Using Horsepower to Fight PTSD and Veteran Suicide

Meggan Hill-McQueeney, a lifelong equestrian, first witnessed the healing power of horses while working after college on a ranch in Colorado, where she was teaching people to ride.

Beyond mindfulness: how horse riding and eating greens can help depression

Equine-assisted therapy can sound like a joke, but it’s not. It only started in 1999 but is now offered in 49 countries by 4,000 practitioners. Earlier this year, a review paper examined the scant research conducted so far and found promising signs that it can relieve negative emotions, with recipients learning to read non-verbal cues, trust, nurture and be assertive, while gaining greater self-esteem, self-control, empathy, self-awareness, emotional awareness and the ability to stay in the present.

Effects of therapeutic horseback riding on post-traumatic stress disorder in military veterans

Therapeutic horseback riding (THR) is defined as a horseback riding program in which the primary goal is rehabilitation. This study examined the effect of THR on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in veterans.

Equine Therapy: How Horses Help Humans Heal

Super-sensitive animals may pick up on hidden emotional trauma.

Healing With the Power Of Horses; Therapists Use Riding To Help Treat Disabilities

A growing number of physical and occupational therapists are using horses in treatment, contending that the physical rigors of riding strengthen the limbs and muscles of people with cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis, paraplegia and other disabilities. And some proponents of therapeutic riding go even further, asserting that the emotional bonding and mental discipline involved can help children with autism and patients with addictions and a range of emotional and behavioral problems.

Horse-assisted therapy: Good for humans, but how about horses?

For many years, humans have benefited from horse-assisted therapy, reaping physical and psychological benefits. During hippotherapy, for example, a person with cerebral palsy or other neuromuscular disorders can benefit from trying to maintain balance in response to a horse's motion—riders tone, stretch, and strengthen the same muscle groups they would use in walking. Little scientific information, however, is available on how horse-assisted therapy impacts the horse.

Horseback Riding: More Than A Hobby – It’s Physical Therapy!

Horseback riding is often suggested to people with developmental disabilities as a form of physical therapy. This form of therapy is often referred to as therapeutic riding: purposed to contribute positively to the cognitive, physical, emotional, and social well-being of patients with special needs.

Horses Lend Helping Hooves

There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man - Winston Churchill. Having owned horses for over 20 years I know that saying to be true. But it takes on even more special meaning when it comes to Equine Assisted Therapy and Therapeutic Riding.

How Horses Heal Our Emotional Wounds

To think that millions of emotionally wounded men, women and children can get a second chance at a healthy and meaningful life is heartwarming. The idea that this can be achieved from a breakthrough in self-awareness that occurred from simply interacting with a horse is extraordinary.

Therapeutic Benefits of Horseback Riding

When I began working with horses, little did I know I would watch a boy with Cerebral Palsy walk for the first time and, later, hear a boy with speech delay produce his first audible word in therapy…at a barn.

With Hippotherapy, the Horse Provides the Therapy

The natural movements of the horse and the environmental cues enable therapists to work toward treatment goals in a setting that might feel like fun, but that research shows can have real benefits.