Equine Therapy, Equestrian Therapy (ET) or Equine-Assisted Therapy (EAT) makes use of needs-assessed interventions designed by a certified therapist along with the certified and trained horses to promote physical, occupational, and emotional development of people with disabilities such as development delays, development gaps due to inadequate up-bringing and early education, ADD, , attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), cerebral palsy, dementia, depression, anxiety, emotional setbacks.
An equine therapeutic intervention consists of the following aspects
Diagnosis of the person on disability level
Planned equine environment
Designed equine activities
Protocol based implementation one activity at a time
Deep learning of the experience with prognosis, correction and reinforcement
There have to be some readiness activities to get familiarized with riding equipment and undergo the brain-building activities with focus on exercises that train the brain to process sensory information as follows.
Horse sounds
Successive simple visual symbols or stick drawing for hand-eye coordination and fine motor tasks
Balance activities
Spatial orientation
Play and bonding with horse
Physical and movement exercises to be performed at home
Elsewhere, trained and certified horses have been therapeutically used since they are able to sense human emotions. "Animals are already proven to be great therapists. When we ask ourselves, what is so special about horses? There is a reason for it -horses are wonderful listeners ans have innate ability to act as mirrors to the person they are interacting with," stated Mallyka Singh Dundlod in her facebook post sharing about the workshop 'Bonding through Play' on March 15 in Gurugram.
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