There are many forms of therapy: psychodynamic, cognitive behavioral, counseling and mindfulness. Malibu resident Natalie Riggs is ready to introduce people near and far to a relatively new form of therapy: equine.
Equine therapy—which Riggs calls “a healing modality”—involves interaction between horses and people to help facilitate a therapeutic experience. The goal, as written on her website, is to “help you develop your own … skills to navigate life on life’s terms.”
“[It’s a] real challenge to put into words,” Riggs said, in a phone call with The Malibu Times.
“So, what I do as an equine therapist, I’m facilitating a dialogue between myself and the client but I’m looking to the horse—my mare, Sophie—as a mirror for what’s happening on the inside with this person,” she described, adding that horses have “the capacity to be a mirror to the inner landscape … to be a channel.”
Sophie, who Riggs refers to as an Equine Guided Education partner, was adopted four years ago. Riggs herself is a certified Equine Guided Educator; she works with clients at a barn near her home, Shakti Ranch.
With private clients, her schedule varies; sometimes she’ll have a client or two a day and other times it’s three clients a day.
On the weekends, however, Malibuites are invited to participate in a yoga and horses community class from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. every other Sunday—no RSVP necessary. After “gentle yoga practices” and meditation, she said participants are taken to the pasture to interact (or not) with the 15 or so horses gathered.
“Inevitably, there’s a lot of curiosity,” Riggs said. “They [participants] find themselves walking up to the horse.”
After the time with horses, the class members gather in a group to discuss what they noticed. Inevitably, Riggs added, “[There’s] at least one person who shares a story [about how] they walked up to this horse, that the horse didn’t really like me cause it walked away.”
“That is certainly one perspective,” she explained, adding that another perspective could be that the horse wanted to show this person something, in a sort of glass half empty, half full scenario.
Once or twice a month, she also works with Save a Warrior, a Malibu-based nonprofit organization designed to help veterans and military service personnel overcome post traumatic stress disorder through experiential art forms.
During those sessions, Riggs said six or seven personnel are paired with two horses. Each person has a turn with the horse; while connecting with the horse, they’re also able to lean on the support of their group members.
Naturally, as a Kundalini yoga—known as yoga of awareness—therapist, Riggs took the next step and combined equine therapy and yoga for her new program: Yoga on Horseback. She has clients who “have a comfort and familiarity with horses” partake in simple yoga poses while sitting on the mare.
Of course, there are skeptics of the practice—just last week, comedian John Oliver brought up Malibu rehabilitation centers for his show “Last Week Tonight” and eviscerated the lack of regulation.
“Because the truth is anything can have therapeutic meaning,” Oliver said during the May 20 show. “Patients are stroking horses—that could be therapeutic. They’re biting owls—that could be therapeutic.”
To the skeptics, Riggs said: “Here’s the thing: who knows? They very well may be right. Maybe for them, there would be no value, but they [should] at least open themselves up to having the experience.”
Riggs offers her Yoga and Meditation with Horses workshop on most Sundays in Malibu; check her website (shaktiranch.com) for more information.
