Horse Therapy Benefits

I have enjoyed my time at Windridge Therapeutic Equestrian Center and I have learned many things while I have been there. I have always heard and known, that horses are a great form of therapy, but I really didn’t know just how much of an impact they can make on a person. A few of the benefits I have gotten to witness with our riders are in their gross motor, gait patterns, social interactions, processing skills, cognition, and self-confidence. Horses are therapeutic in many ways and I think that is due to two specific things, their movement and the way they interact with people. Their movement creates a stimulus for the riders that many times they cannot get anywhere else, it gives them the proprioception that their joints need, it creates

The other reason they are so therapeutic, is because of the way the horses respond to people. I believe that they can feel our emotions and when you pair the right horse with a specific rider, they can respond to that person in a way that no one else can. Horses, just like people, expect you to respect them and once you do that then they will respect you and do anything for you. They also require trust because they can tell when you are scared or angry, and they will be very hesitant to work with you if you can’t give them your all in that moment. I like what Kathryn Splinter-Watkins, MOT, OTR/L and Susan Calhoun, MS, OTR/L said in their article about the benefits of horseback riding “Riding a horse is an equalizing activity in which all participants are able to participate in the same activity without prejudice regarding severity or type of disability.” This statement is so true because the horse doesn’t discriminate based on the condition or disability, to that horse you are a human

Before going to Windridge I had no doubt that horses are a great form of therapy, but once there I was able to witness how beneficial it is for so many different individuals. This reminded me of what all OT can do and how we can go beyond the classroom or the clinic and really get into what people enjoy, not just practice their activities but really get involved in what they love to do. I found myself watching everyone and thinking of what we as OT practitioners could do for them. We would ask the riding instructors if a particular rider was receiving OT services elsewhere, and based on that information we would talk about what we think they would benefit from or wonder what their OT/OTA were doing with them. I really wish I would have gotten to see a hippotherapy session, because I would have liked to see how different it was from the therapeutic riding sessions, and how different it was from what we were able to do during those sessions. Jane and I were both side walkers for this one young lady, and when we would come up for activities each week, some weeks we knew what we were wanting to work on and other weeks we didn’t, but each time we would look through their cabinets and try to clinically reason what was the best activity for that day. Some days were successful and some days were, but I feel like