Therapy begins with the horse on the ground on a halter and lead rope. The stressor or situation is worked through to satisfactory resolution where horse and human are comfortable with the responses shown. The horse is allowed to experience the stressor with ESCT on left and right sides or is introduced into the stressful situation from all sides.
The intermediate step is to saddle up and put the rider on board and have the horse tacked up with bit/bridle and halter/lead rope. The job of the rider is then to remain calm and adjust the horse when necessary, and the job of the handler is to give the therapy on the ground as needed. This is a double safety set up, reinforcing what the horse has already learned but exposing him to the stressor with a rider on board. We all now that a horse and rider are a different configuration than a solitary horse.
The final step is to teach the rider tapping techniques in the saddle so that as the horse bunches up in anticipation of a problem, the rider can desensitize the horse right away. This is usually done with one hand on the reins and one hand working the horse in the area of the withers and spinous processes. Often, it is useful to come to a full stop, have the horse face the stressor and tap along the spine while the horse faces its nemesis.
By the time the rider and horse have teamed up to work together, the horse has integrated so well that all that is needed is fine tuning, but it is good to know that one has a technique in hand; available at all times, to calm the horse in the arena or on the trail.
All this bonding has produced a horse that trusts its rider to keep it safe and a rider that has found confidence in his/her ability to calm the horse under almost any circumstance. This mutual positive feedback loop strengthens the effects of ESCT.
