Contents
Horse riding has a beneficial effect on human health. This fact was known even in Ancient Greece. Now hippotherapy has become an effective way to improve the health of children. When is it worth contacting a hippotherapy specialist?
“The method is unique with many advantages, starting with the fact that children come to us with joy and interest (unlike procedures in a hospital), classes are held in an indoor arena or in the fresh air.”
Hippotherapy (from the Greek hippo – horse) is a treatment with the movement of a horse, physiotherapy exercises. For the first time, they started talking about hippotherapy as a scientific discipline in the middle of the XNUMXth century. The spread of this type of alternative medicine is largely due to the Danish woman Liz Hartel. She was an athlete – she was engaged in equestrian sports, until one day she fell ill with polio (a rather rare case for an adult). Illness confined Liz to a wheelchair. The girl no longer hoped to ever mount a horse again. But in the end, after a few months of horse riding, Liz Hartel recovered, returned to equestrian sports and, as a result, won a silver medal in dressage competitions during the Olympic Games in Helsinki.
In our country, this method of rehabilitation appeared in the early 90s of the XX century. Scientists assure that horse riding can correct many ailments of child and adolescent health, and in addition, it solves a number of psychological problems.
What health problems does hippotherapy solve?
The range of diseases for which the hippodrome began to use therapeutic horse riding is very wide: impaired motor function as a result of paralysis, poliomyelitis, etc .; damage to the sense organs – blindness, deafness; mental illness – autism, neuroses, some forms of schizophrenia; mental retardation – mental retardation and speech development, mental retardation, Down syndrome, etc.; various violations of social adaptation and others.
If the child does not move, then horseback riding is important for him as an imitation of human movements – the hip region and legs when riding a horse walking at a step imitate these complex three-dimensional movements. A person with disabilities, through hippotherapy classes, learns to feel his body, space, in particular, by changing the angle of vision. It is difficult to convey the sense of self of a person who usually sits in a wheelchair and looks up at everyone. And suddenly he turns out to be several heads taller than the tallest of those around him and can move independently of everyone. Possession of riding skills makes it possible to control a large animal. A person begins to take pride in his successes, his self-esteem rises, self-control improves, and the child’s communication capabilities expand.
Success in horseback riding forms personality: sensitivity to the horse’s movements trains reactions; the ability to control a horse gives the skill of assessing the situation and influencing it; trust in a horse extends to trust in people; there is attentiveness to the animal, care, the ability to non-verbally recognize information.
Hippotherapy – what does it look like?
The program of each lesson is prescribed by a hippotherapist. He is also present at the lesson, monitors the exercise and is responsible for the child’s health. During the session, which lasts 30 minutes, the baby is seated on the animal’s back. The horse is selected with an agreeable character, well-trained, obedient. Further, the animal with the child slowly moves in a circle. Each lesson is always attended by one hippotherapist and one horse breeder. The hippotherapist works individually with each child: they do exercises together, move their arms, legs, talk, listen to music. For example, a baby due to limited health cannot support his head on his own, then an instructor helps him, who sits down behind and holds the child. And the horse breeder controls the horse’s movements. They should be smooth and uniform – without sudden stops, turns.
As you know, the horse’s body temperature is one and a half degrees higher than the human temperature, the movements of the back muscles of a walking horse warm up and massage the muscles of the rider’s legs, increasing blood flow. Those who are shown exercises perform them under the supervision of a physician.
Where to start?
Experts say that horse riding can begin as soon as the baby learns to sit. But the desire of the parents to introduce the child to horse riding is not enough. You need to consult with a hippotherapist and get admission to classes. There are few contraindications: hemophilia, inflammatory kidney disease, acute diabetes and some cardiovascular diseases.
Usually, children are happy and interested in studying in the arena or in the fresh air, but if the child is shy, frightened by unfamiliar surroundings, have a preliminary conversation with him, tell about horses, read children’s poems or fairy tales about them. In class, parents should be close to the child to feel supported.