We’ve talked a little about the Automatic Startle Response (ASR) before. All mammals have it. Most creatures do. Some people jump when suddenly touched and others stand perfectly still. We tend to categorize horse breeds into spooky and non-spooky categories (Arabians vs. quarter horses). The ASR serves to literally save the horse’s life by removing him from potential danger as quickly as possible. THERE IS NO THINKING INVOLVED in this response, only a push towards movement after a lightning fast search through the slide cabinet for a similar situation. Often, not even that takes place. It is simply “outta here.” Reactivity in prey animals is to be expected and most trainers agree that even under ideal circumstances, horses are an accident waiting to happen.
To modify the ASR, or the RUN AWAY REACTION, into a more reasoned response is what ESCT does. Studies have shown how bilateral eye movement therapy and bilateral body tapping therapy affects the human brain during the fear-interrupt cycle as therapy progresses. There are no studies extant about ESCT and horses. We have only the empirical evidence to go on, but we can assume the process is similar. By sending an electric interrupt signal through the optic nerve with eye therapy or through the bony structure with bilateral tapping, the fearful memory and in-body experience is radio jammed by static. You cannot tune to the spooky Halloween music on the radio station. Try it on yourself by thinking of a spooky scene from a movie and then tapping yourself left right on the collar bone a few times. You can’t hold the spooky message.
Through a process of approach and retreat of the stressor and the administering of ESCT, the horse relives its fear, relaxes in the face of its stressor, sees it move away, and regains control of himself. During ensuing introductions of the stressor or fearful situation, he becomes more and more adept and controlling his fearful reaction and creating a learned response because he SURVIVES the stressor and forms a new slide memory. This new memory becomes his new baseline, his new point of comparison. This is called centering. The little second of insight that the horse experiences is enough to disengage his ASR just enough to kick in his volitional brain. He thinks before he responds. With practice and in additional situations, he becomes more and more adept at responding instead of reacting.
The rule is to keep the volitional brain engaged during therapy and not to set the horse off, so we always begin with a full set of eye movements and tapping to settle the horse well into its body and mind. Then and only then do we introduce the stressor or stressful situation.
We go from run away to stay and play.
