Riding Home:The Power of Horses to Heal, Horse Nation's must read book of 2016, is the first and only book to scientifically and experientially explain why horses have the extraordinary ability to emotionally transform the lives of thousands of men, women and children, whether they are horse lovers, or suffering from deep psychological wounds. It is a book for anyone who wants to experience the joy, wonder, self-awareness and peace of mind that comes from creating a horse/human relationship, and it puts forth and clarifies the principles of today's Natural Horsemanship (or what was once referred to as "Horse Whispering") Everyone knows someone who needs help: a husband, a wife, a partner, a child, a friend, a troubled teenager, a war veteran with PTSD, someone with autism, an addiction, anyone in emotional pain or who has lost their way. Riding Home provides riveting examples of how Equine Therapy has become one of today's most effective cutting-edge methods of healing. Horses help us discover hidden parts of ourselves, whether we're seven or seventy. They model relationships that demonstrate acceptance, kindness, honesty, tolerance, patience, justice, compassion, and forgiveness. Horses cause all of us to become better people, better parents, better partners, and better friends. A horse can be our greatest teacher, for horses have no egos, they never lie, they're never wrong and they manifest unparalleled compassion. It is this amazing power of horses to heal and teach us about ourselves that is accessible to anyone and found in the pages of Tim Hayes's Riding Home. The information and lists of therapeutic and non-therapeutic equine programs, which are contained in the book, are also available at the book's website.

Excerpts from Beyond Words: The Healing Power of Horses The space between words is where we live with horses. In the silence we are truly heard. ******* So much of our sadness, our discontent, our addictions and compulsions are driven by the emptiness we experience when, without being aware of it, we detach from our emotional selves. We often mistake this emptiness as boredom, anxiety, hunger, and/or loneliness. Horses, in their honesty and compassion, help us to reconnect to ourselves, to our humanness. ******* What I have come to believe is that no matter what orientation you bring to psychotherapy, or what equine certification you achieve, the one variable that has been shown to be critically important is the trusting, respectful, and compassionate relationship that develops between therapist and client; whether the therapist has two or four legs is irrelevant! ********** The goal of Beyond Words: The Healing Power of Horses is to connect the advances made in the treatment and understanding of mental health issues with the knowledge we have accrued through the years about the nature of horses. The key is to integrate the two professional worlds of equine specialists and psychotherapists, so that each can appreciate, communicate, and work together to further enhance the practice of Equine Experiential Psychotherapy.

This text explains what healing means, how it works and how it can work in the context of animals. Margrit Coates provides practical guidance on learning the skill, when and where to do it, along with the do's and don'ts.

A growing number of individuals with special needs are discovering the benefits of therapies and activities involving horse riding. Naomi Scott, offers information about the amazing results possible with therapeutic riding, or hippotherapy.

Since time eternal horses have walked beside us, helping to shape our destinies, taking us on journeys of the soul, and offering as a gift their power, mystique, and beauty. While it has taken some time, mental health professionals and educators alike have begun to formally acknowledge the emotional, mental and physical benefits that humans can receive by spending time with horses. In the U.S. alone, there are already more than 900 programs that offer therapeutic or educational programming provided in partnership with horses. Leif Hallberg has extensively researched the field of Equine Facilitated Mental Health and Educational Services, and this book reveals the many ways horses can help humans. Become familiar with: Key definitions Historical information about working with horses in therapeutic and educational settings Ethical considerations Practical applications Learn more about the healing power of horses and their rich history of working together with humans in Walking the Way of the Horse. For additional information about this book, and Leif Hallberg visit www.walkingthewayofthehorse.com

Inspired with her work with horses and patients at the National Centre for Equine Facilitated Therapy, horse lover and author A. Bronwyn Llewellyn brings together the most moving tributes to the healing power of horses ever collected in one volume.

Wendy Beth Baker’s The Healing Power of Horses is devoted to the world’s greatest horsepeople, the Oglala Lakota Indians of Pine Ridge, South Dakota. She begins the book by sharing the philosophy of these great horse-loving people: “There are those who feel the sun rises and sets on the back of a horse, and no matter what obstacles life sets in their way, they never dismount.” The spirit and fortitude of the Lakota Indians inform Baker’s words as she describes how this once-nomadic tribe came to view the horse as sacred and assigned it great significance in their culture, religion, and lifestyle. The Indians who live on the Pine Ridge Reservation have grown spiritually and as a community through their relationship with their horses, and it is through this connection to the natural world that the power of healing and ultimately, health, flows. With photography by Hope Vinitsky, The Healing Power of Horses tells the individual stories of over a dozen Lakota Indians and how horses have affected each of their lives. Baker was able to interview each of these inspiring individuals for inclusion in this book. The empowering stories told come from Wayne Waters, Marlin “Moon” Weston, Eugenio White Hawk, Wendell Yellow Bull, Aldeen Twiss, Phillip Jumping Eagle and Billy, Dale Vocu, Emma and Shelly Waters, Wilmer Mesteth, Vernell White Thunder, Pat Heathershaw, Lester Waters, and the Carlows. While the stories of each of these exceptional men and women are different, the common denominator in each is the horse’s transformative power to heal their minds, spirits, and bodies. These are stories of artists, athletes, and common noble folk, all of whom have struggled to overcome life’s many obstacles to thrive and become better people. The author’s intention in this book, as she describes in the final section “The Future of the Lakota Horsepeople,” is to have her readers gain a better understanding of horses in Lakota culture while at the same time affording some of the Lakota people an opportunity to reconnect with their cultural identity. In reading this book, it is clear that the Lakota people have preserved the emotional power of their ancient culture and strength as a people by maintaining their connection to horses, animals that they deeply love. Fiercely loyal to the United States, the Lakota horsepeople are a strong, proud, and brave community who have much to teach all people about life and the pursuit of healing.

Can horses really teach us to be better human beings? In this groundbreaking work, you will discover that the answer is a resounding "Yes". While working with severely disturbed youths, therapists Adele and Deborah McCormick discovered the best healers were their herd of Peruvian Paso horses. Through their work with horses, the McCormicks' patients were initiated into the hidden world of animal energy and instinct, and found a safe and natural way to learn about their own dualistic natures. Patients learned to tap into their primal "animal" mind and energies and apply them toward more creative and responsible living. What took days or months to uncover in an office setting took onyl minutes when patients were on a horse. You will read case after fascinating case of people discarded by society and the psychiatric community whose lives were turned around by the intuitive guidance and friendship of their equine therapists. What People are saying... "This book got me. It is about personal growth and the cultivation of wisdom, and is one of the wisest contributions I have come across in years...Its implications for healing are utterly profound. Horse Sense and the Human Heartis a breakthrough work." --Larry Dossey, M.D. author Prayer is Good Medicine and Healing Words "Horse Sense and the Human Heart is an eye-opening and heartwarming adventure. In sharing their pioneering therapeutic discoveries, Adele and Deborag McCormick take us on a shamantic interspecies odyssey. They reveal a secret world governed by wise equine masters, availalbe to help heal our psyches, and guide the human spirit on its journey toward wholeness." --David Jay Brown, author, Brainchild and Mavericks of the Mind

First Published in 2012. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.