PORTRAIT

Martine LEHOUSSE, member of On Curls board, once met with a person who manages a place for teenagers and who thinks that one cannot live for oneself. After only a few days, Martine and husband Christian decided to become host family for people coming from a psychiatric service.

By chance, Martine bought a curly mare, not knowing it was a Curly. She then met extraordinary people who taught her everything about Curly horses. A second mare joined the first one… Martine and her husband soon discovered that the combination horses-patients-youngsters, Curly horse more specifically, work well. They came to think that when not feeling well or when being tired they found comfort near horses, so, they started observing … and as for ethology learn by observing. Martine and Christian, who had been working in the psychiatric field; became host family and welcomed home teenagers with difficulties. They are currently working on a project based on their knowledge of the relation between horse and youngsters in order to create, by the end of year 2008, a living place dedicated to teenager under the supervision of PJJ (Youngster Judicial Protection). Please find bellow, a few lines from their project, which will be presented to the different authorities by the end of year 2008 (ARH: the regional agency for hospitalization – DASS: Board of Sanitary and social affairs – DRASS: Regional board of sanitary and social affairs).

“A horse is a good master, not only for the body, but also for the soul and for the heart”,                                       Xénophon, Greek philosopher and strategist, disciple of Socrates, 5th century BC

Getting the trust of any being is a long task. Horses are a fundamental element of this research. It is often more easier to confide in an animal, that will not judge you, than in a human being, even if the adult is competent and has given proofs of all possible relational qualities. Teenagers can be afraid of the judgement of adults.

By their presence, horses are reassuring; they calm down people and make them more responsible. They are mediators. By their passive presence, horses know how to be the friend who listens without judgement, and who soothes. Horses help teenagers to surpass themselves or help them free themselves from emotional blockage. They also help restore self confidence and to go back to our first feelings.

Many experiences showed that youngsters with problems found a motivation when discovering horses, their care, their environment, their practice. Indeed, horses and ponies are extraordinary affective and educational supports which can help youngsters to join forces, take responsibilities and learn many life rules.

Contact has to be physical, lean against a mare, feel its warmth, feed from its calmness and serenity.

A few examples: spending a moment in the field with the horses, touching them, talking to them, will help feeling better when stressed, tired or irritated. A horse will sense the angriness of a person ready “to explode” and get violent with anyone. It will come forth to provide peace to that human being on the verge of disaster. By its silent and calm presence it will be able to provide serenity. On a ride, there is no place left for selfishness, one has to tend to the horse that helped one to have a good day.               To take care of a horse every day is being responsible of this particular animal, how proud one can be in thinking that, thanks to one’s work and attention that horse is so magnificent.

Horse school is school of life. No need to use brute force against a 500 to 900 kilos animal, it’s an uneven contest. One must know how to ask without demanding, give confidence, encourage. The first contact as a rider should be on bare back. It is the best way to feel this animal that can only communicate physically. Bare back riding helps feel the nervousness, the anxiety or the calmness of the horse. The rider must anticipate for his attitude will condition the attitude of his horse. For a teenager who is not interested in riding, the contact can be made through a walk in the field or a moment passed in the boxes not doing anything but observe, “feel” the horses. Let’s imagine an evening spent seated in front of the boxes talking with the horses as spectators….

Many different races of horses exist. Those have been created by Man according to the use he had in mind. The sensibility is different according to the race; the way to behave can be totally different whether the horse is a pure blood or a draft horse.    Curly horse has not been created by men; men used it for its great resistance and its physical and mental particularities. Men managed to take the best out of this extraordinary horse.

Many experiences showed that youngsters experiencing difficulties to adjust socially found motivation in discovering horses and work linked to it.

The discovery of the horse must not be seen as a goal but as a mean to anchor those teenagers to the organised adult word, which many of them reject. The goal is not the practice of horse riding, but the use of the horse as an educative support.

The presence of a third party leads the teenager to adopt other behaviour. The closeness between rider and horse creates a relationship between the two partners in which each of them will have to engage motivity and affectivity.

The rider must be able not only to give direction to his horse, but he must understand its responses. The rider will then have to overcome his fear, and will have to learn to impose his will and give reward. Thus, the teenager will have to adapt to this new place where his behaviour is the key of his relation with the horse.

His self confidence will help the teenager to develop will power, courage thus helping his integration, which can be defined as his capacity, as an individual, to organise his life in connection with the social environment at large.

Horses are gregarious animals, their life is well structured. Horses had been for centuries a prey as well, which explain its tendency to flee from danger as well as its great sensibility.

We have got 2 Curlies, Osiris and Reinette. They are very close to men to the point that it is difficult to leave Reinette in the field. She prefers to follow us in the courtyard to “help” in domestic work. A patient from psychiatry who leaved in our home used to say, about Reinette: “she has chosen me”. Reinette and Osiris come forth to men; they have a reassuring presence and are “in touch”.

Our 3 years experience with patients with psychiatric problems and teenagers with difficulties, the observation we made of each of them allows us to say that horses, and more particularly Curly horse which by its natural curiosity and its sensibility, go to patients or teenagers and bring, by they reassuring presence and their “listening,” are a huge profit to the human beings by mixing with them.

We had the opportunity to observe a patient crying with emotion when witnessing the complicity between Osiris and our daughter Elise, or a patient in great distress holding one of our mare’s head in her arms; no one will ever know who was reassuring who.

A young patient would spend a lot of time with Reinette to “protect her”, there again who was protecting who?
A teenager while running his fingers through Reinette curly hair was telling me “it is soft and warm, I feel well”.

Curly horses are not like other horses, they are active. They are eager to find the presence of men. They will even “force” men to take care of them. They are clowns, hovering around; pushing you with their head, searching for things in your pockets, “forcing” you to show them interest. That is Reinette’s specialty doing so much so that in the end you will take care of her. No one can resist her funny faces of strange tall bizarre curly mare always looking for contact. One will quickly unwind and will soon be laughing at its clumsiness.

My conclusion on the observation of the use of horses with patients having psychiatric problems and teenagers in difficulty is that horses are the fundamental element in our job. Most horses are described by users as passive animals. The must with curly horses is that they are active