About Hooves N' Harmony

​

Working with horses in a mentoring program provides all kinds of physical, emotional, and social benefits. 

For people with physical disabilities, riding horses has been shown to improve balance, muscle tone, coordination, and motor control. Horseback riding is an activity that engages a person’s body in all three dimensions: forward and back, up and down, and side to side. This multi-dimensional movement is similar to the way we walk—swinging our arms, moving our hips, and extending our legs forward and back—and it can help the rider build muscle memory that helps with unmounted movement. 

For people with autism, Asperger’s, and a variety of behavioral disorders, working with horses can open up the world and encourage new connections and experiences. For instance, children with autism often find it difficult to establish emotional bonds. They find it uncomfortable to make eye contact, and often have challenges around basic communication and self expression. Horses offer an opportunity to connect through non-verbal communication in a calm and non-threatening way. They can also help teach children about non-verbal social cues.

Horse-based activities can also help with the development of cognitive and language skills. Working with horses is a highly engaging activity that inspires focus and attention. Specialists working with learners and horses often integrate specific therapeutic exercises into the equine sessions. For example, children might be asked to perform certain tasks while riding, like throwing a ball or identifying certain objects. 

The truth is, we are still learning all the ways equine therapies can help people with special needs. But the more we learn, the more hopeful things look.

In 2015, Robin L. Gabriels—a psychologist working at Children’s Hospital Colorado—ran a groundbreaking study on how therapeutic horseback riding affected children with autism. The study, since published in a medical journal, found that children and teens with autism who rode horses showed improvements in speech, social skills, hyperactivity, and irritability as compared to a control group of study participants who did not ride. Importantly, most of these improvements were still evident six months after the study.

As a result of the findings from this original research and some follow-up studies, Gabriels was recently awarded a $2.5 million federal grant to fund an additional five-year study. The new study, which will run out of riding facilities in Colorado and Maine, will focus on youth who have both autism and a psychiatric condition such as ADHD, depression, or anxiety.

​

Who is it for?

In addition to being beneficial for children and adults with a wide range of physical, cognitive, and behavioral needs, equine-assisted therapies have also been used to successfully help in the treatment of people with depression, PTSD, anxiety, and substance abuse issues.

From the physical to the emotional elements involved with being around and riding horses, equine therapies offer a multi-faceted approach to treating a number of disparate conditions.

Equine-assisted therapies are even being used to help people with dementia.  The first published study on how time spent with horses affects adult Alzheimer’s patients came about as the result of a multi-department collaboration at Ohio State University.

A statement on the university’s website summarizes the study’s findings, “The results showed that spending time with horses had noticeable benefits for patients, including better moods and increased physical activity. Researchers saw clear signs that patients enjoyed their time on the farm: they smiled, laughed and talked to the horses. Those who normally acted withdrawn or upset became fully engaged in the experience.” And then other studies followed, at Stanford University and UC Davis, to name just a couple.