This work holds a special place in my practice. After a riding accident, the common message within the riding world is to get back on and carry on. While this is often done with the best intentions, many riders later find themselves feeling anxious, freezing when a horse becomes unsettled, or losing the joy and connection they once had with riding — sometimes months or even years later.
This happens because trauma is not resolved by “pushing through.” Unprocessed trauma lives in the nervous system, whose primary role is to keep us safe. When an experience has felt threatening, the body remembers — even when the mind wants to move on. Anxiety, avoidance, or shutdown are not signs of weakness; they are signals from a nervous system trying to protect you.
Horse–Rider Trauma Re-integration Therapy focuses on restoring safety at a nervous-system level for both rider and horse. Through somatic, trauma-informed work, the therapist’s regulated nervous system supports co-regulation, allowing the rider to process and integrate past experiences rather than remain stuck in survival responses.
As the rider’s nervous system settles, the horse also senses this regulation and safety. This is where true healing begins — not only for the rider, but for the relationship itself. Horse and rider can reconnect with trust, confidence, and the joy that first drew them together.
Therapeutic Process
Horse–Rider Trauma Re-integration Therapy typically involves six sessions or more, depending on the impact of the incident or incidents, and the nervous systems of both horse and rider.
Sessions take place at the yard where your horse is kept. The first session is a gentle introduction and does not involve riding. We spend time together in the paddock or stable, allowing you to share the story of your relationship with your horse, the incidents that occurred, and how things currently feel. This session also allows me to observe and understand the state of both nervous systems.
Each session is two hours in duration. While we may not always use the full two hours, horses are highly sensitive to time pressure and rushing. Allowing ample space ensures that the work remains regulating and safe for both horse and rider, rather than activating or overwhelming.
Over the course of subsequent sessions, I work with you and your horse using a range of somatic and equine-assisted therapeutic approaches to support trauma integration. Some techniques focus on the rider, such as Brainspotting, BWRT, and Trauma Release Exercises (TRE)- which is the induction of a gentle neurogenic tremor to release trauma stored at a cellular level. Other interventions may focus on the horse, including fascia release or clicker-based techniques. Much of the work centres on the horse–rider relationship itself, drawing on equine-assisted psychotherapy exercises designed to restore communication, safety, and connection.
The process concludes with a feedback and integration session, once again spent quietly in the paddock with your horse. This final session allows space to reflect on the journey, consolidate learning, and support continued confidence and connection moving forward.
Megan Main-Baillie, Clinical Psychologist: Fourways 