'It's for the love of horses and the love of people'
Feb 3, 2004 By
Horse specialist Annie Agah works with a therapist and her horses to help people with problems ranging from abuse to team-building skills at her ranch in Hollister.
In today's fast-paced society you can find a pill to pop for just about any ailment.
A new form of psychotherapy is taking a different approach to healthy living - a four-legged approach, to be exact.
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy, a new and growing form of therapy using horses to facilitate better communication and mental health breakthroughs, is now being offered in Hollister.
The technique, which is a form of treatment that combines the skills of a qualified equine professional and a licensed therapist, is conducted in Hollister at Rancho Sueno, owned by certified horse specialist Annie Agah.
Agah became certified almost a year ago and has been working with her partner, Peggy Kline, a licensed marriage and family therapist, with individual clients as well as groups at her ranch near Ridgemark.
"Horses are a wonderful medium to use because they reflect people in their actions and their attitudes," Agah said. "People just seem to identify with horses a lot."
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy was established more than 10 years ago by former cowboy and licensed counselor Greg Kersten out of Washington, D.C.
Along with his partner Lynn Thomas, who holds a master's in social work, they developed what is now an international nonprofit organization called the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA), with a program complete with tests to verify a standard of expertise.
It was through this program that Agah became accredited and began conducting sessions with Kline at her ranch. After being around horses for more than 20 years, she understood that people can derive emotional and psychological benefits just from being around them, she said.
"Horses mirror people and they have the power to influence people in ways through work ethic and communication," Agah said. "It's a non-threatening way to do something different."
Through her sessions with clients and groups, she's seen changes occur that maybe wouldn't have within the four walls of an office, she said.
"You can come out here where you're outside... and problems start to surface, and it's just another avenue to help people become healthy," Agah said. "It doesn't in any way replace conventional psychotherapy, but it can in many ways have faster breakthroughs than the conventional way."
Agah, whose main role is safety for both the people and the animals, has four horses she uses with clients. The horses she uses are family and friend's horses she trusts, but any horse can be used for the therapy as long as it's safe around people, she said.
One of her horses, Joey, a 31-year-old Tennessee walking horse, was an abused horse she rescued and now uses with patients who have abuse or traumatic childhood issues.
White stripes that angle down Joey's jaw-line are where a halter grew into his face and had to be cut off. For a long time any time a human tried to touch Joey, he would flinch - he couldn't stand to be touched, she said.
"The wonderful thing about horses is that they are very forgiving," Agah said. "You can be mean to them and then with the next person they'll find out they're safe to be around and they'll trust you... They're quite a lot like human beings."
Agah and Kline have also worked with groups from companies and businesses, attempting to facilitate teamwork and better communication in the workplace.
CEOs of companies have been taken aback at how much the simplicity of working with a horse can change their employees' outlook as well as their own, she said.
"We've had a couple of tech millionaire people in, and they think, 'How is a horse going to help with anything that I do here in my office,'" Agah said. "They come away quite humbled... they're pretty impressed with what the power of working with nonverbal communication can do."
Although 90 percent of our daily communication is done non-verbally, when people are ordered to perform a task without using spoken words, they can become quite frustrated at first.
After they work through the exercises they realize that the aftereffects of their actions with the horse told them a lot about their actions in their daily lives, Agah said.
"It's amazing what comes out of the conversations afterward," she said. "It really brings out a lot of leadership techniques... and they come away with all kinds of things that they're so pleased about - that is was a real growth experience."
Other than team building and communication, the horses have helped some of Agah and Kline's clients deal with control issues, family issues and anxiety issues, Agah said.
"Sometimes we do things like picking up their feet and cleaning their feet out," she said. "People are like, 'The back foot, pick up the back foot of a horse?' And it's all about trust."
Agah hasn't seen any effects of the therapy on the horses' behavior, good or bad, and she hasn't had any problems with any of the horses when they're with clients.
While some think it's odd and others are intrigued, Agah sees a bright future for the therapy as it catches on.
People who've never seen a therapist and those who've been in therapy for years can receive the same benefits from a session, she said.
"For people who have been in psychotherapy for a while, this can be even more useful," she said. "Because they'll come up against walls that they just can't get over or around, and they can have a breakthrough with the horse."
The costs for the sessions range depending on the situation - from around $3,000 for groups for a full day, and varied prices for individuals, Agah said.
While Agah gets a small portion of the profits, she isn't in it for the money. Managing a restaurant in Tres Pinos with her husband takes up the rest of her time when she isn't running the ranch.
She conducts the therapy sessions for another, less superficial reason.
"It makes me appreciate good mental health and a balanced life - it makes me more empathetic towards people who don't have that," she said. "It's for the love of the horses and the love of people."
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