Equine-Assisted Activities and Therapies and Autism Ranking:

Aims and Claims

Aims

All equine-assisted activities and therapies are designed to achieve some kind of therapeutic benefit (beyond the sheer pleasure of being on or around the horse).

Therapeutic horseback riding is primarily designed to improve physical, psychological, cognitive, and social skills, as well as to improve horsemanship skills.  It is used with a wide variety of people with a range of different conditions.

Hippotherapy is primarily designed to improve neurological function and sensory processing.  It is often used with people who have neurological or sensory processing difficulties, such as people with cerebral palsy or brain injury. 

Equine-facilitated psychotherapy is primarily designed to help personal exploration (for example, awareness of thoughts, emotions, and behaviours) through interactions with the horse.  It is often used with people with emotional, behavioural or mental health problems.

Claims

There have been various claims made for EAAT.  For example, the Professional Association of Therapeutic Horsemanship International claims that

“Both equine-assisted activities such as riding or vaulting and equine-assisted therapy such as hippotherapy or psychotherapy can impact the life of a person with autism.” 

There have been a number of studies which claim that therapeutic horseback riding can help some autistic individuals.  For example, Gabriels (2012) reported

“Specifically, participants in the THR intervention group made significant improvements from baseline to post-evaluations on measures of self-regulation (Irritability, Lethargy, Stereotypic Behavior, and Hyperactivity), adaptive expressive language skills, motor skills, and verbal praxis/motor planning skills.”

There have been a few studies which claim that hippotherapy can help some autistic individuals.  For example, Ajzenman et al (2013) reported

“Postural sway significantly decreased postintervention. Significant increases were observed in overall adaptive behaviors (receptive communication and coping) and in participation in self-care, low-demand leisure, and social interactions.”

We have been unable to identify any claims for the use of equine-facilitated psychotherapy as a treatment for autistic individuals.

Updated

17 Jun 2022

Last Review

01 Dec 2018

Next Review

01 Sep 2024