Princess Margarita visits 'Horsepower' project for veterans

On Thursday 30 March, Princess Margarita visited the Horsepower project, for veterans with therapy-resistant PTSD. A new group of eight veterans started a 12-week programme where they are brought into contact with horses. The princess met researcher Nienke Endenburg and her team at Groenendaal stable in Bunschoten-Spakenburg. They are studying the effectiveness of the programme for the veterans, and also how the horses' welfare is affected by the interactions.

Princess Margarita was impressed. "I am glad that scientific research is being done on the impact of horses on veterans with therapy-resistant PTSD. And that the well-being of the horses is also being measured. What struck me was the peace and relaxation the veterans experienced when interacting with the horses. I hope this will be accessible to more veterans with PTSD in the future, and intend to follow the project closely.

Engaging events

Every day, military personnel dedicate themselves to ensuring a safe and stable world. Essential work that demands the utmost of them physically and mentally. Many a soldier experiences drastic events during a deployment to a war zone or during a peacekeeping mission. Sometimes these experiences are so traumatic that the veteran still suffers after the mission.

Heavy burden

It is estimated that about 5% of the 100,000 veterans in the Netherlands suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Some of those veterans with PTSD still have symptoms despite treatment with existing forms of therapy and are therefore therapy-resistant. PTSD is an anxiety disorder that has symptoms such as disturbed sleep, re-experiences, avoidance of stimuli, difficulty concentrating and, ultimately, physical complaints and addiction problems are also more common to this group. PTSD also places a heavy burden on their families and immediate surroundings. These veterans, and their families and friends, deserve all the support possible.

Effectiveness

Through the H-PWR project, a multidisciplinary research team from the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine is committed to these veterans. They are investigating the welfare of the veterans, as well as the horses. "We want to help as many veterans as possible to be able to cope better with the consequences of their traumatic experiences, and be able to look to the future and their role within society with confidence," says project leader Nienke Endenburg. "We want to provide the necessary scientific evidence for the effectiveness of interaction with horses for veterans with PTSD. This with the aim of spreading the importance of such therapies nationally and internationally, and contributing to the fact that these therapies will eventually be supported and reimbursed by health insurers."

Impact

It is too early to draw validated conclusions. For that, more veterans need to have gone through the project. "But we can already see that the impact of the project for individual veterans on a personal level is great," says Endenburg. "The majority of the veterans indicate that they have experienced the programme as something positive and no veterans have dropped out during the programme." All the more reason for Endenburg to get more hard data and understand effectiveness in a measurable way. Moreover, the prevalence of PTSD is rising. In addition to military personnel, the other uniformed professions such as police, firefighters and ambulance services are also paying increasing attention to this problem.

Want to participate?

There is still room for participants in the programme. Are you a defence veteran with therapy-resistant PTSD suffered during one or more deployments, and not currently following any other treatment? Then you can apply or ask for more information by emailing: h-power@uu.nl. Thank you very much!