Equine Assisted Learning: A Healing Therapy To Engage The Needs Of Millennial Workforce

Abstract

This paper throws light on equine-assisted learning or which may also be called "horse whispering" and considers the results of human-animal interactions which can act as a tool for the development and improvement of one self. Through this human-animal interaction, the paper presents three Lacanian concepts of subjectivity, desire, and fantasy in determining the fractured relationship between self and other which may also be portrayed as the leader-follower relations. Organizations are struggling hard to meet the needs of the Millennials. Managers are thus facing the problems in building relationships with Millennial employees and fully understanding which motivating factors affect them and their work. Special training focusing on the Millennials can help the leaders to work with Millennials in a more effective manner which in turn can increase retention rates for organizations, reducing the costs as well as increasing the loyalty among them. Throughout history we have observed that the horses have been remained the symbols of power and leadership. They have been the deciding factor in the fall and rise of various empires for thousands of years. But can we imagine that horses can still be influential in the corporate world today also through EAL programs that is Equine Assisted Learning.

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THINK INDIA JOURNAL ISSN:0971-1260
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Equine Assisted Learning: A Healing Therapy To Engage The
Needs Of Millennial Workforce
Ms. Yuvika Singh*
Research Scholar(PhD), School of Management Studies,
Punjabi University, Patiala, India. Email-yuvikasingh23@gmail.com
Postal Address: #1536 Durga Colony, Opposite Government College (Kalka)
District Panchkula(Haryana), Pin code-133302
Dr. Heena Atwal**
Assistant Professor (Management)
Department of Basic and Applied Sciences,
Punjabi University, Patiala, India.Email-heena.atwal@yahoo.com

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Abstract
This paper throws light on equine-assisted learning or which may also be called “horse
whispering” and considers the results of human–animal interactions which can act as a tool
for the development and improvement of one self. Through this human– animal interaction,
the paper presents three Lacanian concepts of subjectivity, desire, and fantasy in determining
the fractured relationship between self and other which may also be portrayed as the leader–
follower relations. Organizations are struggling hard to meet the needs of the Millennials.
Managers are thus facing the problems in building relationships with Millennial employees
and fully understanding which motivating factors affect them and their work. Special training
focusing on the Millennials can help the leaders to work with Millennials in a more effective
manner which in turn can increase retention rates for organizations, reducing the costs as well
as increasing the loyalty among them. Throughout history we have observed that the horses
have been remained the symbols of power and leadership. They have been the deciding factor
in the fall and rise of various empires for thousands of years. But can we imagine that horses
can still be influential in the corporate world today also through EAL programs that is Equine
Assisted Learning.
Keywords- EAL, Healing Therapy, Importance for engaging the Millennial.
Introduction
Today, in this rapidly changing environment, the organizations are facing lot of challenges to
survive not only externally but also internally. With the advent of globalization, technology
and innovations, management of the younger generation at workplace have created many
challenges in the businesses, including the higher costs as a result of decreasing retention
rates of the young, self-motivated employees This young generation is known as the
Millennials. According to Werth (2015) some people says that people born between the early
1980s and early 2000s are said to be as millennials, while the majority of the people say that
millennials are those who born between the 1980s and mid-1990s.Current census bureau
results says that that the millennial workforce is the generation of children born between 1982
and 2002. This generation will soon replace the Baby-boomers as they retire. There are a lot

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of opinions by different researchers about who is this generation of millennials? What are
their priorities and why they are so important in the coming years? If one quickly goes
through various articles millennials are said to be altruistic. Mostly people are confused that
do they fundamentally prefer the stability of the work culture of an organization, or their only
preference is the job security and do they switch over if some good offer comes to them? Are
they multitaskers or behave just like previous generations? They are the one who are more
interested in the benefits of work or they are interested in the work itself? Is it really difficult
to engage the millennials? This remains a matter of debate. Millennials reduce their
expectations regarding the work-life balance and work environment. However, their
expectations related to job, training needs, career orientation, and rewards keeps increasing.
Thus, one can say that Millennials’ expectations are highly influenced by the individual
factors such as career and optimism. In short, it can be said that sometimes where the other
training sessions fail in improving the behavior of employees, unique training sessions,
especially with the assistance of animals can act as a source of motivation.
Literature Review
Dell (2008) discussed about the different theoretical connections between a culture-based
model of resilience, EAL and health promotion. Wagner et al. (2008) focuses on the
important role that emotions may play in MI, particularly the positive emotions. Kane, S.
(2009) discussed the specific uses of the EAL therapy, why only horses are used in this
programme as well as the positive outcomes of the programme. Deal et al. (2010) discussed
the importance of an area for understanding the behavior of different people of different
generations, and suggested how organizational practitioners can use the available data to take
better decisions about Millennials. Hauw et al. (2010) suggested that managers need to focus
their limited resources during different situations especially in times of recession. Salem, P.
(2011) discussed thathorses perform the work of teaching and healing through a variety of
equine assisted programmes including class room training as well as experiential learning
programmes. Study of Gergely et al. (2012) focused on lack of knowledge about EAL and
organizations that provide equine-assisted therapy to individuals with different mental health
issues nationwide. Kelly, S. (2014) draws attention towards Lacanian psychoanalysis to
rethink about one self and the practice of experiential leadership development. The main
purpose of Mota (2014), is to understand the meaning of animal assisted therapy specially

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with the help of the horses who can act as a tool in improving not only the psychological
health but also physical health of the client. Notgrass & Pettinelli (2015) discussed that the
horses are natural teachers in regards to self-awareness and non-verbal communication.
Their responses to nonverbal cues from both humans and other horses during their
interactions are instinctive and instantaneous. Pohl (2015) lays stress upon EGLE which
provides the means by which leaders can get equipped for the task. Working with a horse is a
powerful integrating experience for a person which helps to learn a lot. It is basically learning
through action by relationship problem solving. It is an innovative way to teach leadership
and other competencies. Werth et al. (2015) gave training administrators and educators some
important suggestions on how to develop and increase the learning abilities of Millennial
generation students by studying the existing literature on it. Gibbons et al. (2016) studied and
evaluated the effectiveness of an equine workshop for young men using a mixed-method
approach on 37 participants. Meola (2016) conducted a literature review on ongoing research
and the use of EAL theory programme in the field of training and development. The purpose
of the causal-comparative study by Pentecost, A. L. (2017)was to compare the mean scores of
their survey to determine if there were statistically significant differences between the mean
pre and post-test scores of perceived professional developments received by the participants
of the Equine Assisted Learning leadership workshops. According to Tartakovsky, M. (2018),
the main aim of equine-assisted learning is the experiential treatment where the individuals
interact with horses in a number of activities, including grooming, feeding, walking, playing
games in order to improve their psychological health. Bell (2019) explained the amazing
healing properties of different animals such as dogs, rats, cats, dolphins which can just
overshadow many treatments or medicines.
Objective of the study
The main objective of this paper is to study the meaning of the equine assisted training and
how it is important for an organizationspecially to engage the needs of Millennial Workforce.
Research Methodology
A literature review is conducted on ongoing research and use of EAL in the field of
management training and development. In order to understand this concept an attempt is

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made to review the literature on millennial and the training concept of EAL. So, this
conceptual paper gathers necessary information mainly with the help of secondary data
including books, articles and research papers.
Do animals possess natural healing powers?
According to Bell(2019), although humans have been successful in discovering different
healing therapies, medicines, treatments for themselves, but still DNA of certain animals
might surprise everyone with their healing properties which may act as a gift to us. There is
no denying fact that almost everyone is afraid of a snake, but venom of a snake can reduce
thickness of blood, which in turn avoid clots and reduce the chances of human strokes, thus
saving many lives. Pet dogs or well-trained service dogs can heal mental unwellness, stress
level, depression, bipolar disorder, trauma and are even helpful in autism. Rats if trained
properly can sniff the life-threatening diseases. In the year 2014, a rat named Mozambique
was trained to sniff tuberculosis in some areas of Africa and thus, many lives were saved.
Similarly, horses due to their ideal properties, just like humans, can easily connect with them.
According to Mota (2014), under therapeutic settings, the power of horse can provide an
opportunity for a human to heal themselves by looking upon their own issues. Thus, a horse
can connect the inner world of the person with the outer world which includes peer group,
family and society.
What is an Equine assisted learning?Is it a Healing therapy?
According to Salem, P. (2011),Horses can perform the work of teaching as well as healing
through a number of equine assisted applications such as education (both through a classroom
as well as through experience), youngsters at risk programs, in anti-drug programs,
mentalcounselling, mentoring, and workplace training itself. But what is the main difference
between the different ways of partnering with horses teaching as well as healing people? The
focus of horses teaching and healing is not just riding or horsemanship but horse care is
sometimes an important part of the activity.Equine Assisted Learning (EAL), Equine
Facilitated Experiential Learning (EFEL) or in other words, Equine Facilitated Learning
(EFL) refers to the various activities done with horses to gain experiential learning. Such
Learning programmes can be used to re-engage the students in academics and here the clients

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have to participate in a training session with the horses on the ground, along with the trainer.
Organizational development professionals deliver the programs such asEquine assisted team
& leadership training programmes (workplace training) to the executives and teams within
the organization using instructional design and training techniques.According to Kane, S.
(2009), workforce today is facing many problems such as Anxiety disorders, psychiatric
disorders, mood swings, behavioural problems, trauma, grief, divorce and loss, risk youth,
victims of violence which can be handled or improved through EAL therapy.Just like human
behavior, behavior of a horse can be best understood through observation. After analysing the
biological history one can say that, horses have developed intense, unconditioned responses
to different threatening situations. Their immediate reaction to real or perceived threat is to
flee, although sometimes they will stand their ground and defend themselves. For horses,
survival dictates that they serve as members of a group, who bind together and cooperate with
one another as a socialization processjust similar to that of humans. Thus, the ability of
horses to get attached also extends to other species especially humans. One can say that team
work is based on natural curiosity and strong bonds present in both the horse and humans.
Why an organization must go for EAL?
These programs are not only cost-effective, reduces time delays but also create long-term
benefits for employees as well as the employers. Different organizations are currently using
EAL to inculcate leadership and team-building skills in their managers and employees.
According to Mota (2014), Equine assisted learning (EAL) program is an effective training
tool that helps many organizations to bridge the gap between older managers and the
Millennial employees. Thus, an organization may adopt these training programs in order to
reduce the stress levels among the employees and for improving the relations among the
members.
EAL is rising as an effective experiential training method for teaching the managers all those
skills that are required in order to survive in a corporate environment. While there are some

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disadvantages too under this approach such as availability of programs geographically, higher
costs, and liability concerns otherwise if we see as a whole, it is a new learning experience
that can affect the employees for a long time. EAL teaches the importance of nonverbal
communication and teamwork and helps the participants to experience a successful
leadership by expressing effectively. According to Gergely (2012) there are different
variations in equine-assisted therapy. Some of the other versions include: equine-facilitated
learning(EFL), equine-facilitated therapy (EFT), equine-facilitated psychotherapy (EFP),
equinefacilitated mental health (EFMH), equine-assisted experiential therapy (EAET),
equineassisted counseling (EAC), equine-assisted learning (EAL), and equine-assisted
psychotherapy (EAP)and the Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA)
offering training as equine therapy.
Findings
One can say that EAL act as a healing therapy for millennial workforce.Deal (2010) focused
upon Millennials as the altruistic beings who want to save the planet more than anything else
through latest trends and knowledge. The researcher tried to find the answers for the certain
questions such as whether they believe in stability of working for one organization, or its
their preference until a better offer comes to them? Are they more interested in the benefits or
in the work itself? Are they multi-taskers or love to do one task at a time?By comparing 2
matched samples of Millennials in 2 different situations Hauw (2010) was able to find the
Millennialspsychological contract expectations. Gibbons et al. (2016) found the effectiveness
of an equine workshop for the youth using a mixed approach method. About 37 participants
came from difficult situations like poverty. Thus a 2-day equine-based workshop were
conducted to be evaluated where the participants completed various measures of leadership,
emotional balance, aggression, and interpersonal response to various threats and fears. Focus
groups with participants and their family members reported to have multiple benefits,
including improved emotion regulation. The workshops were based on anexercise developed
by natural horsemanship trainer MontyRoberts who tried to increase trust and leadership
among the participants through nonviolent communication. He utilized the horse’s natural
instinct and sensitivity to human behavior. This 2-day workshop included some PowerPoint
and video presentations as well as query sessions between the participants and workshop
organizers. Participants were also engaged in a breathing exercise in close contact with a

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horse where they concentrated on their breathand self-awareness for 20 to 30 minutes,
recording the heart rate of the horse before and after the contact. 2 weeks later a small session
was conducted to get the feedback of the participants, how they are implementing the new
skills to their lives through role play exercise.
Fig 1-Learning from workshop(Gibbons et al.,2016)
All equine-based programmes are based on experiential learning between the participant and
the external environment. In such training programmes the participants must solve problems
in real time, such as how to elicit behaviors in horses without forcing them.
Similarly,Dell(2008) discussed how YSAC’s culture-based model of resiliency is put into
practice at White Buffalo through the example of EAL. The application of this model to a
horse-assisted learning program is a unique contribution to the literature. An innovative
approach, such as EAL with First Nations youth can help to promote such programmes.
Pentecost (2017)worked upon a concept to bring better-quality curricula within leadership
training and how to improve professional competence of the educators and different business
people. Their researchprovides valuable information about theperceived professional
leadership qualities which can be gained through equine assisted leadership courses.
Although many studies have been completed on the behavior of horses and their
naturalleadership roles within their species but very little has been examined or experimented
on humans in successful equine programs.As described by Notgrass &Pettinelli (2015) on

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their website EAL programs are a form of experiential learning programs which follow
several principles:
● Experiential learning transpires when carefully selected experiences are reinforcedthrough
reflection and critical examination.
● Involvement is necessary so that the learner takes initiative, decisions and be responsible
for the results.
● During the experiential learning routine, the learner is highly involved in feedback,
exploring, investigating, resolving problems, responsibility, being creative, and creating
meaningful results.
● Students are not only engaged academically and socially but their involvementalso creates
an awareness that the learning assignment is genuine and helpful.
● Various relationships are established such as learner to self, learner to others and learner to
the outside world.
● The instructor and the learner may undergo various outcomes such as achievement,
disappointment, exploring new things and uncertainty, since the outcomes of events cannot
completely be anticipated.
● New opportunities are discovered for students as well as the teachers to observe their own
values.
● The instructor’s main role includes creating appropriate learning environment, solving the
problems, setting limits, supporting students, protecting physical and emotional safety, and
aiding the learning process.
● The learning experience is designed in a manner which is helpful to learn from natural
consequences, mistakes and accomplishments.
Can one say that EAL is a positive emotions theory?
In last 10 years, various psychologists have become interested in the role of positive emotions
in human development, change and psychotherapy. Some commonly researched positive
emotions are joyfulness, interest, elevation and contentment.According to Wagner, et al.
(2008)emotions can be learned in the form of hope, love, gratitude, and mutual trust.
Nowadays one is focusing more on negative emotions rather than positive emotions. Here
definitely it can be said that equine-based programmes or learning is a positive emotions

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theory as it laid stress upon experiential learning through emotions where an individual learns
to act in a better manner in real time situations or problems.According to Meola (2016) the
common job training programs are not able to satisfy the new demands as the Millennial
employees seek constant communication at the workplace including mentoring, and
continuous feedback from managers. So, it can be said that EAL is anemerging and effective
experiential training method for teaching the headsabout theskillsrequired incorporateworld.
EAL teaches nonverbal communication and teamwork to theparticipants as learning about
oneself and one’s leadership style can be a life time lesson which may bring positivity at the
workplace.Pohl, L. (2015) worked upon theEquine Guided Leadership Education (EGLE)
which is a form of Equine Assisted Learning (EAL) programme andeffectively leads to
learning through the integration of the four aspects of human experience: mind, emotions,
spirit and body which in turn allows us to develop four basic leadership competencies:
feedback, awareness, action and somatic intelligence.
How is EAL helpful in engaging workforce?
According to Tartakovsky, M. (2018), EAL can improve the psychological health which in
turn helps in engaging workforce in the following ways:
 By providing an insight for growth. Therapists can use the clients’ reactions and emotions
to horses’ behaviors to in order to understand theclient’s interaction with people and thus help
them to gain self-awareness.
 By offering instant feedback. As the horses offer instant and correct feedback the throw
light on the feelings of the trainee.
 By fostering a healthy and loyal relationship. horses allow patients or the trainee to
connect them without the risk of rejection or criticism which may be helpful in curing eating
disorders too.
 Building trust and confidence. Many patients with eating or other mental health disorders
have experienced trauma whether they are work alcoholic or not, so it is very difficult for
them to trust others. EAL therapy helps them to break these barriers and overcome the trust
issues which not only improve their relations at the workplace with the peer group, boss or
subordinates as well as in personal life but also helps them to gain confidence.

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Cane, S. (2009) also discussed the different positive outcomes of the EAL or EAP
programme such as:
 EAL helps in teaching teamwork and creating problem solving attitude.
 In providing a safe environment to the trainee where they can experiment the emotions.
 Helps in learning new ways to interact socially.
 EAL includes fun and therapeutic healing for millennials.
The research done by Cane, S. (2009) says that Non-verbal communication with a horse helps
the trainee to better understand themselves and how they must behave with others in the
outside world by developing a bond involving various parameters such as affection,
assertiveness, communication skills, empathy, self-control, respect for others, trust and
acceptance for others.
Summary and conclusion
Employees areexpected to build relationships, think creatively, workwith a variety of entities
to identify needs and utilize the available resources in a multidirectionalproblem-
solvingprocess. Trainers and faculty alone cannot change the cultureof an organization.
Supervisors and other administrators must also learn about the new generation ofpeople
entering into formal training programs.These individuals have the power within an institution
torefocus attention away from providing information andtoward building an environment
where students can learneffectively the skills needed to succeed.According to Kelly (2014)
Lacan’s mirror stage, mirrors have definitely the power to reflect, but this reflection is not a
simple feeding back and validating of someone’s true nature. So, one can say that EAL
training programme can act as a revolutionary programme especially for the millennial
workforce in order to motivate them and to inculcate better leadership qualities among them.
In one of the articles published by ‘The Economic Times’, dated 14th July 2017, various
challenges faced by the Millennial workforce are being discussed. As per this article it is well
said that the attitude of a Boss has a direct impact on self-motivation and level of confidence
of an employee and vice versa. So, one can say that EAL can be helpful in such situation too
and such training programmes can bring a drastic change in the attitudes of people,

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coordination and can impact team work at workplace and thus can engagethe millennials in
one or the other way.
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