What is Equine Facilitated Learning?

Equine facilitated learning (EFL) sessions at Danny’s Place are either learner led, horse led or facilitator led. The environment is calm, non-critical, non-judgmental and non-pressured, with the horses either directly or indirectly involved. A variety of observational and facilitated techniques alongside communication methods, including reporting, repeating and reflecting, are utilised by qualified EFL practitioners within the sessions.

Danny’s Place provides an alternative environment that can develop trust and confidence in learners who may have disengaged from, or are struggling in, mainstream educational settings. It provides a wide variety of opportunities for learners with complex needs who may have a loss of self confidence, or low self-esteem, or who may be lacking in physical and emotional strength/ resilience, or who have diagnosed learning disorders/ specific educational needs, to explore their behaviours, triggers and projections within a safe and calm environment, and without fear of judgement or criticism.

The benefits of equine facilitated learning are widely acknowledged and recognised by educational practitioners, psychologists and occupational therapists, either as an intervention for temporarily excluded pupils to reintegrate them back into a mainstream educational setting, or as part of a blended programme alongside school. These benefits include rebuilding self-confidence, encouraging self-regulation, offering opportunities to develop more of a growth mindset, encouraging choice and decision making, reducing anxiety, offering a multi-sensory experience, strengthening resolve and resilience to help reduce a reliance on external validation, and developing fine and gross motor skills.

As Danny’s Place operates under a Winchester City Council Riding Establishment License, facilitated sessions can include working with the horses from the saddle, as-well as working with them from the ground, depending on the individual needs and wants of the learners.