First off, let’s get something very clear.

Equine Assisted Therapy is not Counselling.

Having provided counselling for over 18 years to private clients, couples and families, I’ve never had a horse in the therapy room and never will, when I am providing a counselling service, as they are big animals and they are not house trained.

If your participant wants Counselling or Psychotherapy we can help you, but there will be no horses, no outside interaction with horses, it will be straight basic counselling in a room with a single therapist. If that’s what your NDIS Participant needs, that’s fine and another business that is run and owned can provide that: if so visit our other website at Thinkshift Transformational Therapy.

Anyway, we are assuming that your participant has stated they want to do Equine Assisted Therapy, because they have heard or read about the amazing benefits that horses can help provide to humans.

Equine Assisted Therapy requires a number of essential elements above and beyond “Counselling” and “Psychotherapy”.

The first essential element to do Equine Assisted Therapy, is the Equine piece of the puzzle, that’s right horses. Usually at least a choice of three horses. Not all Equine Therapy Horses are suitable for all participants, so we need a range of horses to match the participant.

And then to keep horses, paddocks are needed. Horse paddocks tend to be in a rural setting (due to the high cost of land the closer you get to suburban settings) and horses need shelter from bad weather and storms and shade from the sun, so not just a paddock, but a paddock with amenities.

Horses need feeding – not just pasture grazing, but hard feed which includes supplements to keep them healthy, and of course they need a fresh supply of potable water.

Horses like humans need to have medical attention: so there are vet fees to pay to keep them healthy, worming, vaccinations, dietary tests and analysis.

Horses have hooves, on the ends of their feet, that need trimming every 5-6 weeks, and possibly shoeing over the same time cycle.

Horses also have teeth that continue to grow and they need a visit from the horse dentist every 12 months to file down their teeth. Bad teeth can lead to bad digestion which for a horse can be fatal.

And horses when working with humans need horse yards, and other clearly defined areas for humans and horses to co-mingle.

To work with horses and humans to provide therapy demands specialised training  to assist participants. This is particularly specialized work. 

That’s why the rate is higher, because the costs to provide the service are higher and the therapist needs to have a suitably qualified horse handling expert present during participant sessions.

That’s why another code is used:

Code: 15_056_0128_1_3

Description: Assessment Recommendation Therapy or Training – Other Professionals

Current Rate: $193.99