Introduction

                Hippotherapy is a kind of treatment strategy where horse movements are made useful by individuals who are specially trained such as physical therapist, certified occupational therapists, and speech-language pathologist in order to manage various impairments and other defects with a primary aim achieving good functional outcomes.

History

            Hippotherapy started a long time ago and can be dated to 460-377 B.C where, a chapter on Natural Exercise included riding as one of them. The Hippocrates wrote this from ancient Greece. Horse riding was also mentioned in 1569 when an Italian Merkurialis wrote on The Art of Gymnastics. In the year 1780, a book Medical and Surgical Gymnastics which was written by Tissot from France described riding as one of beneficial gait. He also explained the effects that come as a result of riding for a very long period and its contraindications.

            During the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, the winner of a silver medal at that time, Liz Hartel, in equestrian sports, described how riding had facilitated her recovery from polio. Hippotherapeutic centers increased, and by 1960s it has spread throughout the United States, Canada, and even Europe as the horse riding was taken as part of physical therapy in other countries such as Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

There was an establishment of the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA) in the year 1969. It is a membership organization that promotes professionally safe and therapeutic equestrian activities taking care of ethical consideration by educating, doing research and communicating to people with disabilities. This organization was established in the United States. There was also development on treatment uses for the horse movement in 1970 by the physiotherapists in the United States. This progressed well until 1987 when a group of 18 individual decided to go to Germany to study hippotherapy, and there was a development of the standardized curriculum for hippotherapy. There was further development of the curriculum by the National hippotherapy Curriculum Development Committee between the years 1988 to 1992.

After the development of the curriculum, American Hippotherapy Association was formed in 1992, and it is a non-profit organization which is involved in the provision of education and also help to promote equine-assisted therapy that will significantly aid in improving the health of those individuals living with disabilities. It was later in the year 1993 approved as the first section of North American Riding for the Handicapped Association.

The American Hippotherapy Association later in 1994 set standard of practice, overseeing the curriculum, having the necessary training and skills and also ensuring that the therapists work according to the practice act. In 1999 there was also the establishment of the certification board and hippotherapy clinical specialist, and there was also the first examination for the hippotherapy clinical specialists.

In 2003, the American hippotherapy association (AHA) become independent, and the organization was incorporated in Florida and later in April 2007, it held its first conference in Atlanta. There were letters of support that the association received in 2011 and 2012 from AOTA and APTA respectively and later in 2016 the reimbursement committee was changed to standing committee from the task force. In the year 2017, there was a formation of a new committee to address the growing demand of the members; this involved ethics and advocacy and also marketing and social media.

In March 2017, there was adoption and release of the best practices and also a revision of terminologies. The use of hippotherapy in physiotherapy, occupational therapy, and speech-language pathology document was also released. Later in the year, the association received a letter of support from ASHA. The association then moved into new offices where all the work and all the activities are done in one place. This means that the organization equipment and all the staff members work in the same area.

Benefits of hippotherapy for the patient and the horse

 Hippotherapy is a therapeutic treatment which is performed by use of a horse and it has been found to have numerous benefits. It is used currently to engage the neuromotor, sensory and cognitive systems to achieve the functional needs. Riding in the back of the horse is very beneficial to those individuals who have disabilities as it helps in the pelvis and the trunk movements. This is because as the horse moves it triggers the movement of the body which in turn would have not even moved on the wheelchair. The changes thus produces exercises of the core muscle which is beneficial to the body.

As the horse also moves, there are movement repetitions and certain rhythm which can thus influence neuromuscular developments by triggering the mental and physical reactions. During the movement of the horse, there is action and reaction; this causes the changes of the trunks which requires one to remain upright. There are also numerous physical movements and sensory activities that take place during the movements of good respiratory control.

Hippotherapy is linked to promoting good respiration control, the series of movements that are made by the horse stimulates body activities which are then stimulate and affect the rate of respiration. With hippotherapy, it acts as an exercise, and thus the patient can be able to have good respiratory control in the long run. It also improves the postural symmetry of the individual and control of extremities as well as enhancing the strength of the patient trunk through the actions of muscle stimulation. Muscle stimulation improves the strength of the muscles and thus improving the patient trunk strength.

Hippotherapy also enhances the strength and balance of the patient, and this is because, during the movement of the horse, the patient has to maintain the gate and also the balance as the horse moves forward. With this, the patient will be used to movements and will adapt as they try to balance themselves. Learning from the horse also stimulates the patient to maintain balance on their own.

There are also other benefits such as enhancing endurance and improving the sensory input. The patient becomes used to the activities that usually, and the body also adopts due to the changes that generally occurs mentally, physically and psychologically as the hippotherapy is administered. The clients reduce fear maybe on riding the horse, the body muscle and the respirations has also adapted to the activities, all this promotes endurance and the sensory input

 The patient also benefits from enhanced response time as the patient becomes more active and the level of attention is also increased during the horse riding process. The whole activities including the physical control sensations need the active involvement of cognition, and thus this will be improved. The client might also be able to express his/her thought during the horse movements, therefore, befitting the patient cognition.

The patient understanding of visual cues are also improved; this occurs as the movement of the horse exposes the client to a wide range of activities and other things. The movements of the horse cause body change in the horses and also movements of the patient and thus he/she might be able to understand what is seen. This improves cognition.

Hippotherapy also improves the self-esteem of the client. This can happen the patient can maintain balance and generally being able to ride the horse. Hippotherapy is mainly for those who have disabilities and therefore, the ability to perform something they were unable to do during their past makes them proud and thus developing high self-esteem.

There is also an opportunity for social interaction because hippotherapy is like a social event and riding a horse is fun to most people. This will promote their social interaction with different people from those he/she is used to. This is primarily supported by improved self-esteem of the client as the clients also might enjoy interacting with the animal. The client will also be able to develop an interest in the treatments, and this is due to increased interaction and even understanding of all the treatment process.

Other benefits to the horse are the improvement of physical fitness through exercises in the field during the hippotherapy process. There are also different people who use the horse for hippotherapy. The horse health needs to be right before they are taken for hippotherapy and thus they benefit from frequent check-ups by a vet. The horses also have to be fit, and therefore, they are feed with proper diet. The horses are also groomed well which reduces incidences of injury and also they are able to socialize with other people in the field. This promotes their wellbeing.

Strongwater Farm is a therapeutic Equestrian center that aims in promoting the wellbeing of individuals by use of the horse. They provide emotional support, education and also social support, and this is done in the hippotherapy.