Essay On Hippotherapy

Hippotherapy? What does that mean? Is that some form of counseling for distraught hippos? Although by the sound of its name hippotherapy may suggest it has something to do with hippopotamuses, “hippos” is Greek for horse. Hippotherapy means “therapy with the help of a horse” (Granados, 191). The means of using a horse to improve health was first recognized in ancient Greece. The rehabilitating abilities of the natural rhythm of a horses gait was first noted by Hippocrates (Granados, 191). Using horses for rehabilitation has been used throughout history since then, but hippotherapy today is considered an experimental therapy due to the overall lack of research. However, the research that has been done shows some significant benefits for children
“An important factor is that horses are nonverbal. This gives the rider the freedom to express himself or herself fully without fear of objection or criticism” (Grenados, 195). Hippotherapy provides opportunities to share stories and experiences with others as well as heavy sensory input that can help regulate clients, because of this it has been shown to increase social and academic development, language skills, memory, attention span, and cognition (Grenados; Hession; Lepore, 3). The research that has been done on the use of hippotherapy provides strong evidence that hippotherapy is an effective approach to treat a wide variety of therapeutic goals in children with various mental and physical disabilities. Hippotherapy has shown to be affective through its ability to activate multiple systems throughout the body at once. There is research that supports hippotherapy can treat several of a rider’s therapeutic goals simultaneously due to its wide-range of benefits created by the horse’s dynamic, rhythmic motion, and proves to be a holistic approach to rehabilitation