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Trot or gallop?
It was 2013 when a new challenge was presented to me: I was teaching horse vaulting for a
couple of years already when I was asked by my manager be the assistant coach for an especial
athlete. But first things first, from my own experience, I know that not a lot of people were
introduced to the sport, but a brief explanation would be dance and gymnastics over a horse
back. It is exactly as crazy as it sounds: from one to three people at the same time, over a horse’s
back, doing crazy stunts such as upside down, standing up, and even different pyramids!
I was an athlete for almost 10 years, and the last two years I was also a coach, I am a Brazilian
Champion in the solo category, and my team went to CVI (Campeonato Internacional de Volteio
– International Championship of Vaulting). But this day my perspective of vaulting changed for
the better. I was asked to assist the coach of a 33-year-old athlete with down syndrome.
I was thrilled, but scared since I have never dealt with what I learned to be called Hippotherapy,
and my first experience would be with an adult woman. It was definitely a great challenge. In the
first class we had to learn where she was at as far as figuring out her balance, her strength, her
ability to learn a new vocabulary and apply it, and also if she would respond to the learning
process, and if she would adapt with the horse. With that information we put together a program
that would fit her needs, and for our great surprise, every other month we would have to change
the hole program due to how much improvement she was presenting. After a year, her parents
threw her a party to celebrate the fact that her violent outbursts were almost nonexistent, she was
much more approachable and friendly, and that her gross motor coordination was improving.
People with special needs – physical or menthal- should seek Hippotherapy as an option, or even
a plus to regular therapy. Hippotherapy is an alternative method of therapy, where the patient has
the opportunity to be outdoors, be in contact with other people and animals, improving their
physical and psychological condition.
The Hippotherapy session starts at the process of getting the horse ready for the class, through
grooming, putting on the material, warming the horse up. It helps the person develop an
emotional connection with the horse, and therefore, with others (Krystosec). This connection is
fundamental for the horse, the OT and the patient in order to have a good outcome from the
session. For patients with mental disorders, this emotional connection will have repercussions at
their lives, where they will also learn to emotionally connect to people around.
A lot of times, people would think of Hippotherapy exclusively as physical, but being able to
