Equine Therapy is an outdated term

You know how when we (as a society) learn more about something, we assign more accurate words around that something and collectively (albeit slowly) update our vocabulary and our thinking to reflect this updated understanding? Well... this same thing is happening in the Equine Therapy industry and I am working hard to change my mindset and update my terminology.

In late 2020, twelve of the largest and most highly respected international equine therapy organizations came together and collectively (more or less) published updated terms and recommendations of terms to discontinue. The broad consensus was to move away from the word “therapy” unless the person offering the service is a therapist. As in, a real licensed therapist such as an Physical, Occupational, Speech or Mental Health therapist, who is providing actual therapy according to their scope of practice. There are lots of follow-up paragraphs that go into detail about new recommendations of terms, but the main take-away is, I need to stop using the word “therapy” because I’m not a therapist.

It makes sense, but as much as I appreciate more accurate updated terms, it’s been a bit of a mental hurdle for me personally. When I think of the way I feel being in the barn and being around the animals, the word that comes to mind is “therapy.” Using the phrase to describe the self-care and benefits that arise from time spent doing “Barn Therapy” or “Animal Therapy” or Horse Therapy” is the same to me as when people say "Beach Therapy” or “Retail Therapy” or “<Insert-any-enjoyable-activity-here> Therapy.”

But alas, I am committed to continual learning, growing and aligning my business with professional best practices so using proper, updated terms and educating my own peers and students on this update is what I will strive to do.

In the meantime, if you catch me using the word “therapy” out of proper context, I’m always up for a gentle reminder. And stay tuned for new services we will be providing next year, including Occupational Therapy with horses. As in real, licensed Occupational Therapy from real, licensed OT’s.

Links for fun follow-up reading:

https://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1089/acm.2020.0415

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6917924/

Photo Credit: https://www.pathintl.org/resources-education/education/33-about-path-intl/general/1987-optimal-terminology-faqs