The lively discussion was participated by both beginners and recognized Russian experts in the field of hippovence – psychologists, psychotherapists, owners of stables and equestrian clubs.

Hippovence is a special method of interaction between a person and a horse, in course of which a psychotherapeutic effect is achieved or the person’s individual abilities and practical skills are developed, leading to development of the personality as a whole. The psychotherapeutic basis of hippovence is that, in the process of contacting with a horse, there is awareness of deep processes to happen, at the moment of experiencing which the person can re-connect with his/her true Self. At the present stage of the hippovence development, there are two main areas to be distinguished: business trainings and psychotherapeutic sessions. However, according to Olga Platonova, the co-founder of the Russian Academy of Training and Therapy with Horses (RATTL), relatively recently, American researchers have found out that hippovence can help people with serious psychiatric diseases – clinical depression or bipolar disorder.

Maria Selivanova, an hippovent, a psychologist and the head of a trade and production company from Moscow, told the audience about her experience of conducting trainings with participation of horses. She is a specialist in «hippovence for business»: conducting corporate trainings for any teams – both composed of employees of the same company, and selected from people who did not know each other previously, coaching and organizing retreats – group therapeutic sessions. Maria Selivanova is sure that taking part in such trainings has an obvious and long-term effect. So, business hippovence makes it possible for people to improve their leadership skills, because a horse will not obey anyone: the person must understand how to behave, so that to achieve the animal’s obedience. In course of corporate trainings with horses, their participants learn to work in a team, set goals and achieve them, make decisions in face of unpredictable environmental changes, and these skills are firmly entrenched and transferred into everyday life.
 

«After participating in the training, employees of one of the companies were able to set very ambitious goals for developing their organization and, importantly, achieved them on time», says Maria Selivanova.

«Why a horse? The answer is simple. In course of non-verbal communication with a horse, the person receives immediate feedback. The horse, like a litmus test, immediately reflects the person’s state. And, changing his condition during the training, the person, in turn, watches the result on the horse», explains Maria Selivanova.

Organizing hippovence events is not an easy task. First, any session should be conducted by a trained specialist. Secondly, such events require careful preparation of all their stages. Elizaveta Bashkireva, an hippovent, the owner of the Equestrian Club «StarDancer», a coach and a dressage judge, recommends beginning to organize a session, especially if it is a long one, with determining the audience’s expectations and needs.

«Pay more attention to even such little things as the smell of your favorite soap: in retreats, participants’ comfort is important, as it allows them to open up more fully. Plan with a margin the number of musical compositions, food, variants of metaphorical cards and everything you may need. But the most important thing is timing the program: it must be thought out from beginning to end; moreover, it must be followed!» advises Elizaveta Bashkireva.

Many hippovents came to the specialty from psychology or psychotherapy, especially from Gestalt therapy. According to their own personal and professional experience, interacting with horses has a positive effect on quality of therapeutic sessions for their clients.

«The horse is alive, it invites you to get involved here and now and highlights very vividly the patterns of behavior familiar to humans: entering into relationships, interacting with other people. Going only the therapeutic way, the person can approach to awareness of these moments for a very long time, but it happens much faster, when a horse helps», says Alena Nefedova, a Gestalt psychologist, a psychotherapist from St. Petersburg.

Her colleague Lyubov Kochergina, a psychologist, a Gestalt therapist, a supervisor, a hippovent, the owner of the therapeutic space «Art-Yurt» (Ryazan Region), confirms that hippovence accelerates and deepens the therapeutic process.

Lyubov Kochergina reminded the audience that not only trained specialists in hippovence, but also trained horses should participate in the sessions: «For helping a person as efficiently as possible, the horse must feel safe, be desensitized, be able to trust and respect the coach and the client». She gave an example of one of the horses from «Art-Yurt». It was a horse to have completed a serious sports career, with all the problems in terms of emotional state, which followed from that fact. Its training as a participant in the sessions on hippovence took about a year: that’s how long it took the animal to get rid of stress and get used to new living conditions.

Olga Platonova reminded that the hippovent must comply with the rules of horses’ participation in such events.

«Participation of an animal in the session should be limited to an hour, and the number of sessions should not exceed two, maximum three per day, and if the horse helps a client in the acute state, one session is enough. After the session, the horse should be released into the field, where it can communicate with its friends, nibble grass, run: the animal can relieve emotional stress and discharge. Accessing to water and feed is mandatory», listed Olga Platonova the rules.

Aleksander Platonov, the co-founder of the Russian Association of Training and Therapy with Horses (RATTL), noted that, along with communicating with horses, hippovents also use supportive practices, this is especially important for multi-day retreats. They include walks and communication with wildlife, art therapy, body practices (dancing, singing, meditating), entertainment events (quests, performances, show items), followed by provision of photo and video materials to the participants. The must-have for a professional psychologist and an hippovent are metaphorical cards that help retreat participants get to know each other and the moderator, identify relevant requests and work through them, as well as complete the stages of complex psychological work.

The pleasant surprise for the participants in the Round Table was the creative master class «Become a Star of Hippovence» to be conducted by Olga Kosova, an hippovent, a specialist in neurography from Vitebsk. All the participants willingly visualized themselves as future «stars of hippovence», using for this a wonderful tool – neurographic programming.