Seoul Purpose

Her work as International Liaison for RDA has taken National Coaching Lead Sue Adams-Wheeler all over the world. We caught up with her after a recent trip to South Korea.

Having heard a talk by Sue about Equine Assisted Learning, The Korea Racing Authority (KRA) asked for her help. The Authority, which, as well as running the hugely popular racing industry, also has a remit to improve social welfare, is starting a programme to support fire-service and military personnel with PTSD. “These are people who need to learn to trust again,” explains Sue.

Korea has a progressive attitude to horses for therapy and well-being. Like RDA, the Korea Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship is a member of HETI (Horses in Equine Therapy International), and the Korean government even launched an initiative last year offering all citizens 10 subsidised riding lessons. “They want to encourage people to get fit and active, and to have more interactions with animals,” says Sue.

Groundwork

Sue was invited to work with staff and representatives from the fire service at KRA’s spectacular Race Park, in the Juam-Dong district of Seoul. Built as an equestrian park for the 1988 Summer

Olympics, the facility was converted to the LetsRun Park a year later and is now one of three state of the art racecourses in the city. “There are about 1,500 horses on site and around 1000 members of staff,” says Sue. “They all have lunch in a vast canteen.”

There is already plenty of RDA-style activity at the site, predominantly with children. Indeed, one of the delegates had trained with RDA at the Diamond Centre 20 years ago – and even had the certificate that Sue presented her with all those years ago! But working with PTSD sufferers would require a different approach. “Their coaches are great, but at the moment they don’t really have the skills to work with clients off the horse, which can be so beneficial for adults with trust issues,” says Sue.

Horsepower

As with most of her international trips, Sue’s role was not to carry out sessions, but to train the horses and coaches so that they can deliver the programmes. There were two main elements to her work with the team. The first was working with the horses to ensure they were suitable and happy to do what was asked of them. “The horses are new to RDA and this kind of work,” explains Sue.

Unlike their fellow stablemates on the racing yard, the team will be working with a Gypsy Cob and some a Connemaras, bought by KRA in Ireland as part of their visit to HETI in 2018. “They are lovely horses,” says Sue, “and ideally suited to the kind of trust building exercises that these clients will need.”

Confidence tricks

The majority of Sue’s week was spent training the staff team at KRA and the representatives from the fire service who will be leading the project.

The mornings were set aside for theory. The group looked at how horses think and react – and how to identify their different personalities. “You want to know if the horse you are working with wants to be the boss, or if they are a follower; if they are sanguine or choleric. This has a massive impact on how they will react during a session,” explains Sue.

The afternoon sessions were a chance to put their learning into practice. Much of the work involved

Many of the people this team will be working with may have previously been leaders, and assume they still are. But their experiences may have changed them. This can cause real frustration. It’s about finding out who you are, realising your strengths and learning to accept where you are now,” she explains.

confidence building and observation, as Sue explains: “We did sessions on how to handle the horses and really tried to build everyone’s confidence in being around them on the ground - being a bit braver with them.”

Acceptance

Games formed a big part of the week as Sue tried to relax the group, build confidence and help them get to know the horses better. As the days went on, they learned how to interact with the horses and understand how their own behaviours influenced how the horses reacted.

”There’s an exercise I learned from the American Army, to find out if you are a leader, driver or follower.

The park has a massive indoor school, so at lunchtime they turned the horses out and just observed their behaviour. “You can see their basic interactions, how they socialise, show companionships, aggravate each other, resolve conflict. That teaches you so much about horses – and also about humans too. You might ask: ‘how does that remind you of your own behaviour and how you would react?’”

Proven skills

Following Sue’s training, the team will now start delivering the programme, designed to rebuild trust and confidence for PTSD sufferers among Korea’s fire and military personnel. She has already been asked back, and since Korea is hosting the next HETI conference this year, that visit may be sooner that she imagined.

Since returning from Korea, Sue’s Asian adventures have continued, with whistle-stop visits to Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. “So many places want to work with RDA, to follow our methods – and even to become affiliated with us,” she says. “They want to come to the UK and receive training here at the new centre. I’d love us to get to that point. We’ve got good systems, supported by strong evidence and years of experience. They love the fact that we can back up what we say with real evidence that working with horses can help people.”