The Benefits of Equine Therapy

Published with permission of Therapeutic Riding Center at Fieldstone Farms

Equine-Assisted Therapy (EAT) utilizes a range of treatments and therapies that involve horses and other equines to promote physical and mental health. We are fortunate here in Ohio to have one of the largest and most respected therapeutic equine centers in the United States, Fieldstone Farms, located in Chagrin Falls. They serve more than 900 students annually. Their therapy horses help people of all ages, with a variety of emotional, physical, and cognitive challenges.

Their largest population of students are those struggling with mental health disorders including anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, grief, and survivors of trauma, cancer, and violence, totaling close to 50 percent. They are also wellversed in working with students with a variety of cognitive and physical challenges including autism, cerebral palsy, neurological disorders, and sight impairments, among others. Ranging in age from four to 80 years old and older, their students come from throughout Northeast Ohio. Benefits of equine therapy include:

Mindfulness — When you first meet a horse, you immediately feel their power. They naturally enable you to be fully present as they react to your presence. This mindfulness helps the students overcome anxiety, open up pathways to learning, and regulate emotions.

Empathy — While grooming a horse, students develop a connection that soothes, calms, and restores emotional health. A horse’s empathetic nature helps people feel understood and not alone.

Confidence — Sitting atop a 1,500-pound horse and learning to control its gait is empowering. Horses teach us about teamwork. And it is exhilarating to feel the wind on your face as a horse carries you to places you’ve never been.

Strength — Riding improves posture and builds core and leg strength as our students sit tall and stretch and squeeze their legs around the horse’s body. It improves balance as a rider responds to the horse’s movement underneath them. Riding increases coordination as students learn to move their legs, feet, core, shoulders, hips, hands, and fingers to communicate with the horse and control their speed and direction.

Learning -- The real-life learning that happens at the farm can help students understand concepts that may be difficult to tackle in the classroom. For example, converting inches to feet is easier when you are measuring a horse up close and personal, rather than studying in a book. Asking children to write about their interactions with horses, or simply reading to the horses, can improve literacy and expression. And learning geography as we expose students to our horses’ origins helps bring the world to life.

At the Lupus Foundation of America, Greater Ohio Chapter, we encourage many different outlets for living life with lupus. This ranges from traditional medicine to alternative therapies like yoga and acupressure. Many patients we hear from have described incredi- ble benefits from equine therapy. This is seen by reading the article in this magazine about Breeze and Natalie. Horses can help patients with confidence, strength, relaxation, and more. The benefits of equine therapy are well documented.

For more information about Fieldstone Farms, visit Fieldstonefarm. org, or you can also reach them by phone at (440) 708-0013. For more information about Equine-Assisted Therapy or to locate an equine therapist near you, visit www. americanhippotherapyassociation. org/.