Alexandra Dischinger, Annette Gomolla 52 | mup 2|2011|52-59|© Ernst Reinhardt Verlag München Basel, DOI 10.2378/ mup2011.art05e This article deals with the special role of the horse as a relationship partner in riding therapy. The possibility of corrective attachment experiences in riding therapy are discussed and practical realisation suggestions of horse-assisted work with children are shown. Key terms: Riding therapy, horse-assisted therapy, attachment disorder, corrective attachment experience , horse as relationship partner Aspects of Horse-assisted Therapy with Children suffering from Attachment Disorders Alexandra Dischinger, Annette Gomolla Dischinger, Gomolla - Aspects of Horse-assisted Therapy with Children suffering from Attachment ... mup 2|2011 | 53 For quite a while now the attachment theory has been used to stabilise the theory of animal-supported therapy, to put the relationship between man and beast on a stable basis (Beetz 2004). Now, horse-supported therapy as a combination of animal-supported, body-orientated and experience-orientated therapy in relation to the work with children suffering from attachment disorders is supposed to get analysed. Please note that riding therapy is seen as a supporting therapy method not suitable for replacing psychotherapy. Thus, also with children suffering from attachment disorders, riding therapy is considered part of a whole choice of measures tailored to meet the specific needs of the child and its family situation. Later on we shall discuss in a theoretical manner whether it is possible to teach corrective attachment experiences to children suffering from attachment disorders by making use of horses within the setting of a riding therapeutical session. The question is to be asked through combining background information from the field of attachment research with professional considerations of horse-assisted therapy and to be directed towards theses that can be used as bases of an intense and critical discussion within scientific studies. Core aspects of attachment theory and attachment disorders Attachment theory goes back to the research of mother-child attachments regarding the survival functionality during the course of evolution. John Bowlby is considered the originator of this theory. According to Jeremy Holmes (2006) attachment is a general term describing the condition and quality of individual relationships to other people. The quality of an attachment is distinguished between securely and insecurely attached . A secure attachment is a feeling of protection and security, while insecurely attached persons have a blend of various feelings towards the attachment figure. These feelings comprise intense love and dependency, but also fear of rejection, irritability and alterness. Attachment behaviour is an inherent behaviour a baby expresses by screaming, holding on to someone and smiling. A secure attachment is built up with the child when its attachment figure responds to the child‘s emotional condition and behaviour in an adequate manner. Especially the satisfaction of needs of physical contact and care in case of fear and indisposition are considered important attachment experiences. Starting with early mother-child relationship up to the relationship to both parents during the child‘s youth it develops an idea (inner work model) of the behaviour of its attachment figures towards itself in various situations. Already during its early years the baby develops, caused by experiences it has made, expectations towards its attachment figures regarding availability and ways of response. The whole thinking, feeling and acting of a person is influenced by the experiences it has made with interacting with its environment and important attachment figures (Grossmann / Grossmann 2004). From the third year on the stage of goal-corrective partnership begins during which the child learns to bring its own wishes and needs and the ones of its attachment figures together as a compromise. In case ofa disturbance during earlyinteraction between child and attachment figure the result can be an attachment disorder of various degrees (see box). During psychotherapeutic work with A secure attachment is built up with the child, if the attachment figure responds to the emotional condition and behaviour in an adequate manner. Especially the satisfaction of needs of physical contact and care in case of fear and indisposition are considered a crucial attachment experience. 54 | mup 2|2011 Dischinger, Gomolla - Aspects of Horse-assisted Therapy with Children suffering from Attachment ... children suffering from attachment disorders attachment experiences are offered that are supposed to have a correcting impact on the attachment system. Views of the horse as a value-free attachment partner with analogue communication The horse offers humans the possibility of pick up a relationship that doesn‘t follow patterns of interpersonal interaction. Animals don‘t have any human system of values and only communicate on the analogue level (Watzlawik 2007). There is a basis for communication on which - spoken in an attachment-theoretical manner - goal-corrective partnerships can be realised. The following aspects can be attributed to the horse: The horse as a mediator of care Horses lift their head and look towards the one approaching them or move towards him. In case of appropriate contact establishment horses allow close physical contact. The horse as a clear counterpart The horse offers closeness without sucking the other one in, it doesn‘t enforce any contact, however, it usually allows it. It doesn‘t know any “games“ and double attachments which are often the reason for relationship problems. The horse acts in the here and now without thinking about possible consequences for the future (see Gathmann / Leimer 2004). The horse as a training field for responsibility and social competences Despite its size the horse is an extremely sensitive animal that requires a lot of care and time. During riding therapy there are many possibilities of taking on responsibility for this animal, e. g. feeding and watering it. The client has the possibility to do something good to someone else and learns at the same time to sense himself into another being, in handling the horse, but also while riding. The horse as a mediator of a sense of basic trust Through the body heat and the swaying walk the rider gets a feeling of protection and “getting carried“ (Strausfeld 2009). A sense of basic trust evolves from the experience of allowing oneself 1. A continuous and sensitive care is of crucial importance for the child‘s mental health. 2. From a biological point of view it is necessary to have an attachment to at least one adult considered wiser and stronger. This satisfies the need for protection and care. 3. An attachment relationship becomes visible when in case of fear the attachment behaviour is triggered and the closeness to the attachment figure is sought. The exploration system is deactivated. With a feeling of security and well-being, however, the attachment behaviour is abandoned in favour of the exploration behaviour. 4. Differences in the quality of attachments can be distinguished in the degree of mediating a feeling of security. 5. The attachment theory explains with the help of cognitive psychology how early attachment experiences are processed and shaped to become inner work models. (see Grossmann / Grossmann 2004) The 5 most important postulations of attachment theory Dischinger, Gomolla - Aspects of Horse-assisted Therapy with Children suffering from Attachment ... mup 2|2011 | 55 to rely on someone else and oneself. The saddle meets the key points of a good holding situation. The riding position stabilises the child‘s body (Schulz 2009). This stability gives the rider a feeling of secureness and protection that can be compared with the feeling of being carried and held by the mother during early childhood. The horse as a movement partner In his theoretical foundations of the impact factors of riding therapy Carl Klüwer (1998) has emphasised the movement dialogue as a crucial factor. Every child is born with individual tension and movement rhythms and has to rely on entering into a matching movement and interaction dialogue with the mother. The rhythmic movement of the horse maybe provides ideas to connect to the pre-birth experiences of rhythm and the feeling of “being cradled and protected“. The horse as the possibility to perceive oneself as strong and self-efficient Feelings of success when handling the horse allows the child to perceive itself as being strong and self-efficient. Being able to guide the horse while leading or riding it is one of the many challenges supporting the building up of self-esteem and experiencing self-efficiency during the guided being-together with the horse. Triadic relationship shaping in the field of horse-assisted therapy Usually, the kind of relationship during a therapeutic process is one between two persons, a dyadic relationship. In riding therapy, however, this relationship turns into a triadic one since the horse enters the stage as well. For the child this constellation means the challenge of keeping a relationship with two interaction partners at the same time, similar to the family context. The insight that the two partners (as with the parents) have a relationship among each other as well is another challenge (see Kupper-Heilmann 1999). If a client does not succeed in integrating both poles of this relationship triangle during therapy this can give an insight into his or her inner processes. During riding-therapeutical work the following points should be paid attention to: To the child, the therapist is an interpreter and a mediator during getting in touch with the horse and during building up a relationship. At the beginning, the horse takes on a motivating function. If the goal is to establish a close relationship the continuous deployment of a specific horse is crucial. There should be a close and well-functioning relationship between the riding therapist and the horse, acting as a model for the child. It is important to note that there should not be any humanised attribution in the relationship between the riding therapist and the horse, since then the horse cannot be efficient in its value-free and non-verbal way of interacting. Theses on the efficient deployment of horses in the therapy of children suffering from attachment disorders Picking up the question asked at the beginning whether riding therapy can be deployed as a supporting therapy method in case of children suffering from attachment disorders, the following assumptions can be listed: In the field of horse-assisted therapy the ■ horse can be efficient as a “secure basis“ The horse provides close and large-area physical contact supporting calmness and relaxation like children should get from close attachment figures during very early childhood. The horse provides regression possibilities ■ supporting its importance as a “secure basis“ The child is able to make experiences of rhythm on horseback that are similar to “being carried“ by the mother. Its own movement as well as sensing the horse‘s movement are the focus of riding therapy. The goal is to harmonise and adapt one‘s 56 | mup 2|2011 Dischinger, Gomolla - Aspects of Horse-assisted Therapy with Children suffering from Attachment ... own body to the horse‘s movement. The horse provides a constant stimulus for ■ switching between attachment and exploration system Riding and handling this big and strong animal requires boldness and self-esteem. During riding therapy a child has to keep getting over its fear. Still, the horse provides the possibility for the child to feel secure and tall on horseback. This constant switching between activating the attachment and exploration system is an important attachment-relevant topic. The horse is an honest interaction and ■ communication partner who doesn‘t suppress or fake his emotions and thus supports a secure attachment behaviour In order to be able to learn a secure attachment behaviour it is of great importance for the child to get accepted with all its strenghts and weaknesses. The horse encounters most people with interest and turns towards them in a positive way. Furthermore, it shows its moods in a transparent and honest way. The child can learn to understand these moods and to interprete them easily. Secure attachment Children show distress when separated from the mother and can hardly be soothed by strangers. When the mother comes back they are clearly happy. They approach the mother, want to be close to her and calm down quite easily. Soon after that they start playing again. They can use their mother as a “secure basis“ from which they can explore their surroundings. With the mother around they can communicate in an open manner and are friendly towards their environment. Uncertain-avoiding When separated from the mother, these children show only little signs of distress and ignore their mother. They are held back while playing. This group of children is likely to be distracted and soothed by strangers while being away from their mother. Negative emotions can be rarely observed, neither when the attachment figure is around nor during the re-uniting situation. Uncertain-ambivalent Children with uncertain-ambivalant behaviour show great distress when separated and can hardly be calmed down during the re-uniting process. They are unable to explore their surroundings when the mother is not around, they are only busy waiting for the mother to come back. The stranger is heavily rejected. When the mother returns their behaviour keeps switching between being angry with the mother and hanging on to her. Exploration is not possible anymore. Uncertain-disorganised Some children show a versatile choice of confused behaviour, “freezing“ or stereotype movements such as turning around themselves when re-united with the mother being part of this. It is assumed that this behaviour results from a trauma or a disorganised family structure (Grossmann / Grossmann 2004). Classification of attachment types according to the standardised “Strange[r] Situation“ by Ainsworth Dischinger, Gomolla - Aspects of Horse-assisted Therapy with Children suffering from Attachment ... mup 2|2011 | 57 The horse provides the child with the ■ possibility to experience itself in a self-efficient way and thus supports the ability to fall back on its own “internalised secure basis“ (George / West 2001) Through dealing with this big, yet extremely friendly animal the child automatically has experiences of success. Hence, handling a horse is the perfect environment to gain trust in one‘s own abilities. This trust in one‘s own competence is the basis of the “internalised secure basis“ concept. Man and horse have common communication ■ possibilities. This is the most important pre-condition of a goal-orientated partnership In order to be able to adopt and pass on positive attachment experiences communication and understanding possibilities need to be available. Analogue communication level provides the possibility of a non-verbal exchange between man and horse. Since the pre-conditions of communication and understanding are met there is the possibility of a goal-orientated partnership between man and horse. Suggestions for riding-therapeutical work with children suffering from attachment disorders Pre-condition for the work with children suffering from attachment disorders is a sufficient qualification of the riding therapist. The most important element in attachment-orientated riding-therapy is making use of the horse as a “secure basis“ for the child. A good exercise for experiencing calmness and security is lying on the horse‘s back and feeling how the horse breathes. The child should be given plenty of time when it calls for this position. As already explained handling a horse supports switching between exploration and attachment system in a special way. In order to give the clients the possibility of exploration, a suitable idea would be exploring the surroundings on horseback together with the therapist as a supporting person. Generally, during a session it should be switched between phases of recovery and challenge for the child. This would refer to the interplay of “secure basis“ and exploration. Before new challenges the client should be given the possibility to feel the “secure basis“. New aspects could be small changes in the process or simple exercises on horseback. As soon as the child responds with refusal the therapist should be aware that the child has not built up sufficient security yet. Here, it is of particular importance that the initial stage of gaining trust with the horse and the therapist alike gets sufficient attention and certainly takes longer with children suffering from attachment disorders than with other clients. A nice exercise during the stage of gaining trust and building up a secure basis is compiling a “most wanted“ letter about the horse describing the likings and peculiarities of the horse (Schörle 2000). During further progress of the riding therapy it should be kept an eye on that the relationship between child and horse is always the main thing. In order to establish the close contact between client and horse caring elements such as feeding and cleaning out the horse are very suitable. Massaging techniques such as the “telling touch“ are appropriate as well. The child can make the experience that the horse likes being with the child and likes getting touched by it. The most important element within an attachment-theoretically orientated riding therapy is making use of the horse as a “secure basis“ for the child. A suitable exercise for experiencing calmness and security is lying on the horse‘s back and feeling how the horse breathes. 58 | mup 2|2011 Dischinger, Gomolla - Aspects of Horse-assisted Therapy with Children suffering from Attachment ... For some children it may make sense to place a focus of the therapy on finding compromises in order to train this crucial behaviour for a goal-orientated partnership. However, this goal requires a lot of sensitiveness for the indivdidual situation from the therapist‘s side. What the horse needs has to be described and explained in every detail. With little children one option would be a common contact to the horse with mother and child together. For mother and child alike this may result in new relationship experiences. From the attachment theoretical point of view this common activity is particularly valuable. The mother as well as the child have the possibility of making regressive experiences through the horse. The horse has, like all animals in general, an effect as a catalyst, which means that mother and child can find other ways to their mutual relationship through this common activity. Here, it is crucial that the mother‘s own traumatic attachment experiences, especially through riding with the mother, can be evoked. This is why integrating the mother should only be made by people with sufficient experience in working with mother-child constellations as well as with traumatised persons. When completing the riding therapy parting with the setting should be carried through in a very sensitive manner. Finalising the riding therapy should be planned very carefully and the farewell topic should be worked on with the child across several sessions. Summary Horse-assisted therapy can be a meaningful component in treating children suffering from attachment disorders, since the horse is a value-free relationship partner in a human sense since it satisfies some basic attachment needs of the child on an analogue communication level. Of course, no animal-assisted work can replace inter-human attachments, neither can it “heal“ attachment disorders with a child, however, especially physically orientated work with and on the horse provides the chance to support a first emotional post-experience for children suffering from attachment disorders upon which further inter-human relationship offers can be built. A closer critical scientific approach to horse-assisted therapy with children would be desirable. Literature Beetz, A. (2004): Wissenschaftliche Grund- ■ lagen der Mensch-Tier-Beziehung. Von der Biophilie-Hypothese bis zur Bindungstheorie. In: Verein „Tiere als Therapie“ (Hrsg.): Tiere als Therapie. Tagungsband des 2. Internationalen TAT Symposium Tier als Therapie - Theorie und Praxis. Veterinärmedizinische Universität Wien, 3-15 Gathmann, P., Leimer, G. (Hrsg.) (2004): Heil- ■ pädagogisches Voltigieren bei Anorexia Nervosa . Europäischer Verlag der Wissenschaften, Frankfurt George, C., West, M. (2001): Das Erwachsenen- ■ Bindungs-Projektiv (Adult-Attachment-Projective): Ein neues Messverfahren für Bindung im Erwachsenenalter. In: Gloger-Tippelt, G. (Hrsg.): Bindung im Erwachsenenalter. Huber, Bern, 295-321 Grossmann, K., Grossmann, K.-E. (2004): ■ Bindungen - das Gefüge psychischer Sicherheit . Klett-Kotta, Stuttgart When completing the riding therapy parting with the setting should be carried through in a very sensitive manner. Finalising the riding therapy should be planned very carefully and the farewell topic should be worked on with the child across several sessions. Dischinger, Gomolla - Aspects of Horse-assisted Therapy with Children suffering from Attachment ... mup 2|2011 | 59 Holmes, J. (2006): John Bowlby und die ■ Bindungstheorie. 2. Aufl. Ernst Reinhardt, München / Basel Klüwer, C. (1998): Selbsterfahrung durch das ■ Medium Pferd. In: Gäng, M. (Hrsg.): Heilpädagogisches Reiten und Voltigieren . 5. Aufl. Ernst Reinhardt, München / Basel, 210-227 Kupper-Heilmann, S. (1999): Getragenwerden ■ und Einflussnehmen. Aus der Praxis des psychoanalytisch orientierten heilpädagogischen Reitens . Psychosozial, Gießen Schörle, A. (2000): Pferde Träume. Heilpäd- ■ agogische Ansätze im Reitunterricht mit Kindern . Buch und Bild, Nagold Schulz, M. (2009): Heilpädagogisch-psychomo- ■ torische Aspekte der vorschulischen Förderung mit Hilfe des Pferdes. In: Gäng, M. (Hrsg.): Ausbildung und Praxisfelder im heilpädagogischen Reiten und Voltigieren. 4. Aufl. Ernst Reinhardt, München / Basel, 82-94 Strausfeld, P. (2009): Einsatz des Heilpäd- ■ agogischen Voltigierens in einer Fachklinik für suchtkranke Frauen. In: Gäng, M. (Hrsg . ): Ausbildung und Praxisfelder im heilpädagogischen Reiten und Voltigieren. 4. Aufl. Ernst Reinhardt, München / Basel, 170-199 Watzlawik, P. (2007): Menschliche Kommunika- ■ tion: Formen, Störungen, Paradoxien. Huber, Bern The authors Addresses: Dr. rer. nat. Annette Gomolla · Robert-Gerwig-Str. 12 78465 Konstanz, Germany · 07531-3616120 · A.Gomolla@ ipth.de Alexandra Dischinger · Bienenweg 10 · 79110 Freiburg, Germany A.Dischinger@Heilpaedagogik-Reittherapie.de Dr. rer. nat. Annette Gomolla Graduate psychologist, Head of “Fort- und Weiterbildungsinstitut für Pferdegestützte Therapie“ f(urther education institute of horse-assisted therapy) - IPTh in Constance, many years of riding-therapeutical work with children and adults focussing on the combination riding therapy and trauma therapy Alexandra Dischinger Graduate pedagogical therapist (FH) and riding therapist (IPTh), focussed during her final thesis on diagnostics and therapy of attachment disorders in riding therapy, works at a school for children suffering from multiple disorders, relationship relevant criteria are the focus of her riding therapeutical work