Therapeutic Riding at Shining Hope Farms
An equine assisted activity
Therapeutic riding is an equine-assisted activity for the purpose of contributing positively to the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social well-being of individuals with special needs.
If you’re interested in learning more about therapeutic riding at Shining Hope Farms, please contact us today.
Benefits of Therapeutic Riding
Physical Improvements
such as increased balance, trunk control, fine and gross motor coordination, flexibility, and muscle strength.
Emotional stability
to improve self-image, confidence, self-esteem, and independence.
Social interaction
to gain ability to work with others, increase cooperation, teamwork, and responsibility.
Cognitive improvements
such as increased attention span, motivation, vocabulary, memory, and concentration.
Serving Veterans
We also offer therapeutic riding to veterans in our Saddles and Salutes program.
The equine’s stride provides multidimensional movement, which is variable, rhythmic, and repetitive. The horse provides a dynamic base of support, making it an excellent tool for increasing trunk control, balance, postural strength, weight bearing, and motor planning. It offers well-modulated sensory input to vestibular, proprioceptive, tactile, and visual channels. When a client is sitting on the horse, the horse’s walking gait facilitates movement responses remarkably similar to the human gait. The effects of equine movement on postural control, sensory systems, and motor planning can be used to improve coordination, timing, grading of responses, respiratory control, sensory integration, and attention. Equine movement is used to facilitate body systems that support our daily living skills.
Specially Trained & Certified Staff
Our instructors are certified by PATH Intl. (Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship). All instructors must complete a comprehensive training program which includes supervised student teaching, CPR and first aid verification, extensive reading, and riding experience. In addition to our human instructors, each of our horses undergoes careful screening to ensure he or she has the appropriate disposition, physical movement, and level of training necessary for therapeutic riding.
Doctors' RX Required
Each client must provide a doctor’s prescription to participate. When paperwork is received, our instructors will conduct a thorough initial evaluation of each client and formulate functional goals. Progress updates are conducted every six months to evaluate client progress.