The document questions the common idea in equine therapy that horses mirror people. It notes that experienced horse experts have observed that horses do not actually mirror each other in their communication, but rather send clear, intentional messages. The document suggests that describing horse communication as mirroring may be an oversimplification used to explain their behavior to humans, rather than accurately capturing their language, which is based on maintaining herd structure and safety. It argues practitioners have a duty to understand horses on their own terms rather than force human interpretations onto them.

1. Do horses really mirror people?
Claire Dorotik M.A.
In the world of equine facilitated psychotherapy, the fascination of working with an
extremely large, and often, frightening animal, especially in a way that offers insight,
and possibly healing, has held an exclusive allure for those who have come to know of
this powerful therapy. Not unlike the almost magnetic draw that a great racehorse can
bring to even those not familiar with horses, the art of healing through horses, offers an
often imperceptible gift, housed in a mysterious package. And while people lucky
enough to have experienced the strange feeling of wellness, calm, and centeredness
that a horse can bring have struggled for words to describe this feeling, practitioners of
equine therapy have put many labels on just what it is horses can do for people. Cer-
tainly these terms have allowed some insight for people for whom horses are foreign,
however, they have also struggled to accurately describe just what happens between a
human and a horse. Possibly the most rudimentary of these descriptions of horse heal-
ing is that horses actually mirror people. Almost a given in the world of equine facilitated
psychotherapy, the concept that horses mirror people has become so popular that it is
now quite difficult to find any description of horse healing that doesn’t include this term.
Yet, is there any documented research behind this idea? And if not, where did the idea
really generate?
The truth is, the real masters of equine language, often dubbed “horse whisper-
ers,” never use this term. Instead, having spent years in the field watching horses inter-
acting with their own kind, they have found that they do not mirror each other. Quite the
contrary, the messages they do send are incredibly calculated, and imbued with con-
crete intention and meaning. A dominant mare, for example, cannot reprimand an ob-
noxious colt by mirroring him. He approaches too much, too strongly, and without re-
gard for the hierarchy of the herd. So what does she do? She pushes him away, away
from her, away from the herd, away from safety. You didn ’ t respect the order of the
herd, so now you have to live without it. This is not mirroring, this is clear messaging.
And it is not until the young colt repents, head lowered, lips licking and chewing in a
sign of submission, that she will let him back in. Again, this is not mirroring. She pushed
him away, now he must crawl back, with preverbal tail between legs. This is all very
clear, very intentional, and very necessary. For without this form of communication, the
order of the herd, and the safety that the herd represents could not be maintained. After
all, is everyone is mirroring everyone else, who makes the rules? Conceivably, there
would be no rules, no structure, and no safety. And for the horse, a herd animal, whose
safety depends on preserving the very structure that maintains the herd, this would be
against natural instinct.
So why is it then that practitioners of equine therapy, those who proclaim to know
just how it is a horse heals, and who vulnerable patients, unfamiliar with horses, and
looking to these practitioners for a sense of hope and clarity in their often bereft condi-
tion, insist that horses mirror people? Is this simply easier than attempting the daunting
task of explaining a language, that, after all, is foreign to us all? Or is this a need to
make the horse, an animal, like any other animal, clear intention, like us? Humans do
have a way of interpreting the many mysteries of the world through the horribly tenden-
tious lens our senses allow. Yet how incomplete, how restrictive this view has actually
been, having, after all, offered only a version of the world around us as flat. How wrong
we would have been to accept that interpretation, exclusive to our inchoate perception.
Yet why must we adhere to these same tendencies when interpreting the language of
the horse-especially to those who know no better? Don’t we, as equine practitioners

2. have a duty to understand these incredible creatures as unlike ourselves? We, we must
remember, come to them for healing. Not the other way around.
Claire Dorotik, M.A. is a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in trauma, weight
loss, eating disorders, addictions, and dual diagnosis. Claire utilizes equine facilitated psy-
chotherapy from a psychoanalytic perspective to offer clients a unique method to understand
themselves. Claire has written extensively on the topics of the psychology of weight loss,
food and substance addictions, trauma, and equine therapy. Her first three books, ON
THE BACK OF A HORSE: Harnessing the healing Power of the Human-Equine
Bond, NO SECRET SO CLOSE: A True Story of a Father’s Murder, A Moth-
er’s Betrayal, A Family Torn Apart, and The Horses That Turned It All Around, and
ALL KIDS ARE BORN THIN: A Parent’s Guide To Understanding and Prevent-
ing Childhood Obesity, are now available on Amazon Kindle. Further information on
Claire, or her upcoming books, can be found at www.clairedorotik.com.