The Journal of Animal Consciousness Vol 1, Issue 2 Vol 1 Issue 2 | Page 15

capable of so that we do not apply undue stress to them.
True to our Cartesian nature, human wants to quantify the
animal’s cognitive abilities; it is not about how much or
how little intelligence the animal possesses – it is about the
differences between animal and human. We humans need
to remain cognizant of why we are investigating and
studying animal cognition. By not understanding the
animal form and the comparative differences regarding the
soul and ego bodies, we run a very high risk of instituting
another form of abuse upon animals – trying to mold them
into something they can never be. This is not unlike
parents trying to mold their children into what they want
them to become instead of taking time to see the child and
his individual capabilities. It is this space which spans the
differentiation between human and animals that has
become the massive grey area, and it is within this space
that we seem to be treading deep water without a life
preserver because mainstream science is still trying to find
consciousness within the physical brain.
“At every stage of its life the animal leads a
physical, a living, and an emotional
existence” (Schad 1977, p. 225).

The Impact of Equine Assisted Therapy on Both
Horse and Human
The concept of horses being helpful or healing to humans
with various mental health or social issues is based almost
entirely on the idea that horses are domesticated prey
animals, and therefore are [supposedly] “extremely
sensitive to changes in the human being”, because the
human is seen as a predator; it is said that the horse acts as
a “biofeedback machine” that can provide the client and
therapist with information relative to the client’s moods
and changes of such. Horses are seen in this context as
large and powerful creatures that teach us to stay focused
and attentive. 18
Concerns of animal welfare have grown exponentially in
recent years, yet the amount of written literature dedicated
to the welfare of horses used in equine assisted therapy has
not kept the same pace (Ben-David 2013, p. 261). The
overall ethos, including religious beliefs of a given culture,
are generally recognized as influencing factors within
overall animal welfare, and these factors will dictate the
amount of attention given to the horse’s welfare, including
the teaching of such within that culture.
Drawing from what we have already seen regarding the
phenomenological equine form, I would like to present
five determinants that we can look at within a domestic
© The Society for Animal Consciousness 2016.

horse’s lifeworld that have the potential to be adversely
affected in such a way as to generate pathology and/or
behavioral abnormalities, which in turn has the capability
to alter the entire horse/human interaction: 19
Ø Heredity – determines the inborn vitality
or weakness of the animal; the
susceptibility to pathology may be there
latently but it is a matter of whether or not
it is ‘triggered’ that determines whether
the weakness will manifest; this aspect
can be manipulated by forced breeding
programs. Many therapy facilities use
rescue or re-homed horses, so the control
over heredity is often missing. However,
it needs to be recognized that the very act
of placing a susceptible horse in a therapy
program can act as such as ‘trigger’. The
fact that off-the-track Thoroughbreds are
many times used in therapy situations
should be a major concern within this
aspect; it is well known that
Thor