Equine-Assisted Therapies (EAT) involve the use of horses in therapeutic settings to support physical, emotional, and psychological well-being. These therapies are implemented in various forms, including therapeutic riding, equine-assisted psychotherapy, and hippotherapy. Horses are integrated into the therapeutic process to facilitate interactions that may promote improvements in motor skills, emotional regulation, and social functioning. The unique characteristics of horses, such as their responsiveness to human behavior and non-verbal communication, are leveraged in these interventions. This page compiles peer-reviewed research studies and scholarly articles that explore the methodologies, outcomes, and applications of equine-assisted therapies in diverse populations.
Colles CM, Jeffcott LB.Much has been written on laminitis and its treatment over the past 200 years. This article makes a brief review of the practical essentials of the disease and considers some of the recent trends in therapy. Knowledge of the pathogenesis and aetiology of equine laminitis is still very incomplete but recent work in the United States by Coffman and his colleagues has been particularly productive.
Ackerman N, Johnson JH, Dorn CR.In a retrospective study, 74 horses met defined historical and clinical features indicative of navicular disease. Most of the affected horses were 4 to 9 years old. Males had a greater risk of navicular disease than females, geldings had a greater risk than stallions, and Quarter Horses had a greater risk than other breeds. Diagnostic radiographic changes were found in 42 of 70 horses examined. The distribution of diagnostic radiographic changes between the right and left fron feet was equal. There was no correlation between the finding of diagnostic radiographic changes and the horse's respon...
Dordel HJ.Since November 1973 a riding course has been carried out with six blind adults. Due to the instructional methods the participants were able to ride independently, without an attendant, after only 30 hours. The effects of riding on the blind encompass coordination training and development of muscle strength. Furthermore, riding has a pronounced influence on the circulatory system. This attractive reaction activity provides the person who, as a result of his specific handicapping condition is limited in both the spatial and social fields, with an expansion of his living space and sphere of exper...
Prieto AV, Ayupe KMA, Abreu ACA, Filho PJBG.Improvement in rider mobility represents an important functional gain for people with disabilities undergoing hippotherapy. However, there is no validated measuring instrument to track and document the rider's progress in riding activities. In this study, we aimed to develop and establish validity evidence for an instrument to assess hippotherapy participants' mobility on horseback. We report on this development through the stages of: (a) content validation, (b) construct validation, (c) inter- and intra-rater reliability and (d) internal consistency analysis. We evaluated its factor structure...
Nareklishvili TM.The problems of degenerative-dystrophic abnormalities stimulate the development of new skills and methods of treatment and rehabilitation of the diseases. The goal of the study was to determine the efficacy of hippotherapy in patients with coxarthrosis, according to functional and biomechanical parameters. Hippotherapy involves the utilization of horseback riding to stimulate the patient's normal reactions and locomotion; to improve the balance and coordination of movement, normalize muscle tension, and eliminate pathological reflexes. The advantage of the hippotherapy is in the specific postu...
Feldkamp M.The article reviews in a critical survey the current opinions on the possibilities of improving the motor functions of cerebral palsied children with the help of riding therapy. Furthermore, the essential motor difficulties with spasm, athetosis and ataxia are described. It is demonstrated that only a small number of these typical difficulties can be tackled by means of riding therapy and that some key problems, particularly encountered by the spastics, cannot be solved. If, despite these facts, the favourable effects of riding on the cerebral palsied cannot be denied, then this must be attrib...
Pereira EL, Bataglion GA, Mazo JZ.Based on the theoretical assumptions of Norbert Elias, we sought to understand the figurations of equine-assisted therapy in Rio Grande do Sul from 1970 to 2000. To this end, the research corpus consisted of official documents, newspapers and magazines. Based on the concept of figuration, the documentation analyzed demonstrated technical-scientific elements linked to the fields of healthcare, education and horseback riding, coming from equestrianism and shared in the practice of equine-assisted therapy. The interrelations established between these different areas allowed the practice to take o...
Mattila M, Honkanen S, Sjögren T, Piirainen A, Aartolahti E.Interaction has a multidimensional role in equine-facilitated rehabilitation. Unassigned: The aim of this study was to understand rehabilitees' experiences of interaction during equine-facilitated rehabilitation. Unassigned: Six children and four adults with individual diagnoses or reasons to participate in equine-facilitated rehabilitation were included in this qualitative study. Data were collected by interviewing individually the rehabilitees. A phenomenological Spiegelberg's seven-phase meaning analysis was performed to reveal the meanings. Unassigned: Seven meanings were identified: 1) Tr...
Artz NL, Robbins J, Millman ST.Objectives of this study were to evaluate an equine assisted learning (EAL) curriculum designed for medical students and resident physicians, and to determine impacts of the curriculum on participant perceptions of burnout and well-being. The EAL curriculum incorporated evidence-based skills and concepts to increase happiness and/or resilience. A pre/post intervention design was used, with 18 EAL participants receiving the curriculum within their month-long community based primary care clerkship elective, and 10 control (CTL) participants who did not receive the curriculum within their clerksh...
Sokolov PL, Dremova GV, Samsonova SV.Influence and therapeutic efficacy of horseback riding (hippotherapy) as a method for complex rehabilitation of patients with late residual stage of infantile cerebral palsy were studied. Significant increase of a range of active and passive mosements in large joints of lower extremities, higher, indices of hand dynamometry on the left, of vital lung capacity as well as a relief of relief of reactive and personality anxiety and depression, higher motivation for rehabilitation treatment, etc., were registered. Neurophysiological study revealed significant changes of afferentation at stem and th...
Mazzeo G, Bendixen R.Experiencing trauma has long-lasting effects on a child's well-being, which may affect their occupational performance. This scoping review synthesized research on community-based interventions for children who have experienced trauma to highlight occupational therapists' role in trauma-informed care. We searched PubMed and PTSDPubs, including community-based interventional trials that addressed childhood trauma and excluding studies specific to refugees, sex-trafficking, significant comorbid diagnoses, and reviews. Eleven articles met criteria. Psychotherapy-based interventions (e.g., trauma-i...
Strashko EY, Kapustianska АA, Bobyreva LE.Matters of physical and medical rehabilitation of children with organic lesions of the nervous system, in particular, with cerebral palsy, are actual in countries around the world. Hippotherapy is neurophysiologically oriented therapy using horses. Determine whether a combination of hippotherapy as a method of rehabilitation in the aftermath of outpatient comprehensive impact on MS on a stationary phase; Study of the effect of hippotherapy as securing and preparation method for learning new postures and movements in children with spastic cerebral palsy forms; The study of the possible optimiza...
Rothhaupt D, Ziegler H, Laser T.The orthopedic hippotherapy represents a new form of therapeutic exercise in the conservative treatment of segmental instabilities in the lumbar spine region. This kind of therapy works on the principle of conveying to the patient the three-dimensional swinging motion of the horse's back. The patient reacts to these movement impulses by moving up and down (vertical movement of the spine), back and forth (sagittal movement) and to the right and the left (horizontal movement). The small movements of the spine thus produced bring about a mobilization of the segments involved in movement and there...
Tauffkirchen E.Neurodevelopmental treatment according to Dr. K. and B. Bobath can be supplemented by hippotherapy. At proper control and guidance, an improvement in posture tone, inhibition of pathological movement patterns, facilitation of normal automatical reactions and the promotion of sensorimotor perceptions is achieved. By adjustment to the swaying movements of the horse, the child feels how to retain straightening alignment, symmetry and balance. By pleasure in this therapy, the child can be motivated to satisfactory cooperation and accepts the therapy horse as its friend. The results of hippotherapy...
Flores FM, Dagnese F, Mota CB, Copetti F.Hippotherapy uses horseback riding movements for therapeutic purposes. In addition to the horse's movement, the choice of equipment and types of floor are also useful in the intervention. The quantification of dynamic parameters that define the interaction of the surface of contact between horse and rider provides insight into how the type of floor surface variations act upon the subject's postural control. Objective: To test whether different types of surfaces promote changes in the amplitude (ACOP) and velocity (VCOP) of the center of pressure (COP) displacement during the rider's contact wi...
Martin BB, Klide AM.Fourteen horses that could not perform at their expected standards due to chronic back pain of 4 to 48 months duration, and had not obtained lasting improvement from other forms of therapy, were treated by stimulating nine acupuncture points using a low powered infrared laser (300 microW, 904 nm). The treatments were performed weekly, and consisted of stimulating each point for 2 minutes with a pulse frequency of 360 pulses per second. After completion of a mean of 11 treatments, clinical signs of back pain were alleviated in 10 of the 14 horses, there was no change in three, and one was lost ...
Garbin LC, Olver CS.Autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is a biological preparation made from the patient's own plasma that contains a platelet concentration above the whole blood baseline. Owing to the release of growth factors and other cytokines after degranulation, platelets have a central role in inflammation and in different stages of the healing process. For this reason, PRP-derived products have been used to enhance healing of musculoskeletal injuries and modulate progression of inflammatory processes, including osteoarthritis (OA). Osteoarthritis is one of the main causes of musculoskeletal disabilitie...
Pham C, Bitonte R.Hippotherapy is the use of equine movement in physical, occupational, or speech therapy in order to obtain functional improvements in patients. Studies show improvement in motor function and sensory processing for patients with a variety of neuromuscular disabilities, developmental disorders, or skeletal impairments as a result of using hippotherapy. Objective: The primary objective of this study is to identify the pervasiveness of hippotherapy in Southern California, and any factors that impair its utilization. Methods: One hundred and fifty-two rehabilitation centers in the Southern Californ...
Kapteijn CM, Frippiat T, van Beckhoven C, van Lith HA, Endenburg N, Vermetten E, Rodenburg TB.Measuring physiological parameters of stress in horses during groundwork, for example when involved in equine-assisted interventions, is important to gain insight into the stress levels of the horses. Heart rate and heart rate variability can be used as physiological indicators of stress in horses. Heart rate monitors could be easily incorporated into practice, as they are not expensive and easy to use. However, it is questionable whether heart rate monitors present accurate heart rate variability results in exercising horses, similar to electrocardiograms. The aim of this study was to determi...
Madigand J, Rio M, Vandevelde A.Many studies focus on the impact of equine assisted services (EAS) on social skills in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) but existing data are not consensual and the only available meta-analysis included only three studies and did not consider the social responsiveness scale (SRS). This meta-analysis aims to measure the impact of EAS on social skills in ASD. Using Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science and the Cochrane Library, the means and standard deviations of every available SRS post-intervention scores in each participant group were collected from the five selected randomised controlled trials with...
Hemingway A, Sullivan K.This paper is presenting results from an observational study which has measured the impact of an equine-assisted education (EAE) intervention on the future occurrence of domestic violence within the family over 1 year following completion of the intervention as part of the troubled families program. The data analyzed were collected by the local authority troubled family's team from the different agencies involved including crime, health, and social care data. The data were analyzed and compared across four groups, those families on the troubled families program who had a key worker with a mem...
Salbaş E, Karahan AY.Newly created systems called hippotherapy simulators (HS) mimic the primitive movements of a live horse. As they are new systems, research examining their usefulness has been well received. The aim of this study is to research the effects of HS on disease activity, quality of life and muscle strength in patients with ankylosing spondylitis (AS). Unassigned: In a prospective, assessor-blinded, block-randomized trial, 48 AS patients were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive either HS or conventional home (CH) exercise therapy. All Participants received 48 sessions, that is 4 sessions a we...
Ungemach FR.Doping in performance horses is defined as the "illegal application of any substance, except normal diet, that might modify the natural and present capacities of the horse at the time of the race." The prohibition of doping is mainly based on the protection of animals. Doping can be performed with various aims: "doping to win" can be regarded as the classical method by mobilization of overphysiological capacities. Such positive doping may be classified as an acute form using psychomotoric stimulants, as a chronic form using anabolic hormones, and as a paradoxical form using small doses of neur...
Kovács G, van Dijke A, Leontjevas R, Enders-Slegers MJ.Attachment characteristics play a key role in mental health and in understanding mental disorders. The aim of this study was to gain insight into the role the attachment characteristics can play in treatment effects in adult patients with intrapsychic and interpersonal problems who underwent Equine-assisted Short-term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy (ESTPP). In the first part of the study, we compared the effects of ESTPP to treatment-as-usual from a previous dataset regarding psychological dysfunction. For this, an explorative experimental non-randomized pre-treatment and 1-year post-treatment de...
Norrud BC, Råheim M, Sudmann TT, Håkanson M.Equine Assisted Physiotherapy (EAPT) offers children with cerebral palsy (CP) opportunities for new movement experiences, and may influence movement qualities. Descriptions of how, and to what extent EAPT affects trunk control is missing. The aim of this study was to explore if, and how changes in trunk control and changes in other movement aspects were observable in children with CP during EAPT, and if potential changes in trunk control could be measured. Methods: A multiple case study with a mixed methods design was completed. Two children with CP, GMFCS grade 1, were observed using video du...
Stolz I, Anneken V, Froböse I.The International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization (WHO) was established as an international framework for monitoring rehabilitation outcomes and the impacts of health interventions since, as the term "functioning" implies, it emphasizes a person's "lived health" in addition to their biological health status. Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) represents a holistic intervention approach that aims to improve both biomedical functioning and the patient's lived health in relation to performing activities and participating in social situations...
Peters BC, Fields BE, Erdman EA.Objective: The use of equine movement as a therapy tool in a plan of care, or hippotherapy, has grown considerably over the past three decades. However, there is little evidence of safety rates and related practice patterns to guide key stakeholders such as clients, therapists, the health care team, and third-party payers. The purpose of this article is to describe the safety and practice patterns of contemporary use of hippotherapy. Design: A survey was distributed to occupational therapy (OT), physical therapy (PT), and speech-language pathology clinicians who incorporate hippotherapy into t...
Ionatamishvili NI, Tsverava DM, Loriia MSh, Avaliani LA.One hundred children with cerebral palsy, aged 3-14 years, were divided into two equal groups, the first one including 50 children assigned to ride therapy and the second one--to Bobath therapeutic gymnastics. All the patients underwent a functional examination, which was rated using score system worked out by the authors, thus enabling a quantitative evaluation of treatment efficacy. In all the cases, physical rehabilitation resulted in a positive but not the same effect, with ride therapy being significantly (p < 0.001) more beneficial treatment compared to therapeutic gymnastics. Ride thera...
Brady HA, James CR, Dendy DW, Irwin TA, Thompson LD, Camp TM.This study examined the effects of 15 sessions of hippotherapy (HPOT) on gross motor skills in children (aged 2-3 years) with gross motor developmental delay (DD) (n = 11) in comparison with age-based controls without DD (n = 6). Gross motor skills in both groups were assessed with the Battelle Developmental Inventory 2nd Edition, and gait parameters were measured using a computerized gait analysis system prestudy and poststudy. The DD group took part in 15 sessions of HPOT, and the control (CON) group did not participate in any equine activities. The statistical analysis examined preinterv...
Tabsuri T, Thawinchai N, Peansukmanee S, Lugade V.Children with cerebral palsy (CP) have poor postural control. Horseback riding (HR) is an alternative treatment shown to improve postural control among children with CP. However, there is a paucity of research investigating the underlying mechanisms responsible for improving postural control during HR. What are the three-dimensional biomechanical responses of the trunk and pelvis during HR among children with CP and with typical development (TD)? The participants, aged 4-12 years old, were inexperienced horseback riders, consisting of 10 children with TD and 10 children with spastic diplegia C...
Coffin J.Background: Recent statistics have painted a grim picture for Australia's Aboriginal youth, with reports of higher levels of almost every health indicator, including depression, sexual and emotional abuse, unemployment, and incarceration. Traditional western based therapies have proven to have limited effectiveness in engaging this group as they can often be culturally inappropriate. International studies have provided promising results using equine assisted learning, with a sound methodological basis underpinned by Indigenous ways of being and doing. In Australia Aboriginal people have strong...
de Oliveira K, Clayton HM, Dos Santos Harada É.The objective was to evaluate the effects of gymnastic training on stride characteristics of walk and trot in therapy horses carrying riders of different weights. Eighteen horses used for therapeutic riding 5 days/week were randomly divided into 2 groups. Nine horses performed gymnastic (GYM) exercises after therapeutic riding on 4 days/week for 3 months, 9 horses did no additional exercises (SED). On days 0 and 90, an inertial sensor mounted to the girth on the ventral midline was used to evaluate stride characteristics when horses were ridden at walk (1.3 m/second) and trot (3.0 m/secon...
Schmidt J, Wartenberg-Demand A, Forstmeier S.Equine-assisted therapy is more often practiced with children and adolescents than with the elderly, although individuals in the second half of life could also profit from it. This group, from the age of 50, is characterised by increasing emotional, social, health-related and cognitive changes; a critical life event, such as a neurological illness or loss of a family member, can increase the likelihood of subclinical depression. Individuals who exhibit depressive symptoms not necessarily diagnosed with a major depression may suffer from relevant losses of quality of life (e.g. sleep disorders,...
