"Horses don’t judge and they are present in the moment, so they are great for building interactions with.

You can easily read their responses to your behaviour and actions via their movements and can easily read body language which can be rewarding and encouraging. Horses and humans have a historical relationship that goes back over thousands of years. Neither horses nor humans would have evolved the way they have without the other and so the relationship between us is primal and natural and is easy to access once we have the opportunity and time. It can be a cathartic and empowering experience to interact with such a large animal that volunteers its companionship"

For Children & Young Adults 8-18+
Once a week over 5 weeks
Each sessions 1 hour
Cost £60 for all 5 sessions

Equine Assisted Therapy

Equine assisted learning is for our mASCot autistic children and young adults:

They are run as group sessions, non-ridden, interacting with the lovely therapy ponies.

Each session is led by the children and what they want to do. For some, it can be as simple as watching the herd, being out in the fields, seeing the goats and having a wander round and that might be enough for them on that day.

For others, they may enjoy grooming the ponies, lifting their feet, leading them, and moving them around and for those who want more of a challenge we set up various activities to do with the ponies, involving obstacle courses and maybe even leading them over jumps.

The emphasis is on giving the child the space to interact with the pony in a way that works for them and helping them build autonomy over time.

The sessions are an hour long and have a low demand approach and the children do as much as they feel comfortable with. Children generally find spending time with the horses exciting and pleasurable.

The children come with a care-giver or parent who stays for the whole session.

The sessions start with introductions and a safety briefing and then move onto the activity that is most appropriate for the child on that day.

Tara Bentall

MSTAT, DSFH, AfSFH, Ba Hons.

Based in Brighton, Hove & Portslade

https://www.tarabentall.com

"I am an Alexander Technique Teacher, Psychotherapist and Hypnotherapist and this skill base informs my Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) work which as you know I have recently qualified in. However, the EAL is really led by the horse and client and my role is to facilitate that rather than take the role of a therapist. The therapeutic outcome comes about as a result of the interactions between the horse and client.'