Charlie's Angels Horse Rescue Inc.

Charlie’s Angels Horse Rescue President, Joanne Schoenwald, recently returned from a week’s training in New Zealand, in the EAGALA model of Equine Assisted Psycotherapy.

EAGALA is the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association, which has its home in America. But the organisation has grown over the past 10 years and now offers training all around the world.

“EAGALA is committed to setting the standard of professional excellence in how horses and humans work together to improve the quality of life and mental health of individuals, families and groups worldwide” (www.eagala.org).

The EAGALA model works on a two-person team approach to assisted growth and therapy, with one horse specialist and one mental health practitioner. “The beauty of this form of therapy is that the horses are the ones doing the greatest work. And it’s amazing how many times they do exactly the most powerful thing at exactly the right time to really generate an incredible impact on someone’s life,” Joanne says. “Just by horses doing what they do best, they are able to open windows into the psyche that might otherwise stay shut.”

EAGALA therapies are solely ground-based: no riding is involved and there is no instruction on how a client should work with a horse. It is entirely client-directed, and the horse is entirely able to do its own work on its own terms.’

“What I love most about this therapy is that it clearly shows us the incredible worth and value that horses bring to humanity just by being a horse. They’re value does not have to rely on how much “work” they can do, how many ribbons they can win, or how much income they generate. They are amazingly special just because they exist.”