Physical therapist Connie Lloyd, an open-minded health practitioner, learned of and took courses in evidence-based modalities such as HeartMath® and Emotional Freedom Technique—or EFT—which expanded the tools used in her practice. Over the years she discovered her horses act as therapeutic agents validating these techniques. As a result, she became certified in Equine Assisted Learning—EAL.
“It’s taken a while to put it all together,” said Lloyd, who, after retiring from the SoundView Center as a physical therapist in 2024, continues to run a private practice from her Greenbank clinic adjacent to the family’s horse arena. “I want to offer tools to people to reduce their stress.”
Humans have an electromagnetic field of about three feet around the heart. Horses’ fields are about 10 feet, Lloyd said. “As prey animals they are very sensitive to their environment, being alert to possible danger. The equines can sense a person’s energy and react to their emotional state. The calmer and more centered we are, the better horses respond to us.
“I have benefitted so much from having horses,” added Lloyd. “I had a horse as a young girl. I was head over heels. I learned responsibility and empathy. I got another horse when I was in my fifties. I had some injuries, and had to overcome my fears. Once I understood more about equine behavior, there were many lessons I wanted to share.”
Lloyd graduated from the University of Kansas physical therapy program in 1969, and remains interested in learning new modalities that benefit herself and her clients. It was during the COVID pandemic that she had time to train in HeartMath and EFT, and later in EAL.
Lloyd invested in a HeartMath monitor. The technology helps synchronize and provide feedback about the heart, brain and nervous system. “It measures heart rate variability, an indicator of how well we are able to deal with whatever comes at us in our lives,” said Lloyd. “By slowing our breathing pattern, connecting to our hearts, and feeling emotions of appreciation or gratitude, we can reach a state of coherence. I have a saying mounted on my wall which reads: There is always, always, always, something to be grateful for. These are words I try to live by.”
HeartMath coherence is defined on its website as “An optimal, measurable state where your heart, breathing, brain, and nervous system synchronize into a smooth, orderly rhythm.”
She found if she was in coherence, so were her horses.
“It was legitimate feedback you couldn’t deny,” said Lloyd. “The years leading up to COVID were when I noticed a collective stress going on. During physical therapy sessions it became clear that there were emotional issues related to a patient’s injury, pain or the stress in their lives.”
Stress was having a negative effect on their ability to heal, Lloyd realized.
“I don’t pretend to be a psychologist. Yet people needed a way to deal with their stress,” noted Lloyd. “It doesn’t go away. I wove the practices into my physical therapy and use the techniques as a biofeedback. Focusing on breathing patterns made an improvement they could feel by associating breathing with a reduced stress level, and at the same time seeing the results validated on the monitor.”
The HeartMath Institute was founded by Doc Childre. Gary Craig, Howard Martin, & Dr. Rollin McCraty, contributed to the research and current practices.
Early HeartMath studies included AIDS patients who benefited by focusing on positive emotions such as compassion and gratitude. Since then, HeartMath practices have expanded internationally into global alliances.
Meanwhile, EFT is another practice Lloyd finds beneficial for herself and her clients.
Gary Craig, a Stanford-trained engineer, developed EFT during the 1990s, refining the concept of ‘Thought Field Therapy’ founded during the 1980s by clinical psychologist Dr. Roger Callahan. An EFT webpage on its origin notes: “Craig named his streamlined version of the practice ‘Emotional Freedom Techniques’ or EFT. His vision was to create a technique that anyone could use, anywhere, without needing extensive training or complicated protocols. This standardization helped EFT tapping gain widespread adoption and opened the door for scientific research into its effectiveness.”
Lloyd explained: “The process uses tapping on acupuncture points combined with statements about an issue and the associated emotions someone wants to change. The level of emotion gradually decreases, becoming less ‘charged.’ As the nervous system quiets, the ability to think clearly improves, we become more present and more capable of problem solving. A sense of calm results. People often ask why EFT doesn’t use positive affirmations. We need to learn to recognize and accept our emotions before we can change them. You wouldn’t put a bandage on a wound without first cleaning it.”
On a recent day in early August Lloyd invited photographer David Welton to experience HeartMath biofeedback. As a retired heart doctor, Welton noted in a later email: “Connie is a physical therapist and is qualified to use biofeedback techniques in her practice.”
Lloyd attached a silver electrode clip to Welton’s right ear. “It transmits to another device that communicates with a cell phone with the app,” said Welton. “You start by recounting some life trauma to establish a baseline. If you calm yourself and breathe deeply, the monitor will change, and it will be more in the green zone.”
The ‘green zone’ Welton speaks of is one of “high heart coherence,” as explained on the HeartMath site as: “…when your heart rate variability (HRV) pattern becomes smooth, ordered, and wave-like (resembling a sine wave), indicating that your nervous system is balanced, stress is reduced, and your mind and heart are synchronized.”
He walked into the pasture following the procedure and was greeted by a noble white horse named Ibero Blanco—nicknamed Eby. He was nosed out of the way by four-year-old Gray’s Kelly, an appendix Quarter Horse filly. Both horses seemingly couldn’t get enough of the man.
Lloyd invited a client named Estera McCann to share her story while connected to the HeartMath monitor. McCann recalled growing up with dysfunctional parents who had escaped from then Soviet-occupied Romania. Born in California, and later moving to Washington state, McCann found comfort by visiting horses owned by friends.
As one of Lloyd’s clients, McCann learned of HeartMath and EFT techniques to help calm and regulate her emotions. As a mother of three now, and living on a farm with her husband, McCann now has horses of her own.
Clipped to the HeartMath monitor, McCann recalled her early years, her parents’ divorce, her mom’s difficulty in managing life as a single mother raising three daughters. Then she said how she’s forgiven her parents. “These are the best years of my life,” McCann said of her life nowadays. “The best version of me is with horses.”
McCann walked into the pasture and was greeted by Nick, a Thoroughbred, who, Lloyd says, “Is always on sentry duty. He barely sleeps. We put him on Prozac so he can relax.” Nick affectionately approached McCann, joined moments later by Indie, an American Paint Horse. They both gravitated toward McCann following her HeartMath session.
“You’re an example of someone who is pretty well regulated,” commented Lloyd. “This is remarkable. Good on you. This is an example of co-regulation. Humans can have a calming influence on horses, and horses on humans.”
Horses can improve human’s emotional regulation, Lloyd has found. “Studies have been done in conjunction with the HeartMath Institute, which measured equine and human HRV simultaneously,” she added. “The study demonstrated that horses have more influence in improving human emotions to a positive state than humans do with horses. That’s why I became certified in Equine Assisted Learning. There is so much a human can learn from a horse.”
Lloyd’s neighbor Nancy Wahl, also joined Welton and McCann for HeartMath monitoring. Wahl recalled a time when she was in high school, having to deal with some mean kids, with her mom being her champion. One day, she was called to the office to learn her mom had a stroke and was in a coma. When Wahl visited her mom and spoke to her, she was told by a nurse that her mom could not hear her daughter. However an older friend in the room at the time placed his hands on her shoulders and assured the teenaged Wahl that her mom could hear her daughter’s words. What was so extraordinary, Wahl said, was that while her mom was in a coma, she had a vision that her best friend Mary Ida, hospitalized upstairs, had died. Wahl learned of her mom’s vision after she woke out of the coma, and discovered that Mary Ida had indeed passed on.
“When you recalled getting your mom’s news, the sensor was in the red,” said Lloyd. “It was green when you said the man put his hands on your shoulders. It measures emotional responses. It is authentic with what you are thinking and feeling.”
A red zone on the HeartMath monitor means “low coherence,” or a jagged and erratic heart rate variability which can correspond to stress, trauma, distraction, or other emotional states, according to the HeartMath website.
Welton photographed McCann and Wahl sharing moments of genuine affection with the horses. “I feel gratitude in their space,” Wahl commented after her time with the four horses.
To learn more about HeartMath visit heartmath.org. Emotional Freedom Technique: Lloyd recommends visiting the Evidence Based EFT website at evidencebasedeft.com. Connie Lloyd’s webpage can be found by visiting connielloydpnw.com.