Horses Really are the Best Therapy – Fdration Equestre Internationale

Hippotherapy

Perhaps the most widely recognised type of EAAT, and with an impressively long history. Some of the earliest written evidence on equine-assisted physical therapy came from Hippocrates, who touted the therapeutic benefits of horseback riding around 400 BC.

Its a form of treatment used as a modality within physical, occupational, and speech therapy, utilising the movement of the horse to provide carefully graded sensory, neuromotor, and cognitive input to the patient.

Lets try and break that down in non-medical terms. Being on horseback helps patients by stimulating the body and mind (sensory and motor skills), which makes this form of therapy quite broad in what it can be helpful for.

As equestrians will know, when sitting on a moving horse, your body automatically moves in time with your horses movement. For those with movement difficulties, this helps to stimulate the connection between the brain and the body.

For patients with neurodevelopmental or developmental disorders, hippotherapy can be incredibly useful as it helps to stimulate the neural pathways. It takes concentration to remain balanced on horseback, and the natural reflex of trying to stay balanced doesnt only help with muscle development. Also, the level of concentration required boosts brain activity.

Hippotherapy is not a stand-alone therapy; its a modality of treatment that can be used by licensed physical, occupational, and speech therapists only. Hippotherapy has been used to help people with a range of issues from ADHD and autism to cerebral palsy, language and sensory disorders and multiple sclerosis.

The benefits of being around horses are not in riding them alone; in fact, research has shown that caring for and handling horses can also offer a great benefit to our mental health. A study published in 2007 by Pamela Schults, Ann Remick-Barlow, and Leslie Robbins concluded that equine-assisted psychotherapy effectively improved the GAF -- Global Assessment of Functioning -- scores of their test group of children who had been diagnosed with mental health issues.

Horses are well known for picking up on and mirroring our emotions. This can be a huge benefit when working with those suffering from mental health issues, as being around and working with horses can help the patient to build confidence, communication skills, trust, social skills, impulse control, and also learn boundaries.

But how can they possibly pick up on our emotions? Well, as non-verbal communicators, horses have to be astute at picking up on their herd-mates body language, and as it happens - our body language speaks volumes to our emotional state. And while not as glaringly obvious to fellow human passers-by, for the horse, a prey animal - they see it clear as night and day.

When working with the horse, a patient is asked to complete an exercise that can bring up anything from fear to anxiety. As our horses pick up on these feelings from the patients body language, their psychologist will ordinarily work to help them understand their feelings and how its affecting the horse; then guide them through the exercise by recognising and adapting.

From there, its about broadening that out to relate to other areas of life, and showing them how - if they can overcome that anxiety or fear enough to gain the horses trust, they can overcome it in day to day life.

Equine-Based Psychotherapy has been used to treat patients diagnosed with disorders such as anxiety, dementia, panic disorder and traumatic brain injury.

It has proven especially popular as a treatment for returning veterans, providing them with a platform to recover from emotional trauma, renew their ability to connect, and, importantly, offer a safe and non-clinical treatment environment.

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Horses Really are the Best Therapy - Fdration Equestre Internationale