Debbie Erickson opened a gate on the grounds of her horse ranch in Wasilla and walked her tall black horse into a small pasture.
"I call her Ana for 'anonymous' because I couldn't think of a name," she said.
Ana is one of 16 therapeutic horses, mini horses and ponies at AURORA Wellness Services in Wasilla, where Erickson works as an equine specialist. When Erickson needs emotional support herself, she visits Ana.
"Sometimes she's laying down, and we'll just sit down on the ground together for a little while," she said, while Ana neighed. "They just have the capacity and don't pass judgment."
Ana is not the first horse Erickson has been close to. At age 5, she said she traded her Schwinn bike for a pony and would roam the streets of South Anchorage.
Then when Erickson was 13, her father died. And she said her horse helped her process deep emotions during that fragile time.
"Dusty was probably my counselor," she said. "I could tell him anything. He wouldn't share secrets. He would carry my burdens, so I didn't have to. So I got in the habit of going out and feeding him at 5:30 in the morning before school started, because I just needed that time with him."
Now, Erickson works on a team with a mental health counselor doing equine-assisted psychotherapy. AURORA Wellness Services has been offering the therapy for more than ten years.
The mental health benefits of horse-human relationships are well documented and while there's less research on specific types of horse therapy, it shows promise for treating trauma and at-risk youth.
The type of therapy at AURORA doesn't include riding horses; instead patients spend time on the ground with Erickson, a psychotherapist and a small herd of horses in a corral. Patients can interact with the horses, but they're also meant to watch the animals and notice if there are ways the horses' behavior could be a metaphor for what's going on in their own life.
"It's always through the horse," Erickson said. "The horse makes you think of things or reminds you of things. It's metaphoric, the herd and how they gather, separate- It all relates to what's going on in your life."
She gave the example of a patient who was feeling frustrated because the horses weren't moving and then realized, like the horses, she was stuck in a rut and not doing anything about it.
Erickson works alongside licensed professional counselor Laura Condon, who has her own long personal history with horses.
"I think I read every horse book that was ever written as a child," she said. She's shown and competed with horses and when she went into the behavioral health field, she started working with Erickson.
Condon said she sees the high impact of therapies like this that tap into more creative areas of the brain.
"Most people who engage in either horses or art or music or poetry that they can go deeper within themselves," she said.
She said she's seen it help people process things more quickly than if they were just sitting in a room talking about their thoughts and feelings.
Condon said the horses, ponies and mini horses they use in the therapy have their own, sometimes strong reactions to people and those are a part of the therapy.
She said a woman was intensely grieving and there was a horse in the herd that would frequently butt or bump into people. But around this woman, he acted differently.
"He circled her about three times, and then he laid down right in front of her and just put his head on the ground," Condon said. "Then she sat down with him for the whole rest of the session and we were just watching this, kind of in awe."
Horses have been in domestic relationships with humans for thousands of years and their capacity to read and react to human emotion is well researched.
The stables have run group therapies with first responders, firefighters, at-risk youth and veterans and for many people, it's covered by insurance. Separately, the stables also offer therapeutic riding, which can help people with coordination and movement skills, including for stroke or injury recovery.
Equine specialist Debbie Erickson said equine-assisted psychotherapy can be really great for helping people who may not want to verbalize feelings.
"It's non-verbal, non-talkative, so I think it's great for some of the people that aren't good with talking about their feelings or have hidden them or suppressed them for so long," she said.
She said, like her, those people can tell their horse any secrets they need to share.
