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Equine therapy research paper
Pros and cons of equine therapy
Equine therapy research paper
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Equine-assisted therapy, also known as equine therapy or equestrian therapy, is a type of animal-assisted therapy intended to teach, counsel, and/or rehabilitate people with disabilities. This type of experiential therapy includes activities such as: grooming and caring for, haltering and leading, tacking up, and riding horses. Each of those activities foster interactions between the rider or patient, and horse, building a bond between the human and horse. In a typical equestrian therapy setting, usually a dedicated therapeutic barn, a mental health professional and/or an “equine therapist can observe and interact with the patient in order to identify behavior patterns and process thoughts and emotions” (“What Is Equine Therapy?”). In some …show more content…
Equine therapy, as everything else, has its pros and cons. According to Meghan Vivo of Elements Behavioral Health, a drug rehab treatment center, equine therapy “can bring up unmet needs, fears, past trauma, and feelings of inadequacy or lack of control.” The use of these huge creatures can make people feel inadequate and the idea that another being has some control does not work for everyone. Therapy can be a long, extensive process and the results are not immediate. Patients do not always want to to wait for progress to be made, especially when that progress requires the patient to face his/her fears. Additionally, “trying to control or dominate will not work with a horse,” because horses are prey animals, so attempting to control a horse can worry the creature and, in response, the horse may act out. Horses are very clear about their boundaries and, for the most part, do not tolerate people crossing said boundaries. Riders must be careful around horses, wrong movements or upsetting a horse does not typically end well. To combat this, equine therapists and mental health professionals are well equipped to deal with horse-related injuries and emergencies and therapy horses must go through rigorous training to become certified. Patients and riders are also trained on barn etiquette and rules, such as no running or yelling around horses, no walking …show more content…
Hippotherapy, a specialized form of equine therapy, “is a physical, occupational or speech and language therapy treatment strategy that utilizes equine movement. Hippotherapy literally means ‘treatment with the help of the horse’ from the Greek word, "hippos" meaning horse” (“Hippotherapy.”). Equine therapy is an all-encompassing type of therapy that includes riding horses, learning about the horse as a creature, the physical activity involved in horseback riding, and much more. Hippotherapy also requires a licensed, specially-trained therapist to teach and oversee lessons because of the hands-on nature of this method while therapeutic riding only requires a professional horseback-riding instructor, typically with some background in physical or occupational therapy Hippotherapy riders usually have more severe deficits and, therefore, hippotherapy is a little bit more intense than physical therapy. Both hippotherapy and therapeutic riding can utilize the unique movement of a horse to “assist in meeting therapy goals.” The horse’s gait mimics that of a human, and for that reason, horses can aid in the treatment of patients with physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy and the rehabilitation of injured people such as
Training a barrel horse can be lessons because the fastest racers want to be a champion. Training a barrel horse is a timed event where some of the fastest time is what matters the most. (‘Rodeo.about.com”). Speed is what it is all in the training.The riders enters the arena at full speed,quickly rounding each barrel in a clover leaf pattern and then exiting where they entered. Training , is a rodeo sport, it requires the correct equipment,and intense mental and physical training for both the rider and the horse.
Although horse assisted therapy is growing in popularity and supporters, there are those that present valid surface-level arguments against it. The most obvious and basic drawback to an equine aid is the accessibility. Horses are large animals that cannot be easily brought to a patient, unlike other smaller and more popular therapy animals, like dogs (Fundukian). A patient in most situations must be brought to the horse in order to participate in the therapy, and for those with severe impairments this may be too great of a challenge. However, although it is true, the accessibility of horses is an issue, it could easily be solved if the therapy received more support. More centers, closer and with methods specifically designed to make the therapy
The cowboy climbed aboard and gave a wild yell. The men holding the head of the horse let go and jumped back. Almost immediately the horse began bucking. The cowboy stayed with him though. The horse bucked around the pen slamming into the fence and off the post that was set in the middle of the pen. Finally the horse began to slow down and the cowboy got him under control. It would take another week of this before the horse would allow himself to be handled without blowing up.(Rashid 102)
WASHINGTON — When American Pharoah, the colt with a thunderous gallop, became the first Triple Crown winner in nearly four decades, he couldn’t have had better timing.
Parker G, Roy K, Eyers K. Cognitive behavior therapy for depression? Choose horses for courses. Am J Psychiatry. 2003 May;160(5):825-34. Review.
Rodeo is a sport with long American traditions and loved by many spectators and participants. Past history has shown that rodeo needed to make way for a new era of riders and trainers with a larger emphasis on the welfare of the animals and not be discontinued or banned entirely. Today’s rodeos do not present a danger to the animals because the animals are well-cared for and protected, rodeos have strict rules and the stock are treated as prized animals.
When riding a horse you don’t just sit there and do nothing, You work hard to control a 800-1000 pound animal. You have to push your horse and yourself to the greatest you can be. It is a lot of work, it is just like any other sport. You have to go ride your horse at least 4 times a week, you practice in the wind, rain, snow, when it’s hot out, and event when it is freezing cold.
As of 2011, it has been reported that there are 650 million disabled people in the world (“Disabilities”). Though this number is high, it is greatly underestimated because disabled people are commonly isolated and stigmatized by their community (“Disabilities”). After hearing of this extremely high number of disabled people, I then ultimately decided I would write my research paper on ways to help the disabled. Therapeutic riding has been actively helping individuals with disabilities for decades, and can benefit these unfortunate people physically, mentally, and emotionally. “Therapeutic riding, which originated in Europe, has been actively helping individuals with disabilities since the 1950's” (Shepard). Through equine-orientated activities, therapeutic riding is used to contribute to the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social well being of people with emotional issues and disabilities (Shepard). I was astonished on how many ways therapeutic riding can benefit disabled people.
Therapists such as Natalie Norrell believe that horses play a key role in the process of healing people with special disorders and
With over nine million types of horses in the United States, the need for quality health care for the horses has never been stronger. It’s certain that more equine veterinarians than ever before will be needed in the years to come to provide the care that owners want for their horses. According to the American Association of equine practitioners (AAEP), nearly half of the equine veterinarians are involved with performance horses(44.8%). The AVMA’S most recent employment survey of 2016 indicated that there were about 3,874 veterinarians in exclusively equine practice, with and additional 4,177 involved in mixed practices.
Most people are familiar with service dogs and have seen them in action. Animal-assisted therapy is similar service animals in that an animal-human healing partnership is being created. However, the difference is that therapy pets are typically used to treat a mental disability whereas people with physical disabilities use service dogs to help them in many ways. Therapy animals are used in a wide variety of places, such as, hospitals, prisons, nursing homes, therapy sessions, mental healthcare facilities, and even in people’s homes. These amazing animals are used on a wide variety of different disorders, but they are utilized mostly by people suffering from depression, anxiety, and PTSD. For people with these mental health disorders, everything in live can be difficult and challenging, however with the help of animal-assisted therapy, their mood, motivation, and life can dramatically improve. Anyone who hears about these brave, loving animals soon falls in love with them. From a medical standpoint, there have been many successful studies and the support for animal-assisted therapy still continues to grow in doctors and therapists across the nation.
Equine-Assisted therapy so far has shown commendable results. “Equestrian Therapy” acknowledges that “it is a fairly new technique for autism and other disorders that has been providing promising results such that many are consistently utilize therapy animals in their treatment programs and only for autism but also for people with Asperger’s syndrome. Equine therapy for special needs is an animal-assisted therapy that helps children with a wide variety of disabilities. This type of therapy makes use of riding horses as an effective way of providing physical and emotional therapy as well as psychological benefits” (“Equestrian Therapy”). Equine Therapy helps develop the motor skills of a child while they learn to ride a horse. The calming
The first thing she worried about after she woke up in the hospital was being able to ride again. She had taken riding lessons since she was three. Her dad bought her a Palomino barrel horse when they moved to Utah. She started competing in rodeos when she was seven. Her mom got her into pole bending, barrel racing, and breakaway roping. She did the best in barrel racing. That was her favorite event. She thought that after the accident she would be able to get back on her horses just like she used to. But it wasn’t the same. Her balance was very bad and she could barely stay on. She got so upset that she couldn’t ride anymore that she told her mom to go sell the horses and that she would never see them again. She would not go near them. Then one day she got a phone call for an interview. They asked her to sit on her horse and for them to take a picture for the interview. She decided to give it one more try and her balance was better than it was before. They started working with her some more and they figured out a way for her to ride again. They put straps on her saddle so her legs wouldn't fly everywhere and they also put a seatbelt on her saddle so she would stay in. They also taught the horses to listen to her voice and not her
Animal-Assisted Therapy (AAT), which can be provided in a group or individual settings, is designed to promote improvement in a human’s physical, social, emotional, or cognitive function. An article by Chitic, Rusu, and Szamoskozi (2012) provides an analysis in order to determine the value of AAT. Both dogs and horses that were trained for AAT were examined and studied to determine their effectiveness in treating patients with psychological disorders. The results showed that both therapy dogs and horses were valuable aids to the therapeutic process. The analysis suggests that proper training and repeated sessions were necessary for proper treatment of patients. In addition, certain disorders may benefit more than others in regards to AAT. For example, a child with ADHD may not benefit from a therapy dog’s presence, for it may worsen the hyperactive symptoms. On the other hand, a patient with depression may benefit greatly from the same animal (Chitic, Rusu, Szamoskozi, 2012). These findings are a perfect starting point to answering the research question: Do patients who engage in AAT display a betterment in their overall emotional well-being, as well as show improvement in their interpersonal interactions...
... have a crop (small whip) or peg spurs. Both of these do not hurt the horse, but are uncomfortable, so they know they are doing something wrong.