Horseback Therapy

[Bernard]

For the horse lovers...

Stephanie Pippen was running out of hope.

Her son, Max, who suffers from epilepsy and a rare genetic condition that weakens his muscles, was 3 years old and could barely walk. He was seeing a physical therapist, but it wasn't helping.

Pippen read about Maryland Therapeutic Riding, a Crownsville organization that offers physical and mental therapy through riding and interacting with horses, and figured she'd try it with Max.

After two hours on horseback, Max was running across uneven surfaces. Later that year, he was standing up on horseback.

"This is a kid who could barely walk, and they had him surfing a horse," Pippen, a Linthicum Heights resident, says of her son, now 5.

Horseback therapy gets a boost

[lindy]

Thanks for letting me know about this, Bernard! I am very familiar with therapeutic riding. A close friend in VA has a son with cerebral palsy and he rides for physical therapy during the summer. The school district even pays for it as part of his IEP. As far as the school is concerned, it's cheaper than having him see a therapist twice a week. I'm also connected with a therapeutic riding group here in VT. Sally Swift, the founder of Centered Riding, plays a major role with the local group and, as a friend, I help her occasionally. She, more than most, knows of the benefits of riding. She has had severe scoliosis since she was a young child and her parents were told that she would be in a wheelchair by her mid teens. She is now 94 and still hasn't found the need for a wheelchair, although she now needs a walker. She makes me laugh - she thinks that the only reason she even needs the walker is the fact that she hasn't been able to ride since she turned 90! In my particular case, I find riding and just fussing with Dylan, my horse, to be a great stress reducer. When I bought my first horse, shortly after I turned 40, my primary care physician was really upset about it and thought that, since my seizures were so out of control, riding anything other than a school horse was asking for trouble. Fortunately, my neurologist rides (I see him several times a fall when his hunt club joins mine for a hunt) and he told my regular doctor that from what he had seen, the stress relief that I got from my horse lessened the chances of me having a seizure. Must be true since I have never had a seizure on, around or near a horse.

[Bernard]

It certainly sounds interesting. Every once in a while I run across something like this and wonder about the hidden prices we might be paying for industrial progress.

[ellgee]

I worked with a Hippotherapy team and the results are incredible.

Heres an excellent organization for anyone interested http://www.narha.org/

[Bernard]

Hi ellgee, I had never heard the term 'Hippotherapy' before. Looks like there are a lot of organizations out there.

[doclotus]

My wife volunteers at a NARHA affiliated site once a week. She absolutely loves it.

[Justin May]

Hippotherapy is wonderful. Spent some time working with them after my stroke as child. The riding is good for muscle retraining and the care of the horse is great for the confidence and emotionial stability.