Met (the OT who does) Hippotherapy in 2016. It at first was a great opportunity for the disadvantaged children at our Special Care Centre to have a weekly outing, meet and interact with horses. Only that after a few months I saw what the intrinsic benefit of hippotherapy for our participants was. Stiff muscles started loosening, weak core muscles started keeping children upright, their visual control and focus improved, children who were anxious and couldn’t sit at a table or play with toys, started engaging with their peers and with their environment. Most of all , some who never showed emotion, started smiling and anticipating a visit to the horses. Thank you

My first word, a story:   (not written by the child)

My name is N. I love horses, if I see a horse on TV, I become very excited. I have dyskinetic cerebral palsy. From the first day I came to the horses and got on, I loved it! I started out lying back on the horse and loved the movement, although I became tired very quickly. It was hard work! The next week, I was able to ride for longer, each week I could do more and more until soon I was able to sit up on the horse, with a lot of help from my side walkers. I started moving more on my own, able to do more, sit up straighter and look around without falling or losing control. I can now roll, pull myself around, I’m starting to sit more on my own and pull up into standing with help; I can play more with toys and use my hands. The carers introduced me to a communication board and now I can talk using it. I love going for outrides on the horse and can now sit up mostly on my own, even riding over the uneven ground and I can even look around. I surprised everyone when I was asked which horse I wanted to ride, and I could whisper, “Midnight”, my favourite horse. It was my first word! Everyone got very excited, cheering for me and asked me to talk again!