Special Needs, Special Horses: A Guide to the Benefits of Therapeutic Riding (Practical Guide). Cet article n’est pas disponible.Special Needs, Special Horses: A Guide to the Benefits of Therapeutic Riding (Practical Guide)

A growing number of individuals with special needs are discovering the benefits of therapies and activities involving horseback riding. Special Needs, Special Horses, by Naomi Scott, offers information about the amazing results possible with therapeutic riding, or hippotherapy. From recreational riding for individuals with disabilities, to the competitions some riders enter (and win), Scott describes the various techniques of the process and its benefits to the physically and mentally challenged.

The book explores the roles of the instructors, physical therapists, volunteers, and the horses, and explains carriage driving, vaulting, and educational interactions with horses. Scott profiles individuals involved in the therapy, including clients whose special needs arose from intrauterine stroke, cerebral palsy, transverse myelitis, Parkinson's disease, paralysis, sensory integration dysfunction, multiple sclerosis, shaken baby syndrome, sensory damage, stroke, seizures, infantile spasms, Down syndrome, and autism.

Special Needs, Special Horses is an excellent guide for the families of the many who do--or could--enjoy improved lives from therapeutic riding. It will also appeal to practitioners of therapeutic riding as an overview of their profession.

Naomi Scott is a volunteer in a therapeutic riding program at Rocky Top Therapy Center in Keller, Texas. She is the former assistant editor of two magazines for the Quarter Horse racing industry and a freelance writer and photographer in the equine field. She lives near Dallas, Texas.