Gift of Horses

Gift of Horses

Gift of Horses
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 7 to 8
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	7.44

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		equine, hippotherapy, willful, multiple, better, enrolled, sterile, bad-tempered, appreciation, circulation, benefits, difficulty, value, spite, cerebral, independence
	content words:		United States

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Gift of Horses
By Mary Lynn Bushong

¹     When you hear the word "hippotherapy" what do you think of? A hippo in a hot tub? Perhaps a hippo getting a massage? It's nothing like that at all. Hippo is the Greek word for horse. So hippotherapy is the use of horses to improve health.

²     You may not have heard of it before, but using horses as part of physical therapy began in the U.S. and Germany late in the 1940s. It was slow to catch on, but now there are more than 600 centers for equine or hippotherapy in the United States alone.

³     The benefits of riding horses have been known since the fifth century B.C. Those who rode horses often had better balance, muscular strength, and confidence. In spite of that, the use of horses as part of a regular therapy program has been around less than 60 years, and most of those for less than 20.

⁴     What is it about riding horses that helps people? The movement of a horse's hips as it walks is very similar to that of a person's walk. The gentle movement you feel as you ride helps to exercise many of the same muscles used by humans, but without the effort. For those who cannot walk or who have difficulty walking, those muscles can become weak or atrophied from lack of use. Taking part in a riding therapy program works because those muscles are gently exercised. This builds strength in the back, arms, and legs. It also helps improve balance.

⁵     It's not just physical difficulties that are helped. Those with learning and emotional disabilities, autism, speech problems, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, and injuries from accidents also benefit from the close contact with horses.

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