On Thursday morning, a new instructor started doing Hippotherapy
lessons as part of our Therapeutic Riding program. There is a
difference: Hippotherapy is Physical Therapy performed by a PT using
the horse as one of the tools of her trade, and therapeutic riding can
be taught by anyone (normally with, but not necessarily always,
certification from NARHA) and is strictly riding instruction with
necessary adaptations needed by the riders. Make sense?
Anyways, she did 3 different lessons on three very different patients:
a 2 year old with CP who cannot sit up on his own, a 4 year own with
some physical and mental delays, and an approx 19 or 20 year old adult
with CP and other mental issues, who has been doing regular
therapeutic lessons for years. Within each session, I saw amazing
results (what little I could observe since my job was horse handler.)
What a wonderful way to start my "day off" from the Veterinary
Hospital job. I am actually looking forward to giving up one of my
"sleeping in until 6am" mornings to be able to work with this
wonderful instructor and her charges.
Sandy
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