Do the horses have to have special training to work with disabled riders?
“They don’t have to have special training, but they do have to be special horses. We need horses that don’t spook easily — who aren’t spooked by balls, for example. (Riders sometimes play games with beach balls on horseback as part of therapy.) They have to be OK with unbalanced riders, or a sudden scream or the occasional accidental kick. Very few horses make the cut. And it’s very hard work. On average, a therapy horse works two years before it has to retire. ” Can working with horses help with language skills as well as physical ones? “We’ve found it can really help kids with autism and sensory integration issues. (One young rider spoke his first full sentence after his first time with the horse.) There’s something about riding that can be very organizing (for the brain) and can help with speech.” Do riders get one-on-one help? “We have a couple of different programs. One is a medical model, called hippotherapy, which is therapy through the use of the horse as a physical therapy to
