Horses Help Caregivers Beat Stress and Depression

For years horses have been used to help people cope with challenges connected to everything from Autism to Alzheimer's disease.  “Equine interventions  have helped so many other populations, why couldn’t it help people living with dementia and their caregivers?” said Nancy Schier Anzelmo,  a gerontologist and co-founder of Connected Horse, a non-profit organization that uses equine-assisted  activities to improve the quality of life for those living with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias and their caregivers.

In a 2019 study, 44 caregivers of husbands, wives, partners and adult children challenged with an Alzheimer's or a related dementia diagnosis. were paired with horses from the Center for Equine Health herd of horses at the University of California at Davis (UC Davis) to determine how horse handling and exercises around equine engagement might help improve their lives, Anzelmo said.

Participants - most of whom had little or no horse-handling experience - “met” horses across paddock fences at the Center. After that initial meeting, each participant was paired with horses that they visited while engaging in curricula designed activities ,  such as  observation, grooming and leading around the barn,  all under the supervision of an experienced member of the Center staff, and trained facilitators.  The sensory focused activities are designed to provide opportunities to practice being present and mindful; use non-verbal communication to communicate and negotiate with the horse and each other; and recognize how each person’s behavior and energy impacts the relationship with the horses and the group.   

At the end of the 15-hour intervention, over the course of 4 weeks, the care partners reported significant improvements in the quality of several aspects of their lives. The study design provided pre and post intervention measurements as well has observational data. 

“Care partners reported improved quality of sleep and reduced feelings of burden and depression,” Anzelmo said. “They also told us that they felt less isolated and more positive about themselves and their circumstances.”

For Carolyn Leigh, time with the horses helped her let go of her anger.

“I was so angry all the time,” said Leigh, who took part in the U C Davis program with her late husband John. “The horses helped me to let go of all that anger and just calm down.”

According to Leigh, the time with the horses also taught her to pay attention to the non-verbal way the horses communicated with each other, and with their human handlers. That skill became especially useful to her when John became less verbal. Leigh said.

“There are all kinds of communication,” she said. “You just have to learn to pay attention.”

But it's not just the human participant that benefit from the workshops, horses also benefited from the interactions according to Dr. Claudia Sonder DVM, who was the director of the Center for Equine Health at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine when the study took place.

According to Sonder, the Center for Equine Health maintains a herd of nearly 200  horses. Most are former performance horses donated to the veterinary school after injuries and other chronic conditions ended their sport careers.

About 30 horses were used in the study.  All of the horses were experienced in interacting with humans who have little or no horse-handing experienced, and most were “senior citizens,” she said.

Physically, horses used in the program benefited from daily grooming, interaction with humans and even from the change in environment between their paddocks and other parts of the facility. There were other benefits too, Sonder said.

“This kind of program gives horses relevance in current society,” Sonder said. “Also, every  type of horse can be used in this program – young foals, feisty retired Thoroughbreds, and geriatric horses – so there are welfare benefits to horses, too.”

Anzelmo also believes that some horses residing in rescues might find a niche of their own  in the Connected Horse workshops.  So while results of the study will be published soon and subsequent workshops in California and Nevada remain under review, the Connected Horse is hoping to partner  with  equine  organizations in order to offer the workshops at  various locations across the US.

“We prefer working with older horses or horses looking for a second career.” Anzelmo said. “Just because the horses are older or have come into a rescue group  does not mean they don't  have something to contribute.  We have seen ageism in our careers, and just like we fight the stigma with people, we fight it with horses.   We believe that their experiences may very well help teach our participants about building resilience, finding purpose and experiencing joy.”