The Equinox Trust is a non-profit organisation dedicated to making Equine Assisted Empowerment Programmes accessible to communities in need in the Western Cape. Equine Assisted Therapy (E.A.T.) is an innovative approach to professional counselling and skills development which uses horses to help participants address and resolve relational, behavioural, psychological and emotional issues. The participants are from organisations that require/are in need of this kind of psychosocial support. We work from both Noordhoek and Morningstar in the Cape Town area.

The Equinox Trust has designed 4 specific programmes in the areas of youth at risk, abused women, carers and mental health professionals and Valkenberg Psychiatric Hospital.

By interacting with horses, participants will engage in ground-based activities (no horse riding is involved), which will create an opportunity for clients to compare their experiences with the horses and the activities to their real life experiences. Horses have a variety of characteristics similar to humans and they respond to non-verbal behaviour of the human interacting with them. Individuals are often unaware of their behaviour until they can understand it in the way the horse reflects it back to them. This metaphorical process is self-reflective and powerful, encouraging clients to develop insight and supporting the identification and expression of thoughts, behaviours and emotions.