Can horse whispering cure stress?

'Equine therapy' may sound new age, but the latest neuroscience suggests it has real benefits, says Matthew Green

With her ballerina-like grace and stand-offish demeanour, Isis does not strike visitors as an obvious candidate for the messy work of unearthing deeply buried feelings of grief or shame. Even if they can get past the fact that she is a horse.

The chestnut Arabian mare is at the leading edge of an emerging school of therapy that promises a path to healing that is equally open to survivors of war as to those from broken relationships. While there have been few formal studies, there are signs that this seemingly old-fashioned form of therapy could chime with discoveries from neuroscience on how new pathways can be laid down in the brain.