UNDERSTANDING THERAPY HORSES

Hoping to learn more about the best way to train and handle horses in hippotherapy programs, researchers at the Temple Grandin Research Center have begun documenting how therapy horses there behave during sessions.

Currently, there are no certification programs for horses in physical or occupational therapy programs, but the Grandin Center follows standards set forth by organizations, such as PATH International, for how often and how long a horse can be worked. In addition, the center has its own guidelines for ensuring the welfare of its therapy horses.

Although the work of therapy horses may not seem strenuous, incredible demands are sometimes placed on them. A therapy horse must be able to maintain adequate selfcarriage and support a physically or emotionally challenged rider. Therapists certified through the American Hippotherapy Association manipulate horse movement for optimum therapy effects, using different gaits, speeds and patterns such as trotting the length of the arena for an underaroused child or using a slow, rhythmic walk for the child that is over-aroused.

“Most of our work is at the walk, and being able to hold that nice, collected frame at a walk is hard on a horse. He has to be able to support someone who might not be balanced, plus hold himself together and support his back with his abdominal ring of muscles,” explains Mary Helene Chaplin, PT,

HPCS, a practicing physical therapist who is co-chair of the AHA.

The types of horses that excel at therapy work are as varied as the work itself, says Chaplin. “There’s that big horse that is like riding a couch, and you’re going to get a particular movement experience out of that horse. The horse that has a lot of movement I might give to one patient and a horse that doesn’t have a lot of movement I might give to another patient, depending on the patient’s needs.”

Therapy horses need to be able to tolerate mechanical lifts and other machinery used in therapy. They may have a rider who is unbalanced, does a lot of hand-flapping or makes loud noises as they ride. Therapy horses have to be okay with a very unstable environment—at times a therapist might throw a ball over their head, for example.

“It is a discipline just like any other horse discipline,” senior researcher Caitlin Peters, PhD, says, adding that she hopes the center’s studies on therapy equine behavior will provide the guidelines and support needed for these horses just as others have provided the same for horses of other riding disciplines.