About Equine Assisted Therapy
In simple terms, Equine Assisted Therapy (EAT) describes a range of treatments which incorporate activities involving equines (horses and ponies) and humans to promote physical, cognitive, emotional, and social benefits (Path International).
EAT can involve activities where the client is sat astride the equine, or the activities can take place on the ground in the equine’s environment, such as the stable, arena, yard, field, etc.
What is Equine Assisted Therapy?
Therapy sessions can also incorporate elements of both mounted and ground-work activities, details of which can be discussed during the client’s initial assessment and throughout the duration of sessions.
Holistic Hooves Therapy also incorporates the speciality of Hippotherapy with clients where appropriate - Hippotherapy is explained in more detail below.
Hippotherapy within the United Kingdom is a speciality within a therapy - in the case of Holistic Hooves Therapy, we provide Occupational Therapy services which specialise in Hippotherapy where appropriate.
Occupational Therapy can utilise the benefits of Hippotherapy to work on aspects of the client’s goals, such as improvement of the vestibular system (responsible for balance and spatial orientation), proprioception (knowing where the body is in space), functional skills, sensory processing, social skills, and overall confidence.
In addition to Occupational Therapy, Hippotherapy can be a speciality offered within Physiotherapy and Speech and Language Therapy practice. The video featured on this page, produced by the American Hippotherapy Association, provides a good overview of Hippotherapy.
Hippotherapy
Derived from the Greek word “Hippos" which means “Horse”
Participation in such functional tasks can help with getting used to the equine and its environment, and can also be used to help with goals such as working towards building routines and focusing on transitions, as well as building confidence and feeling a sense of independence and responsibility.
“The term hippotherapy refers to how occupational therapy professionals use evidence-based practice and clinical reasoning in the purposeful manipulation of equine movement as a therapy tool to engage sensory, neuromotor and cognitive systems to promote functional outcomes.
Best practice dictates that occupational therapy professionals integrate hippotherapy into the client’s plan of care, along with other therapy tools and/or strategies. ”