Healing Hooves
Hippotherapy
Wishing it was the florescent bright night lights of Vegas, rather than the scorching hot rays of the sun, beating down on me for hours on end, as I and the rest of the vaulters waited for the ribbon ceremony to begin. My name was called, clenched in my right hand was a blue first place ribbon. Full of excitement I cheered at my success with a grin spread from ear to ear. Once I returned to wear the rest of my team sat, on the park’s cushioning green grass, something caught my attention with amazement, even more so then the prize I just won. A slender young boy, with short dark brown hair, slowly placed his weight on one foot after the other in a hobbling movement. As one leg stood crookedly straight supporting his weight, the other in a bent pigeon-toed movement leaned his body forward. One arm sucked closely into his chest with his hand hanging limp, the left arm was being supported by his coach helping him make his way to his award. The announcer told the crowd that before the young boy took up vaulting he was confined to a wheelchair and could not walk, he was diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy. With the support of his coaches and team members he was able to gain enough muscle strength to now walk and support his body by himself when sitting on the horses back. Memorized by this young boy I was curious to find out if there was an actual treatment used to help children with disabilities using horses. I found out there was such an effective and beneficial therapy known as hippotherapy, and now I want to educate others of this magical success.
As I wanted to learn more about hippotherapy, along with the magical fairy tale stories of people and children all over the world who have found success with this amazing treatment. Many stories had more things in common other then improvement, families struggling to afford to pay for the therapy because insurance companies do not cover hippotherapy. Noah, a young boy with bright blue eyes, which sparkle with hope is only one story of many. Noah is diagnosed with Cerebral Palsy, who has been doing hippotherapy for three weeks and has shown many improvements already. He is now able to put weight on his arms, has head control, look side to side, and lift his head up with a riding helmet on. Noah’s parents couldn’t be happier with the success, until they seen the bill, knowing they have to come up with the money out of pocket.
Noah’s family is like any other family who hit rough patches financially, but to them it feels like it’s never ending. When things go wrong such as a pipe leak or any other house hold maintenance problems not only do they need to come up with the funds to pay for the problem but they also still need the money to pay for Noah’s treatments. Hippotherapy is not a sixty dollar a month dance class, it’s quite a bit more, ranging around eighty dollars a week for only thirty minutes. To try and scrounge up some change to try and pay the bill, they decide to do a yard sale. The first day was not a success, and started to make Noah’s parents a little more worried than they already were. When you start to think that nothing good is going to happen to you, your luck suddenly changes. Their loving and helpful neighbors wanted to support Noah and his family in this desperate time of need, so they helped out with the yard sale by donating and buying many different items. By the end of the next day Noah’s parents are now able to relax a little bit knowing they have a little bit more money than they did before.
Seeing Noah improve is what inspires his mother, especially when many have told her that Noah will never be more than what he is now. She doesn’t take other people’s opinions like that to heart because she has faith in him and has also witnessed Noah grow. She only wants what is best for Noah, it’s something she never stops thinking about, she even has dreams about Noah walking and functioning normal. When she watches Noah bond with his horse Doc, by tapping him wanting him to giddy up, feels her heart with joy seeing him happy and alive. His therapists also work well with Noah and have as much faith in him as his own parents do, and hope for continuous improvement. Noah means the world to his parents and will do anything to keep him going to hippotherapy “even if that means I guess I have to sell the shirts off our backs…that’s just what you do is make the necessary sacrifices, he is worth it. He is worth all of it.”
Like the vaulter with Cerebral Palsy, Noah has also struggled with this disease, not just physically but financially as well. Cerebral Palsy alone is expensive; being able to afford hippotherapy treatment is even a bigger effort because there are no insurance policies for hippotherapy. The effectiveness of hippotherapyis amazing, especially when reading these moving stories. There have been scientific studies done to show that hipotherapydoes improve muscle symmetry in children with cerebral palsy. In this study they took 15 children aging 4-12 years old and randomized them to either 8 minutes of hippotherapy or 8 minutes astride a stationary barrel.( to get the feeling of sitting on a horse) To measure muscle activity of the trunk and upper legs during sitting, standing, and walking they used a electromyography(EMG). The study concluded eight minutes of hippotherapy, but not stationary sitting astride a barrel, resulted in improved symmetry in muscle activity.
Hippotherapy is a fun treatment that has results that prove it is worth every penny. The treatment gives the patients something outside their everyday environment to bond with and look forward to every week. Hippotherapy gives so much not only to the patients but to their loved ones as well providing hope and strength along the way.