Hippotherapy?

[alwaysfallingof]

is something that's come up in conversations I've had a lot recently, and I'm having difficulty finding out more about it.

How does it differ from "ordinary" therapeutic riding lessons? Can it only be practiced by qualified physios?

Any info appreciated.

 

[LMS]

In hippotherapy, it is the horse that influences the rider as opposed to the rider influencing the horse. A physiotherapist or OT trained in hippotherapy, positions the person on the horse, analyses the person's response to the horse & directs the movements of the horse.

So in other words: yes only a qualified physiotherapist or OT should practice hippotherapy with a client.

My role in therapeutic riding is to take the client after the OT is ready to "graduate" the client from hippotherapy into a voltige/sensory intergration modified type of riding. That's as close to hippotherapy I am allowed to do because I'm not a qualified OT or physiotherapist. But I work in conjunction with one. Someone with a masters in kinetics could probably do hippotherapy though.

 

[alwaysfallingof]

Thanks for that LMS, that makes a lot more sense. I was just seeing a lot of pics of riders doing various things on ponies, and thinking

Thank you

 

[LMS]

You're quite welcome
It's true though, to someone just watching, it looks like the instructor is only playing games & making the rider sit in different positions & such. When actually it's quite scientific & medical. The therapist makes notes on how much flexion, rotation, degrees, interaction, sensory, etc the client can do (with the help of the horse).

I've attended a few clinics (and weaseled my way into one once as an interpreter/leader ) given by a physiotherapist who does a lot of hippotherapy with her clients, down in Brittish Columbia (she's also a board member of the Canadian Therapeutic Riding Association) and they analyse everything. Everything they do is for a specific reason to elicit a specific response; it's always so enlightning to audit.

Light bulbs turn on as you think: Oh so thaaaat's why the transitions need to be clean & active... that's why the halt is 3sec... and so on.

 

[alwaysfallingof]

That really does sound fascinating. I might have to go and see if I can find me a hippotherapist to watch...think our regional physio does some...maybe if I speak to her veeeery nicely