An Initial Survey of Volunteer Perceptions of Horses in Equine-Assisted Services: Volunteer Experiences, Training, and Educational Needs.

The research analyzes the role and experiences of volunteers in providing Equine-Assisted Services (EAS), focusing on their ability to understand and react to horse behaviors. Through an online survey, it was discovered that certain volunteer characteristics, such as their given roles and previous experience with horses, could influence their ability to accurately identify horse behaviors.

Survey Purpose and Format

• The objective of this web-based survey was to delve into the experiences of volunteers in EAS programs.
• The main focus was to determine the factors that could affect the volunteers’ capacity to correctly identify and respond to horse behaviors.

Survey Participants

• A total of 240 volunteers participated in the survey. They were from 25 Professional Association for Therapeutic Horsemanship, International (PATH, Intl.) Premier Accredited Centers.

Survey Findings: Volunteer Characteristics and Horse Behavior Identification

• From the research, the roles that volunteers played in EAS played a significant role in their abilities to accurately identify horse behaviors.
• Those who acted as horse leaders or helped with adaptive riding or therapeutic driving sessions were better at recognizing behaviors compared to volunteers in other roles.
• Moreover, volunteers who had some level of horse handling experience prior to joining EAS programs were also more adept at correctly identifying horse behaviors.

Volunteer Training Needs

• The study also utilized qualitative content analysis to explore where volunteers felt the most inadequate in their roles.
• The results indicated volunteers were most ill-prepared when faced with horse behaviors they had not been trained to handle effectively.
• Consequently, the volunteers expressed a desire for broader training and education around equine behavior to better prepare them for their roles in EAS programs and increase their ability to correctly interpret horse behaviors.