For humans, the test of a therapy is how well and how quickly it heals. Since ESCT is the world’s first equine psychotherapy, we have no comparison data with other equine psychotherapeutic techniques. We can only look at it in light of other treatments and trainings that help horses relax and learn without therapeutic intervention. That is comparing apples and oranges.
I can only relate that healing takes place in horses that have not had permanent brain damage. Little is known about the horse’s brain’s healing ability, so we can only intuit that it probably does so similarly to humans. However, there is a point of return where some of the functions needed to integrate ESCT are no longer present in the horse and then it fails. In my three years of horse healing and working with over 130 horses, I have encountered two such cases. One horse had a disease process present in the brain, and the other suffered a blow to the head, leaving it permanently unable to learn new routines but able to locomote and perform its bodily functions.
How is healing in horses defined? It depends on the trauma or spookiness of the horse. If we separate the genetic legacy of the horse, which often includes a highly activated automatic startle response, and deal only with ensuing learned behavior problems, we can eradicate or significantly improve the behavior with ESCT to the satisfaction of the horse/human partnership’s requirements. His genetic legacy will be modified through ESCT, for the better, but it will not be erased. We are not messing with their basic biology. Some riders can deal with a little spookiness because they can sit a rodeo bull; other riders become fearful at the twitch of an ear.
The truest test of healing is how the horse behaves overall once ESCT has integrated. The results show that he becomes overall more relaxed, quiet, and attentive. He has overcome his specific stressor(s) and a variety of others that can be placed in the same category (i.e., a flag spook is similar to a waving plastic bag). He faces new spooks by turning and facing them and investigating instead of running away. I call this the STAY AND PLAY RESPONSE instead of the RUNAWAY REACTION (or automatic startle response [ASR]). He learns to engage his volitional (read learning) brain and stay in the learning zone when given new challenges and situations.
As the human partner administers ESCT to the horse and sees the horse’s improvement, the human becomes less likely to startle also. This positive feedback loop helps the horse/human relationship in a big way.
Results show that when applied correctly and allowing for integration, the healing rate with ESCT is 95%, assuming no brain damage in the horse.
