitude of directions and approaches.

7) Are there centers or specialists in hippovention in Russia?

Yes, they do exist, within the framework of the Equilogy project we published a series of interviews with some of them on our website (this is our contribution to the development of hippovention in Russia). And also thanks to our research when creating these interviews, we learned that there are those specialists who are not yet ready to go on “public viewing”, but they also conduct interesting programs for children and adults.

8) Is it possible to combine with other psychological practices, for example, art therapy?

Combining with hippovention from other directions works very well. You can perfectly combine hippovention sessions with developing and creative practices, with mindfulness practices, you can also create complex combinations with psychotherapy, hippotherapy, palliative care and geriatrics. Which again shows that the word hippopotence can open up very different work under itself.

Even training in equestrian agility, working with a horse in hand or on horseback, can be combined with hippovention.

9) Where can I get training for this direction? Are there professional development courses in Russia?

There are no accredited educational programs in Russia yet. But there are already author's courses, master classes, seminars and conferences on this topic. Therefore, to start the journey and study the topic, there is already much more information than, for example, 5 years ago.

If this profession is of interest, I would recommend that you first understand in which area and with which clients you want to work (children or adults, families, clinical cases or developmental programs, etc.). Then you need to determine how your interest matches your current qualifications, whether you already have a psychological education in the right area.

The main thing, in my opinion, is to remind yourself that even if you do not find 100% suitable training directly in hippovention, you can create your own author's method by undergoing versatile training in the areas you need.

For hippovention, along with knowledge in the field of human psychology, in my opinion, it is very important to have knowledge in the field of psychology, ethology and well-being of the horse, as well as in the field of psychology of human and horse interaction.

It also helps to determine what kind of interaction with horses is important for you.

If you have a good knowledge of English, then even more opportunities open up for you, because thanks to the pandemic, many internationally respected and truly deep schools have adapted their programs for distance learning.

10) Tell us about your most interesting experience with a hippovention session.

I will be banal and say that every experience of a session or a multi-day program is unique and interesting for me. Although I remember one episode that I want to share with readers.

This topic is very acute, both between people and between a person and a horse - these are personal boundaries.

The incident happened during a 2-day workshop in Munich on the basis of a private farm. We worked according to the IFEEL method.

Then 2 horses were supposed to participate, who live together and are friends almost from birth. On this farm, the horses live in an open stable in a group, they decide when to walk, eat, drink, stay in the house, etc. But, as always, life is unpredictable, and one horse needed help and “shelter”.

And then an elderly Arabian gelding unexpectedly 'bursts' into peaceful life from two Andalusian mares, literally two weeks before the workshop, and this is a very short time for the formation of a stable group.

People from different countries from Great Britain to Qatar gathered for the workshop, and it was already impossible to reschedule.

Of course, the new gelding excited the ladies, but at the same time he paid attention to only one of them, trying to avoid the other.

This other one's name is June. June is a bright red-haired “girl”, she reacted very violently to the new gelding, driving him away from herself and repelling her friend from him, sometimes even showing notes of aggression. We must pay tribute to the gelding, he behaved with full dignity and knowledge of the 'eastern man', so even with a storm of emotions, everything happened safely inside the already new herd.

An interesting incident occurred during the practice, where the participant needed, guided by new knowledge and understanding of herself and the experience gained in the work of the nervous system (we discussed before), to determine the contact zone, which is equally acceptable for a person and for a horse.

Jun, upon seeing a person in her space, immediately went to the participant and quite quickly. The participant, in response, showed where her border was, and June stopped one and a half meters away. The participant herself did not come closer, but remained in her place. Then June tried to move forward with her body, but she saw the same signal from the man. June stayed where she was. But suddenly she folded her ears back and sharply turned her head towards the man. In the same way as to the gelding, when she tried to drive him away (and he already allowed himself to take his time to leave).

The participant, on this 'gesture' from the horse, took half a step back, thereby saying, “I understand you and give you the right space.”

Everyone who watched noticed how for almost a minute (and this is a lot) the horse thought. She stood in her place, tilting her head slightly and 'chewing'. Then June looked at the participant again ('ears forward'), and a second later, without moving, she turned her ears back (slightly) and stamped her front foot. The contestant stepped back again, already taking a full step. A new phase of 'thinking' followed with the horse. But not for long.

Then, every time June repeated the “go away” signal with different variations of body language, the participant walked away.

After that, there was a short pause again, and June decided to approach the participant herself. June moved calmly, and the participant allowed to approach, but stopped the horse with a signal at a distance of about a meter, and the horse followed the signal. But a second later she stamped her foot again. To which the participant has already moved a distance of about 3 meters. The horse began to 'chew' again with her head down, and the participant decided to end this practice. Next, the client and I began to work through her experience.

Analyzing this experience, the client was able to live those behavioral and emotional patterns that her psyche successfully concealed from her in dealing with people. For example, one of the discoveries was that the client could not make concessions in pursuit of a goal, and this often provoked difficulties in relationships with colleagues or loved ones. Already in the next practice with another horse, the client was able to find and try a different strategy of behavior for herself, to understand exactly how she can recognize her reactions with people, and how she can apply the new experience in life.

What about June?

The involvement of horses as subjects can also be different. Within the framework of the IFEEL Method, we build work at the level of the subject of generative interaction (according to the egopsychological approach).

In life, June was accustomed to close borders with people, and she also created the most tension in the group of horses.

To be honest, in relation to the boundaries of people, her quick approach and close contact was encouraged by the people themselves. We often seek physical contact with animals through petting and touching. In horses, in nature, this is not the basis for attachment, as it is with us.

After this practice, the owner, MCs, and members noticed that Jun suddenly became calmer even as people approached. She seemed to feel the space around her differently (her own boundaries), she began to observe people, and not try to poke them with her nose and reach out to everyone through the fence. Even in the relationship of their new group of three, there was less tension.

On the second day of the workshop, we did not involve June in order to give her the opportunity to 'digest' the experience, because the additional contact of a person experiencing some kind of internal discovery can become an extra emotional burden for the horse.

This is not the only case when, due to the fact that we begin to listen and understand the signals of our horses about their boundaries, the quality of our contact and relationship with them changes for the better.

And this story has become very expressive in its manifestation.

Remembering her, I always return to the question, how often do we riders come across the words that the horse does not respect us and that we must first of all defend our borders?

Yes, and from psychologists, we often hear that the most important thing is to say 'no', although with the said 'no' we continue to experience difficulties in relationships.

Working in hippovention, I realized how deep and multi-layered this topic is. And that one "no" is not enough.

As with humans, the topic of personal boundaries is underestimated in our relationships with horses. For me, personal boundaries are not about the ability to say 'no', but about the ability to hear each other and say when 'yes'.