Physical Therapy

To Heather-in Christ alone:
This is horsegirl.
The type of therapy I am interested in is physical therapy for mentally and/or physically handicapped people where you use horses as the therapy. The handicapped people are aided in riding as they build self-confidence, personal-interaction with their horse, improve balance, and being able to concentrate on tasks. They take these skills that they learn at the center and apply it with every-day life.

When I first found out about Horse Therapy, I had volunteered at a Horse therapy center for a Sunday school project. Volunteering at that time triggered a spark of interest to do this. Since I LOVE horses, and wanted to do something WITH horses as a career, I thought this would be what God was telling me to look into.

There have been many reports by family members that have a loved one that had been using regular physical therapy, then switched over to horse therapy and saw incredible results.

Like one person that I read about from the center I volunteered at. Her son, I think, had been on physical therapy for several months, and he hadn't made much progress. The family heard about horse therapy, decided to give it a try, and fell in love with the environment and assistance. After either the first or second riding session, the guy walked from the horse to his wheelchair, I think, on his own. He might of had some assistance in the walk, but they hadn't seen him with that much independence since before his accident.

So, I hope that I have answered your questions. Hopefully I have also inspired some other people to look into this more, especially if you are, like me, horse people and want a career option other than training.