Let's Get Moving!

The first time my husband went horseback riding he was warned, "You're going to be so sore!"

Riding a horse works muscles you didn't even know you have. This makes it a perfect animal for strength training and some physical therapists are doing exactly that!

If you are intrigued by the idea that riding a horse helps build core muscles, balance, and stamina you can easily search for a place that uses hippotherapy near you. PATH International, formerly NAHRA, is a the accrediting body over all therapeutic horsemanship groups and they currently have about 800 centers around the world registered.

I checked out  websites from a few of the many accredited groups that listed "backriding/tandem hippotherapy" as an activity they offered. Here are a couple that stuck out to me:

Bit-By-Bit explains the usefulness of hippotherapy in physical therapy, occupational therapy, and speech therapy.

Canyon Ranch Physical Therapy, Inc. is a physical therapy clinic that happens to be in a barn. They treat all of their patients using hippotherapy.

Haven Hills Therapeutic Riding Center introduced me to this wonderful poem by John Anthony Davies:

I saw a child who couldn't talk or walk

Sit on a horse, laugh and talk

Then ride through a field of daisies

and yet, he couldn't walk unaided.

I saw a child, no legs below,

sit on a horse and make it go

through woods of green

and places he had never been

to sit and stare, except from a chair.

I saw a child who couldn't crawl

mount a horse and sit up tall.

Put it through degrees of paces

and laugh at the wonder in our faces.

I saw a child born into strife,

Take up and hold the reins of life

and that same child, I heard him say

Thank God for showing me the way.

Little Bit, don't let the name fool you, all ages are welcome. This organization was started by a women with Multiple Sclerosis when she discovered that riding a horse was slowing down the progression of her disease.

TREAT is a program that is a part of Tarleton State University; something to think about if you're interested in going into hippotherapy when you finish college.

Windridge conducts research as they are providing hippotherapy which could lead to a wider acceptance of the practice, and maybe even the discovery of more uses for horse therapists.

This is his first time riding a horse. What a natural!

My husband ended up loving the experience and has been looking forward to going horseback riding again ever since.