Hippo what?

The last few Sundays I have been tutoring a student (Oui) who is in his third year of school for physical therapy. This Sunday he invited me to go to a hippotherapy session. I said yes, thinking it must be interesting. After googling it, I found out what it was (see here) and I was definitely looking forward to seeing it in person.

Hippotherapy uses horses to help children that have difficulty with balance (and so much more). In this group, it consisted of children with Cerebral Palsy and Down Syndrome. This was the first session, so the kids were just getting used to it. As they arrived with their parent(s), they could come over to a mat and play with the physical therapists. When they had all arrived, they were led through basic stretches with their parents' and therapists help. After that, each child had a helmet and vest put on and they were brought to the horse. Assigned to each horse was a vet and two physical therapists. The vet led the horse, while the therapists stood on either side. Each child rode the horse for about fifteen minutes. Initially, they would do stretches with the child while using the horse.


Then they would lead the horse and child around to two stations. One station had pictures and numbers. Children had to practice their numbers, for example by holding up four fingers if there were four images. The other station showed basic drawings of a person and the child had to mimic the pose.



Oui, who has already volunteered for one session (about 8-12 classes), thought the children improved a lot from the time they started. From what I gathered, they mostly improved in balance and temperament.

This is a program that is through the local university. According to Oui, it is free. Many (if not all?) who are involved are volunteers. I would really like to go again and help out there more. I'm not sure exactly in what area though, since I am not a physical therapist or a vet! Today I just helped with setup and observed.

It was very interesting and encouraging to see these alternative ways to reach the children, and even more interesting to hear about some positive changes it brought about. It gives me new insight not only into a different therapy, but also another side to Thailand.