It is not Disneyland, Six Flags Magic Mountain, or any other world-famous amusement park that offers the best rides for children. In fact, it is one of the world’s most malodorous places- a horse stable with hypnotherapists and volunteers-that presents a truly beneficial ride for children with disabilities. Friends of Horses Rescue and Adoption (FOHRAA), a non-profit organization and a horse boarding stable located in Colorado, provides “Wee Ride,” a therapeutic horseback ride that is not only entertaining, but also helpful for the physical and cognitive growth of its patients.

Working alongside the FOHRAA, Children’s Advisory Network, a non-profit organization of speech therapists, offers Wee Ride for children of all income levels with autism, developmental delays, or genetic disorders. Their application of hippotherapy - physical, occupational, or speech and language therapy treatment through horseback riding - is what adds clinical value to Wee Ride.

Horse Power for Ability, a specialist physiotherapy service based in Northumberland, expounds that “the walking horse transmits 110 three-dimensional movement impulses per minute onto the person on its back. Thus, the impulses stimulate balance and postural reactions in the sitting position, on a movable base, and in a pattern that very closely resembles human gait, allowing the patient to experience pelvic and upper body movement on the horse as if they were walking normally.” Along with its clinical effect on patients who need development in gross motor skills, hippotherapy also helps those with speech impediments. Since the transfer of the horse’s movements to the patient “produces a combination of sensory, motor and neurological input,” the transfer yields positive effects on oral motor control, voice quality, and verbal communication, according to The Children’s TherAplay Foundation.

Although hippotherapy is far from a conventional, numerous reports by authors including Murphy D, Kahn-D’Angelo L, and Gleason J have evinced the effect of hippotherapy on functional outcomes for children with disabilities. Pragmatic and naturalistic characteristics of hippotherapy allow not only therapists but also volunteers like me, devoid of specialties, to make a positive difference in the life of a child by simply engaging in conversation while side-walking, asking questions, guiding a child to make an eye contact and initiate a conversation, correcting pronunciations, and even through tasks such as grooming or leading the horses.

The improvements children have demonstrated -making eye contact, starting conversations, and pronouncing words more easily - reward me with a remarkable sense of fulfillment, a priceless gift found nowhere else. Ultimately, I hope the growing trend of developing naturalistic approaches in speech-language pathology continues to help the growth of children with disabilities, facilitating their cognitive development and communication skills, all of which are instrumental to their well-being.

<Sharon Shin Grandview High School 11th Grade>