Meet Our Therapy Partners: Marshall, Sherlock, Vannie, & Corky!

Meet four more of ECC’s equine therapy partners! Marshall, Sherlock, Vannie, and Corky are all different from each other in looks, personality, and the types of clients they excel at working with, but they all have had invaluable impact on clients’ healing. Keep reading to learn more about these special horses!

Marshall may be the most visually intimidating horse in the pasture. At 1,600 pounds, he is the largest member of the herd. Marshall is known around the barn for using his size to his advantage—he knows how big he is and that humans can’t make him do anything he does not want to do! However, despite Marshall's size, even the smaller clients can get him to cooperate when they communicate in the right way. Horses of Marshall's size are frequently chosen by clients who have experienced trauma. One of Marshall's former teenage clients chose him specifically for his size - he made her feel both challenged and safe while working him. When Zoe* would come for her weekly session with Marshall, she often felt very anxious from her day at school. Marshall would often act protective of Zoe and refuse to allow the other horses to come near her. Through her work with Marshall, Zoe became more aware when her anxiety increased and learned ways to calm herself down.

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Sherlock is a favorite around the barn. He loves to interact with people and is very playful. Sherlock is particularly talented with clients who are working to establish and enforce personal boundaries. Because he is so playful, he will sometimes start behaving in ways that make people uncomfortable, such as trying to stick his nose in their pockets or lipping the tops of their head. It can be a challenge for clients to set a limit on what they are comfortable with Sherlock doing for many reasons—for example, they don’t want to hurt his feelings or they are afraid to make him angry. This often reflects the way the client feels in their human relationships. Being able to set and enforce boundaries with Sherlock can be an empowering experience for many clients. Sherlock often demonstrated that he has an affinity for our military veteran clients. As with many of the veterans who we serve, Jacob* came to counseling feeling disconnected from others. Jacob felt guilty that he experienced posttraumatic stress and talked about feeling worthless. During Jacob's first several sessions, Sherlock was very attentive to Jacob and tried to stay close to him. As Jacob continued working with Sherlock, he interpreted Sherlock's behavior as protection. Jacob had come to counseling feeling worthless, but the attention from Sherlock and other horses helped Jacob to believe he was worthy of protecting.

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Vannie appears to many people to be reserved and calm. One of Vannie’s greatest strengths as a therapy horse is his ability to sense when clients become anxious or upset. He has been known to approach clients while they are discussing traumatic experiences and stay close until the client feels calm again. Vannie demonstrated his care for humans during one of Maria's* sessions. Maria was a military spouse and sought counseling for anxiety and depression. Maria frequently felt overwhelmed and struggled to talk about her anxiety. One day, when Maria's anxiety was particularly strong, she noticed Vannie watching her intently from across the pasture. Although Vannie was not her chosen horse, his attention meant something to her. Later in the session, Vannie made his way over to Maria and stayed with Maria until she felt calmer and able to process her anxiety with the counselor.

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Corky is one of our smallest horses, but he has a big attitude. He has very specific likes and dislikes that his clients must work to become aware of to have a trusting relationship with him. Corky is frequently chosen by children due to his small size. Jennifer* was one of the children who chose Corky as her counseling partner. Jennifer came to counseling to work on her anger and aggressive behavior towards siblings. Jennifer immediately noticed that Corky was separated from the rest of the herd and stated that she would like to work with him because she likes to be alone, too. Jennifer would process her difficulty trusting people through her discussion of Corky's feelings. Discussing her experiences as Corky's experiences enabled Jennifer to feel safe to process her feelings and identify healthy ways of expressing her anger and interacting with others. 
 
You can help Marshall, Sherlock, Vannie, and Corky continue their work with clients by becoming an angel and supporting our Be An Angel fundraiser. Just $10 ensures that the horses can participate in the session. Go to http://beanangelecc.causevox.com to make a tax-deductible contribution to the Angel Fund, held by our non-profit partner Wings of Hope.
 
*Client names and some details have been changed to protect client identity

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