ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author outlines a theory, based on research on intersubjectivity, that looks upon horse–human interaction in equine-assisted therapy (EAT) from a cognitive science point of view. Intersubjectivity, with pre-verbal reciprocity, is the interaction that takes place for all newborns, humans as horses, between themselves and a caretaker, and plays a vital role in everyone's development into social being. The equine specialist is a specialist in equine behavior and horse–human interaction. Besides being the client's socio-emotional partner in EAT, the horse offers explicit emotional behaviors for the client to see and learn to read other's attention and intentions from. In EAT one activity can be observing horses, whether as an introductory activity, because of human fears, for safety reasons, or other reasons. The role of the equine specialist is also a topic that needs to be addressed further, to develop the field of EAT.
