The Journal of Animal Consciousness Vol 1, Issue 2 Vol 1 Issue 2 | Page 20

as needed.23 While there is no doubt that the horse/human
relationship can run very deep, the horse tends to live
within; being primarily of the metabolic system, he turns
his attention inward toward bodily processes where the
soul activity is concentrated, at least until something
activates the nerve-sense system. A horse cannot pulsate
in between the two outer poles as the dog can. To unduly
disrupt the horse’s inward attention can stress the nervesense system. The horse needs its own kind. The dog will
view new surroundings with anticipatory pleasure
following the lead of human, whereas the horse will view
new challenges and surroundings with perturbation. It
does not mean a horse cannot experience new things, but it
must be done on his time, not the human’s. Dog, on the
other hand, tends to be ready to go when human is. BenDavid makes a very valid point when she says:
“Therapists have a responsibility to take care of the
animals that depend on them, much like the responsibility
parents have for their children” (Ben-David 2013, p. 265).
However, the concept of animal needs must go far beyond
the current superficial understanding.
From a Cartesian-science viewpoint, equine assisted
therapy lacks a firm theoretical and research base
regarding human psychological intervention (Bachi 2013,
p. 221). There are several published studies of clinical
trials as well as numerous articles relating anecdotal
evidence of the effectiveness of animal assisted therapy in
general, and several papers and books on equine assisted
therapy. Those espousing the benefits of EAP/L are almost
all from a personal subjective/interpretative view.
However, there are two problems in particular according to
Hal Herzog (2014): 1) clinical trials are methodologically
flawed to the point the conclusions cannot be trusted, and
particularly twelve out of fourteen studies published on
clinical trials in equine assisted therapy were too small to
produce reliable results, with eight of the studies also
lacking no-treatment control groups; 2) there was a
tendency for positive-result experiments to be published
while those that showed treatment did not work were
rarely published (Herzog 2014). In fact, one study of 81
boys with emotional problems ranging from depression to
ADHD to PTSD showed that the chi