Hippotherapy Helping Children With Disabilities
March 9, 2009
Years ago I was approached by some friends that were involved with Make A Wish Foundation to grant a childs request by letting him ride one of my horses. I was more then happy to accomodate and had the perfect horse for him to ride, but unfortunately, that never came to pass. Horseback riding will always be one of those fun and exciting things that children like to do, and not many have the chance. Not only is it fun to ride a horse, but since the 1970’s, horseback riding has been used in aiding children with disabilities. The practice of children riding and exercising on a horse is called Hippotherapy.
What is Hippotherapy? Hippotherapy uses the many faceted movements of the horses body to aid in specific therapeutic functional outcomes, in other words they are used as mobile therapeutic movement treatment procedures. Because the movement of the horses body is similar to those of a humans, their repetitive movement helps in improving muscle tone, balance, Co-ordination flexibility and strenth in the rider. Therapists will have their little riders lay in different positions, stretching and flexing them, stand in stirrups or even ride without holding on. Some therapists may even have their little ones play catch while on the back of the horse. Whats really interesting too is that some of these children have actually gone on to show these beautiful creatures in competitions competing against other children that do not have disabilities and bringing them into the world fully.
Each therapy program is specifically designed for the child for whatever goals and levels they can reach.
To learn more about children with disabilities, their success stories, how to become a volunteer or a host of other information, visit CVS Caremark.
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March 13th, 2009 at 9:31 pm
My son has a rare condition called arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (multiple fixed limbs, joint contractures and low muscle tone). Owen will be 3 in a few weeks but just starting his hippotherapy classes. He absolutely loves it and I can already see the benefits in his upper body. He is pulling himself up and learning to control his upper body. The only downside is that there are not a lot of certified places much less places that take under 2. We found a great place called Blazing Prarie Stars in Maple Park, IL. We were on a waiting list for about a year before we got a spot. If I could do anything, I would love to find a way to or encourage others to look at offering this service.
May 21st, 2009 at 3:21 pm
I think hippotherapy is amazing, we just started a non profit organization that supports horse riding and hippotherapy in Craiova, Romania. Unfortunately in my country this kind of therapy is not very well known yet, and we do not have specialized personnel, only devoted people that care..