Healing with horses: fostering recovery from cancer with horses as therapists.
Nearly 10 years ago, I looked at a poster exhibit for a nonprofit organization's camping experience for cancer survivors. One of the images in particular remains with me to this day. It was of an elderly man wearing a cowboy hat and the great grin on his wrinkled face as he stood next to a beautiful sorrel horse. The woman at the poster told me the story behind the picture: The man had advanced cancer and had already entered a hospice program, even though he was still physically active. He'd told many people that his biggest regret in life was that he'd never gotten to ride a horse. The photograph was taken the day his wish to ride had finally come true, and he died only weeks later. At that moment, I started thinking about how to describe the benefit the equine experience had given that man. A growing number of experiential programs offer cancer survivors, primarily children, the opportunity to ride horses as one of many recreational activities. But, that man had experienced something that surpassed a momentary recreational thrill. That started a quest that, after 10 years, is coming to fruition.
Haylock
Pamela J
PJ
University of Texas Medicine Branch School of Nursing, Galveston, USA. pjhaylock@indian-creek.net
Cantril
Cynthia A
CA
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000818:Animals; D001294:Attitude to Health; D006694:Holistic Health; D006736:Horses; D017051:Hospice Care / Q000458:organization & administration*; D001841:Human-Animal Bond; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D011788:Quality of Life; D012803:Sick Role