July 15 is “I Love Horses” day, the perfect time to celebrate the importance of horses in Equine Assisted EMDR Therapy.

Healing in Motion: Insights from Equine-Assisted EMDR With a Neurodivergent Youth

Guest Blog Post by Elizabeth Warson, PhD, ATR-BC, LPC

In trauma recovery, healing often occurs through the body before it can be expressed in words. For individuals with neurodevelopmental differences, like Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), somatic and experiential therapies offer particularly potent avenues for integration and growth. Over the course of 10 Equine-Assisted Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy sessions, a 10-year-old Indigenous client diagnosed with ASD demonstrated profound healing movements through an approach that blended bilateral stimulation, relational attunement, and body-based resourcing—all within the dynamic partnership of horse and human using EquiLateral™ Protocol (Jenkins, 2022).

Early engagement and somatic connection: Sessions 1–3

In the initial sessions, the client actively engaged with the horse through tactile, proprioceptive, and vestibular experiences. Activities included braiding the horse’s mane, riding bareback, and experimenting with novel seated positions, all of which provided critical sensory input. These embodied interactions support nervous system regulation, a foundational need for individuals with ASD (Grandin, 2022).

Positive emotional states, such as “confidence” and “pride,” were resourced early through bilateral tapping integrated with horseback movement, a key intervention strategy emphasized in EquiLateral™ (Jenkins, 2022).

Dysregulation and emerging boundaries: Sessions 4–6

By the middle of the intervention period, patterns of dysregulation surfaced, often linked to interpersonal conflict narratives involving family members. Resistance, expressed through repeated “No” responses, indicated a healthy exploration of boundary setting, a critical developmental task in trauma recovery (Porges & Dana, 2018).

Despite emotional challenges, the client maintained somatic connection strategies: gripping the mane, switching physical orientations on the horse, and using movement to self-soothe. These behaviors align with current polyvagal-informed approaches emphasizing co-regulation through safe, embodied engagement (Porges & Dana, 2018).

Play, boredom, and trauma symbolism: Sessions 7–9

Later sessions revealed expressions of boredom alongside increased impulsivity and imaginative play. The client’s development of a self-initiated “rollercoaster” tapping pattern across the horse’s neck offered a powerful example of spontaneous bilateral self-regulation.

Fascination with rodeo gestures, risk-taking behaviors, and statements like “I almost died out there” pointed to symbolic trauma reenactment—an expected and reparative part of trauma integration when approached through nonverbal, play-based channels (van der Kolk, 2015; Jenkins, 2022).

Closure and resilience: Session 10

The final session reflected both the culmination of internalized somatic resources and the ongoing challenges of emotional regulation. Despite moments of impulsivity and social distraction, the client instinctively returned to her bilateral tapping at critical junctures, grounding herself three times independently.

This ability to access a body-based, self-directed regulation strategy signifies a major therapeutic accomplishment, especially for clients with ASD who often struggle with interoceptive awareness and emotional modulation (Grandin, 2022).

Thematic analysis

Somatic resourcing and self-regulation

Throughout the sessions, the client developed and maintained spontaneous somatic regulation techniques, including bilateral tapping, tactile engagement (e.g., mane holding), and adjusting her physical position for comfort. These skills are emphasized in Jenkins’ EquiLateral™ protocol (2022), which integrates EMDR’s structured phases into equine environments to enhance safety and somatic processing.

Sensory-seeking and exploration

The client’s active sensory exploration, through barefoot riding, braiding, and positional play, reflects the importance of multisensory integration in trauma-informed equine work. Sensory-rich, movement-based experiences offer pathways for neuroplastic repair and emotional resilience (van der Kolk, 2015; Grandin, 2022).

Emotional expression and conflict navigation

Verbalizations of emotional states—ranging from “confident” to “bored”—along with spontaneous boundary testing (“No!” responses) demonstrated healthy development of emotional awareness and agency. Current research emphasizes the importance of allowing authentic emotional expression within safe relational fields to facilitate trauma resolution (Dana, 2021).

Attachment and relational safety

Attachment patterns were evident through the client’s deepening connection with the horses, her preference for specific horses, and her physical gestures of bonding (e.g., leaning into the mane). These behaviors mirror safe attachment repair strategies where consistent, nonjudgmental animal relationships provide corrective emotional experiences (Schore, 2019). 

Symbolic trauma processing

The client’s emulation of rodeo gestures and narratives of danger (“I almost died”) revealed important somatic and symbolic representations of unprocessed trauma. Equine-Assisted EMDR provided a flexible framework for containing and supporting these reenactments within a relationally and physically grounded environment (Jenkins, 2022).

Meeting clients where they are

Equine-Assisted EMDR, guided by structured protocols like EquiLateral™, offers a deeply embodied, relationally rich pathway for trauma healing, especially for youth with neurodevelopmental differences.

In this case, the client’s journey—from joyful engagement, through emotional dysregulation, into self-generated resilience strategies—highlights the capacity of the human–horse relationship to unlock healing processes that conventional talk therapy alone may not reach.

As the field of trauma therapy continues to evolve, experiential models like Equine-Assisted EMDR will remain essential for meeting clients where they are: in their bodies, in their nervous systems, and in connection – with themselves, with others, and with the living world around them.

 

Elizabeth Warson, PhD, ATR-BC, LPC, NCC, EXAT, EAP II and EMDRIA Approved Consultant™ integrates EMDR, expressive arts, and equine-assisted therapy. Warson is a clinician, educator, and researcher at Healing Pathways LLC, with a focus on culturally responsive, trauma-informed care, polyvagal theory, and indigenous health interventions through expressive and somatic-based practices.

 

References and Resources

Dana, D. (2021). Anchored: How to Befriend Your Nervous System Using Polyvagal Theory. Sounds True.

Grandin, T. (2022). Visual Thinking: The Hidden Gifts of People Who Think in Pictures, Patterns, and Abstractions. Riverhead Books.

Jenkins, S. (2022). Equilateral: The Equine-Assisted EMDR Protocol®. [Manual]. 

Porges, S. W., & Dana, D. (2018). Clinical Applications of the Polyvagal Theory: The Emergence of Polyvagal-Informed Therapies. W.W. Norton & Company.

Schore, A. N. (2019). Right Brain Psychotherapy. W.W. Norton & Company. 

van der Kolk, B. A. (2015). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. Penguin Books.

The Weld Foundation. https://weldcommunityfoundation.org/

 

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Date
July 11, 2025

Contributor(s)
Elizabeth Warson

Topics
ADHD/Autism/Neurodiversity, Attachment

Client Population
Children, Racial/Cultural/Ethnic Groups

Practice & Methods
Animal-Assisted Therapy, Integrative Therapies

Audience
EMDR Therapists

Language
English

Content Type
Blog/Blog Post

Access Type
Open Access

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