Some people wear shirts that say “my therapist lives in a barn” and it can be completely true. Few people do not know what horseback riding is. They think of it as a recreational activity or something that people wearing cowboy hats use when herding cattle in Texas. Little do most people outside the avid horseback riding communities know that it can be so much more. Horseback riding is one of the most natural types of therapy in the world and can be used to enable the disabled, give confidence, and to form a steady bond for both horse and rider. “It has been clinically proven that just being in the vicinity of horses changes our brainwave patterns. They have a calming effect which helps stop people from becoming fixated on past or negative …show more content…
Once again horseback riding is naturally therapeutic. There are also a few therapists that use horses for helping patients with emotional or mental disorders. Troubled teens, young sex offenders, sexually abused, physically abused, mentally abused, and anorexics are a few other disorders that the therapists try to treat by having the patients spend time with horses. It helps the patients feel like they can control something, and teaches them how they can have power by being gentle, and not using aggressive behavior to gain cooperation, and gain …show more content…
“It’s an extremely powerful tool… You can achieve posture and balance control in half the time… It improves mobility, flexibility, fine motor control” (Stewart, 1998). Horse therapy is mainly used for children. Disabled adults who have never been around horses are often intimidated and want nothing to do with the animals. In riding a horse, the disabled person can get a small taste of what it is like to slightly normal. Their disabilities are often forgotten as their confidence and self-esteem grow. When riding a horse the body’s muscles become relaxed, so those with physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy, stroke recovery, down syndrome, can benefit from it too, by also helping to improve coordination and