ESCT ERASES TRAUMA IN NERVOUS, ANXIOUS OR SPOOKY HORSES
What happens during fear episodes?
When trauma occurs in horses (or humans), the traumatic memory is stored in the neural pathways of the brain and in cellular memory throughout the body's soft tissues. After a trauma or spooky incident occurs, a horse's natural reaction is to become hyper-vigilant and he begins to make the immediate world around him and his enjoyment of it smaller and smaller. There is a loss of center, power, confidence, mastery and curiosity, and a contracting of energy that can produce high states of fear, anxiety, phobias and depression. Equine Stress Control Therapy (ESCT) eliminates these responses. It also restores the horse's center, power, confidence, mastery, curiosity, calmness and steadiness under stress or fear. This makes ESCT a wonderful adjunct to a horse's overall training regimen in any discipline, as a horse does not need to be spooky to benefit from the integrating effects of ESCT.
Bilateral brain integration techniques.
ESCT is a revolutionary trauma therapy that works with the horse's spookiness and problems such as uncontrolled flight reactions (dumping the rider on the ground and taking off!), head and ear shyness, fighting the bit and bridle, fear of blankets and saddles, trail monsters, performance fear, generalized anxiety, trailering fears, halter avoidance, stable vices, and training issues, to name a few. Combining elements from bilateral eye movement and bilateral body tapping therapies developed for humans in the mid 1980s and used since to amazing effect, ESCT is easy to use with one's hands being the only tools needed to direct the horse's eye movement and apply body tapping. For riding and doing ESCT with the rider up, the Harmony Pulser is now available to allow hands-free therapy using the pulser.
Neural reprocessing.
The key to ESCT's success is that it changes the behavior through gentle neural reprocessing of the horse's brain by using the horse's curiosity and volitional interest in learning, and by relying on the brain's natural neuroplasticity to create the changes resulting from neural reprocessing. As the flood of enkephalins, endorphins and calming hormones are produced in the brain, and as they saturate the equine body, the horse is given a new set of chemical instructions. The neuropeptides released by the brain are the chemical messengers that carry the new response to the cells and the cells then communicate back to the brain - we got the message! Let's respond instead of react! The beauty of this chemical information exchange is that it happens in minutes - not weeks, months or even years, the normal time for behavior modification or operant conditioning to work.
Run away vs. stay and play.
The horse now has a new set of choice-making tools because he is an in-body experience of suriving his fear (which is presented during therapy). The old energetic "charge" in the situation or because of the object stressor is gone. He can choose between "stay and play" or "run away." During the first few minutes of therapy, the new neural pathways are delicate so the "run away" response is more active, but soon the "stay and play" response is engaged and the horse's natural curiosity takes over as it fear is overcome. Giving the horse the choice makes all the difference in the acceleration of healing.
How long does ESCT take to work?
It usually begins working in the first 10 minutes of therapy with measurable results after 15 to 30 minutes. ESCT sessions are spaced a day or so apart and last 30 minutes. Three to five session are usually all that are needed to reprocess the problematical reaction in the horse. Our champion client horse several years ago was a Paso Fino who faced and overcame 5 spooks in one 60-minute session. This horse just wanted to keep going as the therapy soon became a game for him. Highly intelligent and willing, he experienced the benefits of bilateral brain integration right away and simply kept asking for more. The other end of the spectrum is brain-damaged horses who may have little or no benefit from bilateral brain integration - for instance, those that have suffered concussive damage or electrocution. In between those two extremes lies the vast field of potential for healing thousands of horses of their spooks, traumas phobias and fears, and helping them in training and performance.
Retesting with the rider up.
ESCT is begun on the ground and then the fear or stressful situation is tested again with the rider up to assure complete integration. For working while riding, the Harmony Pulser allows hands-free adminstration of ESCT using a gentle bilateral pulsing action delivered by two small lozenges attached to the halter or bridle that are connected to a hand control unit. Once the fear has been integrated while riding, the results are considered permanent. One can also administer ESCT to the horse while riding without the pulser by using one hand on the withers and scapula, or having an assistant administer therapy at critical points in the session. Either way is equally effective.
