An Initial Survey of Volunteer Perceptions of Horses in Equine-Assisted Services: Volunteer Experiences, Training, and Educational Needs

•Equine-Assisted Services (EAS) volunteers were able to differentiate between negative behavioral expressions in EAS horses and the absence of negative behaviors more than 50% of the time when viewing a series of video clips showing common handling interactions.•There is a significant difference in behavior identification accuracy between EAS volunteers who served as horse leaders/handlers in EAS sessions and those who performed other jobs (P < .001).•A significant difference in behavior identification accuracy was found between volunteers who received horse health trainings (P < .001) over other training categories.•Volunteers requested more education on equine behavior, communication, and behavior management techniques so they can be better prepared for their interactions with EAS horses. Equine-Assisted Services (EAS) gained a foothold in the healthcare industry as a unique modality addressing the physical, cognitive, and psychological health issues for people across the lifespan. These services require a team approach, with volunteer support playing a prominent role in service delivery. Volunteers are a precious resource for EAS programs and step into a variety of support roles, including preparation and handling. However, little is known about the horse-volunteer relationship or factors that influence their working relationships. Therefore, the purpose of this web-based survey was to characterize the volunteer experience and explore factors that may impact volunteers’ ability to accurately identify equine behavior. A total of 240 volunteers from 25 Professional Association for Therapeutic Horsemanship, International (PATH, Intl.) Premier Accredited Centers participated in this survey. The results of the correlational analyses and a general linear model suggested certain volunteer characteristics can be linked to accurate identification of horse behaviors. Horse leaders (P < .001) and volunteers who help with adaptive riding (P = .048) or therapeutic driving (P = .031) sessions more accurately recognized behaviors than those who held other roles. Volunteers who had any amount of horse experience prior to volunteering correctly identified more behaviors than those who came with none. A qualitative content analysis showed that volunteers felt most unprepared when a horse exhibited a behavior they were not trained to handle, and volunteers indicated their preparation to assist in EAS could be improved with more general training and education related to eq