What Grief Does to the Body — And Why Equines Help

Helen Richardson
May 18
3 min read

Grief Is Not Just in Your Head

Grief reshapes the body. Bereaved people report disrupted sleep, changes in appetite, a kind of cognitive fog that makes simple tasks feel impossible. Research has documented elevated cortisol levels, suppressed immune function, and measurable changes in heart rate variability in the months and years following significant loss.

For mothers who have lost a child, these effects can be especially pronounced. Child loss sits in a category that researchers specifically distinguish from other bereavement experiences — it carries a higher risk for prolonged grief disorder, depression, and social isolation. It is also among the most stigmatized: the expectation to "move forward" runs directly against the reality of what this kind of loss actually does.

No support group or conversation can undo any of that. But some approaches are better than others at meeting people in their bodies — where grief actually lives.

What Equine-Assisted Learning Is (and Is Not)

Equine-Assisted Learning is not riding lessons. It is not training horses. And while it is increasingly backed by peer-reviewed research, it does not require participants to understand any of that before they show up.

In an EAL session, participants engage in ground-based activities with equines — leading, grooming, observing, simply being present. A trained facilitator guides the experience and helps participants make meaning of what arises. The horse or donkey is a partner, not a prop.

No prior experience with equines is necessary. The learning happens in the relationship.

Why Equines, Specifically

Equines are prey animals. Their survival has always depended on accurately reading the emotional and physiological states of those around them — herd members, predators, humans. They respond to heart rate, muscle tension, breath, and the subtle signals a nervous system broadcasts before the conscious mind has caught up.

Researchers call this biofeedback. When a person approaches a horse or a donkey while carrying anxiety, the equine moves away or becomes unsettled. When that same person slows their breath and softens their posture, the equine settles too. The feedback is immediate, non-verbal, and impossible to fake.

For people who have spent years managing how they appear to others — or whose grief has made them feel invisible to themselves — this kind of direct, honest response can be disarming in the best possible way. The horse is not assessing you. It is just responding to what is true.

"horses most often represented family, friends, or feelings" — Human-Animal Interaction Bulletin, 2018 (EAGALA model study)

A peer-reviewed study using the EAGALA model found that...

the quantity of human-animal interaction in EAL sessions was a significant predictor of reduced subjective distress — and that equines most often represented family members, friends, or feelings in participants' own metaphorical language

A six-week EAL program study with 270 participants targeting grief, loss, and trauma documented...

measurable improvements in self-concept, self-regulation, and sense of connectedness. Researchers also noted that the physical setting — outdoor, sensory-rich, non-clinical — was itself a documented therapeutic benefit.

A 2025 peer-reviewed study confirmed what practitioners have observed for years:

EAL produces increased social-emotional competencies and decreased symptoms of depression — outcomes directly relevant to the grief experience.

What This Looks Like in Practice

In a Mother's Mourning Brush session at Hands for Healing Equine, there is no agenda to perform or report. Participants work with our herd — Sophie, Momma, Poe, and Autumn — in structured activities designed to open awareness, not manufacture breakthroughs.

Sessions happen outside. At our haven in Topsfield, Massachusetts. The smell of hay and open air is part of it. So is the healing quality of quiet that only exists when you are standing next to a large animal that is paying close attention to you.

"they viewed the horses as accepting and non-judgemental" — Coffin, J. (2019), Frontiers in Public Health

Some participants say very little in early sessions. That is fine. The equines do not require explanation.

About the Mother's Mourning Brush

Mother's Mourning Brush is an 8-week equine-assisted learning group for mothers who have lost a child. It is facilitated by Suzanne MacPhail, LMHC, founder of Hands for Healing Equine, and is held at our sanctuary at 37 East Street in Topsfield, Massachusetts.

The group is small by design. Grief of this nature deserves space, not scale.

This program launches in June 2026. No prior experience with equines is needed. If this program is for you, or for someone you love, we would be glad to hear from you.

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