The Humblehorse
The benefits of Equine Therapy
So much information has been documented and is currently available about the benefits of Equine Therapy or 'Hippotherapy' (Hippos is Greek for horse), that there is no need for us to try add anything new. The benefits speak for themselves ! Our experience has shown us that almost 100% of the people we put on a horse benefit in one way or another. We are not sure if the same can be said about any other form of therapy.
Documentation of the benefits of horses to health and well being existed since the fifth century bc, when Greek and Roman soldiers injured in battle were placed on their mounts to facilitate recovery. Horses have been specifically used for therapeutic benefit as far back as the 1600s in Germany (Riede,1998), and the first center in the United States opened in Michigan in 1969.
The big Question many ask .....What is so special about equine therapy & why has it been so under-utilized. We can only attempt to answer the first part of that question.
In 1997 C.A. Fleck published a paper titled. 'Hippotherapy: Mechanics of human walking and horseback riding'. In it he stated that " A critical aspect of hippotherapy is that the gait of the horse provides a precise, rhythmic, and repetitive pattern of movement similar to the mechanics of natural human gait (Fleck,1997)
The North American Riding for the Handicapped
Association, Inc. NARHA also reports that Individuals with the following
disabilities commonly participate and benefit from equine facilitated therapy
and activities:
| Muscular Dystrophy |
| Cerebral Palsy |
| Visual Impairment |
| Down Syndrome |
| Mental Retardation |
| Autism |
| Multiple Sclerosis |
| Spina-Bifida |
| Emotional Disabilities |
| Brain Injuries |
| Spinal Cord Injuries |
| Amputations |
| Learning Disabilities |
| Attention Deficit Disorder |
| Deafness |
| Cardiovascular accident/Stroke |
The North American Riding for the Handicapped Association serves a membership of 4,000 individuals and over 670 NARHA programs around the country. 5000 specially screened and trained horses make safe interactions possible.
The references are endless...The following is a listing of some links that have some excellent explanations on the benefits of therapeutic riding.
http://www.healinghoovesinc.com/08.html
http://www.americanhippotherapyassociation.org/aha_hpot.htm
http://www.narha.org/WhoIsNARHA/About.asp
http://www.equineassistedtherapy.org/
An excellent discussion of equine therapy (hippotherapy) is presented in a paper published by The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine available in Medline. It is an original paper Titled "Improvements in Muscle Symmetry in Children with Cerebral Palsy After Equine Assisted Therapy (Hippo therapy). We can email you a copy if you contact us at info@humblehorse.com