Therapeutic Horseback Riding
Equine Therapy is Now Used to Treat a Wide Range of Disabilities
Like surfing the ocean waves, there’s something about the rhythmic gait of a horse (which closely resembles a human’s) that holds healing properties; riding builds core strength and balance, calms the emotions, and centers the mind, making it a flexible means to manage many physical, emotional, and cognitive disabilities.
Interview with Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program Manager
In the following interview, Cindy Burke, manager and instructor at the Therapeutic Horseback Riding program at the University of New Hampshire, discusses what equine therapy is, who it helps, and how it works.
How does therapeutic riding work?
Therapeutic riding uses riding skills, equine movement, and a variety of games and activities to achieve specific goals and seeks to integrate its disabled participants with the non-disabled community.
What disability does riding address?
Our participants include persons with physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy and Muscular Dystrophy; sensory impairments (e.g. blindness, deafness), cognitive and developmental disorders, including autism.
Benefits of Therapeutic Horseback Riding, or Equine Therapy
How does riding aid children with autism?
Therapeutic horseback riding helps center autistic children and brings them to a midline of focus, attention, and behavior, usually a primary goal and the main challenges teachers face. The horse’s gait is rhythmic, which comfort those who thrive on pattern and routine; it also relaxes kids and helps them focus.
What are the benefits for those with physical disabilities?
Many people with cerebral palsy use wheelchairs, which do not promote good posture. We have one student whose occupational therapist is trying to transition from wheelchair and walker to crutches. Riding has trained her to hold herself up. Also, biofeedback (e.g. you’re walking along and the horse stops) helps those with bad balance strengthen their vestibular systems, and those with weak proprioception (spacial bodily awareness) to strengthen self-correcting responses.
What’s the value in bonding with a horse?
A horse isn’t going to isn’t going to pass judgment, yell, punish, or tell a child he’s stupid, so whether it’s an emotional disability, or a self-esteem issue related to a physical disability, the horse can help them build self-confidence and trust. Sometimes talking to their horse unlocks kids communication abilities. Tell a horse about their day can bring issues to the surface for a therapist to work on. Grooming a horse also helps kids to relax and let go of anxieties.
Can a horse help improve cognitive function?
It’s much more motivating to learn simple math while bowling on horseback than sitting in a classroom. Riding also requires a lot of motor planning and sequencing that helps build balance and concentration.
A more dramatic example: we had a young rider who didn’t speak at all until she was four. She said her first words while sitting on a horse. Her first sentence was, “I love you,” said to the horse. She was diagnosed as autistic, then later as ADHD. Her mother had tried every kind of therapy. In her case, the horse made speech a motivator: you want to get to the other end of the arena? Tell your horse to walk. This was over the summer. When she went back to school, her teachers couldn’t believe it was the same kid.
Cindy Burke has a B.S. in Zoology and an MBA from the University of New Hampshire and is a certified instructor and member of the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA).
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