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Title
Diversification to Meet the Needs of the World
Body of Abstract
Maintaining health through the past year has forced the world’s population to take an active role in their own well-being and the well-being of their community. We all have needed to assess information and data from experts around the world who have provided insight into maintaining wellness. We have navigated these waters and moved with the changing currents to address the possibilities for the future.
Equine assisted service programs have had to evaluate, assess, adapt and in some cases restructure. Programs continue to look for ways to meet their client and equine needs most effectively and efficiently. Due to the pandemic, provision of services changed and populations in some cases shifted. Some programs may never return to their previous offering and others gained new tools. Luckily, people and professionals in this industry are endlessly motivated and creative. Due to the catalyst of the COVID pandemic and the many restrictions imposed, there has been great innovation. The industry did not stand still; programs quickly adapted and met the needs of participants in new ways with farm drive throughs, virtual sessions, and one on one lessons with caregiver support. New populations are being served including first responders, caregivers, and medical providers and they are benefitting from interaction with a horse.
The pandemic has bought us closer together by encouraging us to reach out to our own community of professionals for support. Communities and groups have popped up and flourished in the virtual spaces among professionals of all backgrounds. Knowledge and ideas were shared and freely accessed. Collaborations on the international level have connected communities of learners and professionals. The HETI planning committee has had the foresight to be able to manage the everchanging requirements and mandates, moving from in person to hybrid while opening the conference on the international stage. While our methods of communication have limited us at times, virtual platforms have broadened our ability to connect with those from around the world. By speaking to those who may have seemed out of reach previously, we all have benefited from insight and perspectives outside our own.
As a professor at a college that is preparing students to become the professionals of the future, we hope to instill good insight, a dash of problem solving, common sense and a touch of wonder to keep exploring what is still to come. In a pandemic they have learned to navigate much more than students who have come before them: preparing virtual lessons for Veterans in a VA hospital, managing masks and weekly testing to keep needed equine assisted services in place, and videoing certification lessons.
As an Occupational Therapist, I try to look at things holistically. Even as we emerge from some of the toughest times most programs have ever experienced, I am energized at the many examples of resilience and innovation that has moved our field forward. We are working to put the welfare of horses and people first. This keynote will be a snapshot of the new normal and the many diversified offerings that change has brought about in the field of equine assisted services.
Title
Step Forward to Evidence Based Practice
Body of Abstract
This session will cover the concept of Evidence Based Practice and its general effects on therapists’ treatment decisions. The presentation will provide a broad historical overview of the recent growth of evidence regarding the effectiveness of hippotherapy as a treatment tool for persons with impairments and disability. Further, the presenter will demonstrate how, through research and her personal experiences, this evidence has impacted the acceptance of hippotherapy as a treatment option into the practice of physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech language pathology. Finally, the presenter will offer suggestions for a potential research path forward for both rehabilitation professionals and researchers. Although specific examples will be geared toward hippotherapy, concepts regarding evidence based research that will be shared in this presentation may be applicable to, and of interest to, mental health practitioners and therapeutic riding instructors.
Title
Equine Assisted Therapy for Patients with PTSD: Clinical and Neuroimaging Evidence
Body of Abstract
Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a prevalent and highly debilitating disorder, impairing social, occupational, and other important areas of functioning. Despite the development of several psychotherapies and pharmacotherapies for PTSD, research has shown that more than one-third of treated PTSD patients never remit. Many others avoid or reject treatment altogether. Military veterans have shown even weaker treatment effectiveness, higher dropout rates and are frequently critical of current treatment approaches.
As many patients with PTSD avoid or proven refractory to standard treatments, a host of complementary and alternative PTSD treatments have arisen and spread widely. One such treatment, equine-assisted therapy (EAT), is being increasingly used for a wide range of physical and mental health conditions, including but not limited to, PTSD. EAT enthusiasts believe that horse-human interaction experiences during therapy can potentially foster emotional and behavioral changes in patients, as these interactions offer a platform for eliciting thoughts, feelings, and behaviors related to patients’ lives outside the treatment. Furthermore, horses are especially advantageous for this process as they are naturally hypervigilant and highly sensitive to verbal and nonverbal cues, potentially providing patients with immediate feedback during horse-human interactions, which, in turn, enable patients and their therapists ample opportunities to enhance emotional awareness, reflection, and attunement to thoughts, behaviors, and patterns of communication.
While gaining popularity and exuberant proponents over the years, there have been no comprehensive treatment manuals of how to deliver EAT, nor has there been sufficient safety, feasibility, and efficacy research of EAT. To address this gap, our group at Columbia University Irving Medical Center in New York (https://www.columbiapsychiatry.org/research-clinics/ptsd-research-and-treatment-program), has recently developed and manualized a group EAT for PTSD (EAT-PTSD) comprising eight 90-minute weekly group sessions and then evaluated its safety, acceptability and efficacy. In addition, we have conducted a nultimodal brain imaging study to examine whether EAT-PTSD is associated with beneficial brain changes over the course of the treatment. I will review progress and barriers in treatment development for PTSD, discuss promise and limitations of previous EAT research, and present clinical and neuroimaging findings from our EAT studies. Future directions in the field will be discussed.
Title
Linking Horse and Human Brains
Body of Abstract
Horses have a remarkable ability to aid human therapy. Lay people often assume this is because therapy horses endure years of specialized training to do their work. In fact, good equine-assisted therapy doesn’t require a unique individual animal, nor does it demand extended periods of education for the horse. Beyond a calm temperament and positive experience in the human world, all that’s required is an equine brain.
With background as a brain scientist and a horse trainer, I have developed brain-based horsemanship over many years. This work is described in my book Horse Brain, Human Brain, which was published in English in June 2020 and is being translated into five foreign languages at this time. Because all horses have brains, my approach to training horses and their handlers can be used effectively in all breeds and equestrian disciplines. Doing so increases safety, improves performance, speeds training, protects equine welfare, encourages mutual trust, develops brain-to-brain communication between prey and predator species, and creates stronger horse-and-human teams. It also explains why so many equines are perfectly suited to support human therapy.
What is it about their brains that makes horses so good at equine-assisted therapy for humans? In this presentation, I’ll introduce some of the reasons:
During the talk, I’ll explain how each of these items affects human wellness and aids in many types of therapeutic intervention. I look forward to seeing all of you there! In the meantime, you can learn more at www.janet-jones.com.
Title
Scientific Frameworks to Guide Welfare, Training, and Handling of Horses in Therapy and Education Services
Body of Abstract
Practitioners who include horses in therapy and education services, or who provide adaptive riding lessons, have a professional responsibility to use best available, scientific information to guide understanding of equine welfare and the training and handling of horses. While not all of these services constitute healthcare, the concept of evidence-based practice, used in human medicine, can serve as a helpful reminder to allow scientific information to inform decisions in these areas. There are, at times, conflicts between common practices in the general horse sector and practices arising from the scientific study of welfare and equine behavior. Those providing professional services where horse interactions are incorporated must choose scientific information about horses to inform their actions. This in order to safeguard both participants and horses in their services. Multiple frameworks exist to assist practitioners in ethical and efficient decision-making about behavioral issues that may arise during therapeutic or educational sessions, and for equine welfare in general. In this presentation, recent welfare guidelines from HETI and IAHAIO will be discussed, along with useful frameworks from equitation science and science-based animal training approaches for formulating ethical plans of action for handling and training of horses in therapy and education services.
Title
What's in a Name? Sociological Insights on Creating and Unifying Terminologies
Body of Abstract
When one tries to account for what animal-including care practices are, the first difficulty is to find the right words. Journalists experience this quite often when they use terms such as « animal therapy », « animal-assisted therapy », « animal assisted activities », « zootherapy », « animal mediation » (in France), « hippotherapy », « therapeutic riding », as if they were the same exact practices. For an outside observer, the profusion of terminology can be very confusing. However, this diversity in terminology reflects the complicated history of including animals in care practices. Since the 1960s, these practices have attempted to adopt specific names, reflecting the desire to create a particular professional identity. An identity that would reflect both a way of conceiving human care and a way of conceiving the specific role of animals in this process.
In my doctoral dissertation in sociology (Michalon, 2014), I traced the history of animal-including care practices and tried to understand how these practices reflected a profound change in human-animal relations. I analyzed the emergence of such practices as a social endeavor to legitimate marginalized ways to interact with animals, because they demonstrate that caring and personalized relationships with animals can have a positive and lasting effect on human health. Here, health is seen as a strategic tool to provide legitimacy to new ways of seeing animals, valuing them and interacting with them. I tried to grasp the social construction of animals as persons and the social dynamics of the benevolence towards animals, and what part played animal-including care practices in that process.
Looking at the evolution of the distinctive terminologies proposed to designate these practices is a good way to account for these social dynamics. In this lecture, I will describe this evolution in the two social universes: the anthropocanine universe and the anthropoequin universe. Dogs and horses are indeed the species most used in animal-including care practices. Focusing on the Anglo-American world, France and Europe, I will describe a similar process : the more animals are involved in practices labeled as “therapy”, the more they are seen as unique, singular beings, the more their personhood is acknowledged and valued. Each creation of a new terminology thus corresponds to a new stage in the joint affirmation of a new form of care for humans and a new relationship with animals, which both value personhood (human and animal).
Then I will adress the relationships between the anthropocanine universe and the anthropoequine universe, as an example of how the desire to unify terminologies sometimes comes from actors "peripheral" to the group of practitioners and only partially meets their professionalization needs. I will explore how the pet industry leadership has led to defining dog-including care practices as "standards" applicable to other species, including horses. This is best illustrated by the fact that practices involving dogs are generically referred to as including "animals", without mentioning the species; whereas practices including horses always mention the equine species in their terminology. In this case, the unification of terminology could thus be interpreted as a vector of "caninization" of human-animal relationships. Without denying the interest that practitioners may have in unifying their terminology, the question that must be asked is: who drives the unification and who benefits the most from it?
Some elements addressed in the lecture are available in a recent paper : https://www.depauw.edu/humanimalia/issue%2022/michalon.html
Title
HETI Terminology
Body of Abstract
Background / Aims : At HETI’s 16th International congress through member feedback at the Open Forum and Education Round table that there is a pressing need for an International database of current terminology utilized as well as further clarity and understanding in current terms used.
Methods : In 2018-2021 HETI developed a taskforce that designed the questionnaire and helped to process the data in several linguistic and cultural groups. The main themes for the questionnaire were the following:
1) International Location
2) Education and Training Qualifications
3) Current terms utilised to describe the services you offer
Results : Since the beginning it has been clear that as a member organization HETI must hear the voice of the members and respect cultural differences. In order to support research and development of our services, we need to develop an understanding of terms used and hopefully develop a glossary of terms to categorize the services provided.
This will bring added value to gaining governmental support and hopes to add clarity for researchers around the world.
This work also aims to highlight both the commonalities and discrepancies in international terminology coupled with an overview of the expansive breadth of terms used worldwide in order to generate active reflection amongst practitioners around the world.
Conclusions : During the process of analyzing and classifying the information, we realized the importance of the influence of the close link that exists between culture and language.
Thinking from the bases of neurobiological functioning that language is the structuring of thought and how one thinks naturally and spontaneously in his “mother” tongue not in another, even when we handle a good level of the other language.
To the difficulty of finding words or expressions that represent the same with respect to the use of the terminology applied in assisted therapy with equines in all its breadth and variability is added the subjectivity that is intrinsic in the cultural characteristics of the different regions of the world (and even in different regions within the same country) the languages and their possible variations at the time of translation. Even the subjectivity and personal experience and training of the person who translates and analyzes the information is another variable to take into account.
This aspect is an important point to consider since it could be taken into account as one more variable when classifying the terminology and when thinking very well if we really refer to the same things when we use this or that word. In the Forum we are presenting the findings.
Taskforce:
Karina Arrieta, Equine instructor and psychomotorist, Uruguay
Roisin Brennan, Psychologist, HETI executive director
Nicolas Emond, Equitherapist & Psychologist
Sanna Mattila-Rautiainen, Researcher, PT, HETI President, Finland
Maike Schubert, OT, England/ Germany
Yulia Slepchenko, PT, Russia
Alexia Stergiou, PT, Greece
Gabriela Volpe, Equine instructor and psychologist, Uruguay
keyword : Terminology, International, Questionnaire
Title
Horse Riding Simulator with Virtual Reality for Rehabilitation of Children with Cerebral Palsy
Body of Abstract
Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of non-progressive but not unchanging disorders of movement and posture due to an insult or anomaly of the developing brain. Children with CP frequently have muscle weakness, abnormal muscle tone, impaired motor control, and dysequilibrium, which cause abnormal posturing and poor balance control.
The evidence has accumulated that equine-assisted activities and therapy (EAAT) improve motor performance, balance, and gait in children with CP. However, there are cases where access to EAAT is difficult, varying from region to region. In such cases, an alternative is needed, and horse-riding simulator (HRS) may be one of the answers. It is reported that HRS is less effective than EAAT. One possible reason is the different quality of sensory system stimulation, besides just using the actual horse. If HRS is combined with various postural challenges that can increase somatosensory stimulation, it is expected that similar effects to EAAT will be elicited.
Virtual reality (VR) is a technology that provides a sense of presence in a real environment with the help of 3D pictures and animations formed in a computer environment and enables the person to interact with the objects in that environment. VR use in physiotherapy and rehabilitation has increased significantly in the last ten years. VR provides an opportunity for active learning, intrigues and encourages the participant, and ensures motivation. It enables performing difficult movements in a secure environment. Therefore, VR could be used in combination with HRS to make children feel like they were riding on horses and to enhance the therapeutic effect of HRS by providing multiple directional challenges for them.
Based on the contents described above, HRS with VR was planned and developed, and then the study was conducted on the effect of HRS with VR. School-aged children with CP, gross motor function classification system level I-IV were included in this study. They received the exercise on HRS equipped with a head-mounted display and controllers. Each session consisted of 30 minutes and was conducted twice a week for a total of 16 times. After the intervention, the participants showed improvement in balance, gross motor function, especially walking and running ability, and motor performance. Before and after the intervention, body composition analysis was performed using InBody. Body fat mass and percent body fat decreased, and fat-free mass and skeletal muscle mass increased after the intervention. No adverse events such as fall, VR sickness, or pain were observed. All children in the study were satisfied with the intervention.
In conclusion, HRS with VR may be suggested as an effective therapeutic approach for the rehabilitation of school-aged children with CP. The EAAT is the best intervention for promoting gross motor function of children with CP. However, a HSR with VR can be a good surrogate for EAAT when EAAT is not available.
Title
Rehabilitation and Therapy with Horses in Virtual Reality
Body of Abstract
us to explore both fictional and factual knowledge through immersive and emotionally engaging experiences as an act of interactive storytelling. For a designer, game is a way to interact and have dialogue with players - from getting players to understand the game to having them play the game in a way designer have intended them to do. Communication between designer and the player is one of the core elements of gameplay, which consists of conveying the information in more than one way. Unlike in other medium of creative industries – multiple elements convey the information to the viewer through visual and audio effects, emotion and anticipation of the performers, composition and dynamic point-of-views. In games, viewer is an active interactor with that environment, making impact through actions and received feedback from these actions. Therefore, composing a game as a medium of entertainment carries more depth in its dialogue with the audience/players. This is why game design approaches are widely utilized in other industries and professions besides the entertainment industry, allowing the individual approach and interpretation by each player to pursue own “journey”.
With aim to provide the best possible support in the modern society, there is growing need for utilizing diverse expertise, integrating the best practices from technological and humanitarian achievements, in a form of gamified solutions that enable inclusive content-sharing worldwide. Through gamification, we are able to merge the commercial games playability value and interactive storytelling practices with the specific needs of the professionals in their own fields, creating unique content for increasing engagement and motivations of the final users.
Development of virtual reality (VR) environments is great part of gaming technology evolution especially in its use outside of entertainment industry. It allows interactive simulations for learning and training practices while creating a safe space for individuals to explore and solve variety of challenges. Interacting with the virtual world is memorable and intuitive with richness in movement. The game world now includes own view and body movement, just like in real life. In creating meaningful, immersive, and intuitive user experience in VR, one of the main focuses are on the player’s ability to make meaningful choices. Enabling free body movement and gestures have huge importance in creating these choices, especially in cases of trauma, fear, and anxiety. Therefore, VR technology is widely used by professionals in education, healthcare, and therapy to support specific needs of each student/client based on unique set of challenges that one needs assistance with. Virtual therapy setup contains carefully designed practices and share of information which are given to the player in forms of visual, audio and interactive clues that pursue act of “discovery” which affects personal motivations.
In this paper I will focus on the opportunities for utilizing VR technology in creating horse therapy tool through interactive storytelling practices, providing a case study in which game design can be transformed to these new application areas for use by healthcare and wellbeing professionals. To pursue systematic changes in our society by creating safe, inclusive, and diverse environment for nurturing individuals’ unique views, we must focus on the education and utilize diverse expertise that would challenge the direction of innovation towards the desired goal. This is how and why gamification design practices can provide the building blocks in achieving this goal.
Keywords:
Virtual Reality – Gamification – Therapy - Interactive Storytelling – Immersive Technologies – Horse Therapy
Title
Communication between horses, equestrians and society
Body of Abstract
Equine trade operates as a part of society and thus arises the need to communicate within. There are three levels in which active communication in needed: first local, second other operators and institutions in the trade, and third the society outside the trade. Communication enables establishing and further developing the environment in which it is possible for the equine trade to share value with the society. Communication is the key to effective influencing.
In all communication apply the same rules and principles, public affairs not being exeption. It is justified to argue, that the higher the level of operation, the greater the need to follow the principles and ethics of good communication. The principles come from the broadened emphasis of empathy, the willingness to try to see things from a point of view of a person, or a certain, identified stakeholder group. Common obstacle is to assume that the counterpart has the same knowledge on the subject than a specialist or an insider.
Empathy is about willingness to broaden the mind and thus be objective when looking at the equine trade, especially inside the trade. It is necessary to change the perspective when operating in different levels of influencing. A common, often unconscious obstacle in communication is being defensive. It often comes from fear and insecureness. In this context it is usually the fear of losing something we view as an advantage or established good. It is important to develop the skill to recognize this pattern of behaviour to to be able to step back from defensive subjectivity and step forward to constructive objecitivity. Rather than hold on, prefer allowing development. This concerns also the networks we build: the need to include, not exclude. The principles of good communication are openness, respectfulness and constructiveness.
One of the most important actions is identifying key stakeholders. It is with the key stakeholders that a communication system is established to enable exchange of information. It is to be respected that communication is always a two-way street. Although the matters discussed are of great importance, at the end of the day it is about people talking to people about the things that matter the most to them. That in itself is a solid foundation on which to build and a comforting thought.
Once the key stakeholders are identified, the next step is to develop a network. Usually there are several active networks between different operators. There usually is also a connection between the networks. This connection is important thus we need to be able to identify which network is the right one to further discuss the matter at hand. In public affairs, impacts and actions of a federation are on governace level.
Through regulations, rules and legislation comes the licence to operate. The closer the activity is to the core, that being the local community, the more specific the subject and the more impact the action tends to have on the community. On the community level the results of influencing are more swift than on the governance level. Local activity, events and everyday action at the stables is in itself a form of influencing and as such a very important part of public affairs it being the most visible action in the community. On local level there are operators and participants. Customers and spectators take part on activities the different operators provide. It is the operators that establish the image of the trade. A local operator is always a representative of the whole equine trade. It is on the local level that the significance of positive image matters the most. It is also important to acknowlege that the image has to be equal to the actual activity. Thus it is utmost important to make sure that the quality of the action is of high standard including sustainability and responsibility. Every action is a piece of a bigger picture. The pieces move and every move impacts and changes the possible outcome.
Local actions help the the work of a federation and vice versa. The federations need to be active, showing willingness to interact and take part in conversations and further establish the networks between the national federations and institutions.
Communication is about continuity, recognizing and finding unity, maintaining the connection and regularity. It is both formal and informal. Especially on a local level informality helps making the connections. There is always an interest that can be furthered with common actions. It is to understand that influencing is a work that is done together, a teamwork where teams are agile and versatile depending on the matter at hand, or the subject that needs to be issued. Maintaining the networks, it is easier to recognize whether the matter is to be discussed on a local, or on the federation level. Communication is a skill that enhances the ability to note issues and make decisions on which would be the right operator to take action in the matter.
Networks can and should be further developed. A network keeps growing every time when we have the chance to include people into our activities. Propably the most important stakeholder group is the one that includes all the people who has had no contact or experience with a horse. It is with that part of the society that we insiders and experts have to be most subtle, discreet, open and constructive in communication. We are all in this together, facing the rapidly changing future. Through communication we make sure that the equine trade plays a positive part in this change.
Title
Children with Cerebral Palsy in Equine Arena
Body of Abstract
Introduction
This Clinic to Arena session for cerebral palsy, specifically for arena setting, will focus how the ‘classes’ for the children with cerebral palsy had run with insights from our team, including medical doctor, physical therapist, and riding instructor, and also family members of the children. Our center has been running the program since 2001, and has been modifying the program to be beneficial to whom those who get on a horse/ pony. Because of the language differences, our program can be translated into the similar work as “therapeutic riding” or “equine assisted activities” and “hippotherapy” or “equine assisted therapy”. The program how we came up will be covered in depth in the session.
Main
- Processes for program
- Assignment to the “Therapeutic riding” or “equine assisted activities” and “hippotherapy” or “equine assisted therapy”
- Children with Cerebral Palsy in riding setting
Conclusion
With many years of experiences, I came to conclusion that there aren’t the correct ways to do our works, but only the best trials to do for each one of the individuals on a horse/ pony.
Title
Exercise-based Oncology Rehabilitation in Breast Cancer Survivors: Therapeutic Horseback Riding as an Option
Body of Abstract
Breast cancer is the most common female cancer in the world. Breast cancer patients have the unique characteristics than other cancer types because there are many different treatments for a long period of time. Research on exercise across the cancer care continuum underscores numerous recommendations for its integration into comprehensive disease-management strategies. Randomized controlled trials have strengthened the basis in efficacy data for exercise in oncology. Exercise provides a large volume of health benefits to patients during and after cancer treatment by reducing treatment-related symptoms, improving functional status and quality of life, and lowering the risk of disease recurrence. Although exercise is regarded as safe and beneficial for individuals with cancer, promoting exercise for this population is complex. A patient-centered pathway is needed that can guide oncology and care professionals in the efficient assessment of an individual’s condition and enable personalized referrals for exercise interventions that promote physical activity. Therapeutic horseback riding is known to have the advantage of combining physical activities with psychological benefits. It has been reported that therapeutic horseback riding will significantly improve aerobic capacity, body composition, strength, and QoL. Although there are still many limitations, horseback riding can be one of the good exercise modes recommended for breast cancer patients.
Title
Breast Cancer
Who Am I Now? – Using Equine Assisted Therapy to Heal the Emotional Wounds of Breast Cancer
Body of Abstract
The physical and psychological impacts of this life changing disease often leave sufferers with presentations of Post-Traumatic Stress Injury (PTSI), emotional withdrawal, anxiety and depression.
Brenda Tanner, Founder of Equine Encounters Australia (EEA) has developed an immersion-style, group program to help sufferers deal with the residual psychological and emotional wounds. The program is designed to offer participants the opportunity to explore their thoughts, behaviours and emotions without any external influences. Activities are carefully graded to disturb the homeostasis, developing the individuals’ ability to remain regulated, whilst staying with the ‘discomfort’ of the unknown, whether emotional or situational.
Equine Assisted Activities Therapy isn’t about training a horse or riding –It’s a triangulated relationship which incorporates a qualified therapist, a horse(s) and the participant(s). Through a series of interactions and activities with the horse, the therapist supports the participant to slow-down, learn to recognize and reflect on their patterns of behaviour, observe their thoughts and notice their somatic response. Part of the therapists’ work is to help the participant create greater un-bias awareness and notice what’s happening for them in the moment, by observing what’s happening in the connection with their horse – literally, bringing their pre-frontal cortex on line and quietening the limbic response. External focus allows the participant to regulate and slow down to where they can separate ‘what if’s’ from the ‘what if it doesn’t’, which in turn allows choice.
In the therapeutic context, horses can be used to allow the participant to project their emotions/feelings, or used as a metaphor to create situational or relational awareness – It’s the work of the therapist to know how and when to use these different techniques.
EEA programs incorporate a number of therapeutic modalities into the Equine Assisted Activities; Relational Gestalt, Narrative Group work and Mindfulness.
Title
The Man o’ War Project: Equine Assisted Therapy for PTSD
Body of Abstract
Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has attracted great interest despite lacking scientific evidence, a treatment manual, and a standardized protocol. Our group of experts in PTSD and EAT has developed an 8-session group EAT treatment protocol for PTSD (EAT-PTSD) and administered it to military veterans to assess therapeutic effects (see https://mowproject.org ; Arnon et al., 2020).
I will describe the development of a first of its kind treatment manual, which was applied to a sample of American veterans with PTSD. Protocol safety, feasibility, and acceptability were assessed by reported adverse events, treatment completion rates, and self-rated patient satisfaction. Data on PTSD, depressive, and anxiety symptoms and quality of life were collected pretreatment, midpoint, post-treatment, and at 3-month follow up. No adverse events were recorded. Most patients completed treatment, reporting high satisfaction. Our data also showed a significant decrease in clinician-assessed PTSD and depressive symptoms from pre to post-treatment and 3-month follow-up. Limitations and future directions will be discussed.
Title
Clinic to Arena
Body of Abstract
The second portion of Clinic to the Arena will be presented from a therapeutic horseback riding coach's perspective and will focus on lesson plan topics, skill progression, instruction theories, and mindset that will optimize the effectiveness of the coach’s role in facilitating therapeutic horsemanship (groundwork and riding), Equine-Assisted Learning, and other Equine-Assisted Services (formerly EAAT).
Participating in activities with horses and experiencing the horse-human partnership can not only be a wonderful way for an individual to heal from past traumas but to also build resiliency and spark personal development that will positively impact their future. One’s time and interaction in the arena or barn with a horse can have both immediate and lasting impact on their overall wellbeing and give them tools to face life with renewed strength and perspective.
Come discover tools and techniques that can be implemented while partnering with our wonderful equine co-workers to provide healing and decompressing activities that can bring normalcy and stability to the lives of those who have experienced multiple critical incidents, are battling PTSD, or are overcoming other traumatic experiences.
Title
Equine assisted training for children with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Body of Abstract
Introduction
Equine-assisted activity and training (EAAT) is known to improve the clinical symptoms in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). In addition, EAAT is also known to be associated with body balance and gait. We assessed the improvement of the clinical symptoms and gait balance in children with ADHD. In addition, we also found that the improvements of clinical symptoms would be associated with increased brain connectivity within gait balance circuit.
Methods
Twelve ADHD children and 12 age and sex matched healthy control children were recruited. In all children, clinical symptoms of ADHD was assessed with Korean ADHD rating scale and gait balance was assessed by the difference in the center of pressure (COP) as well as the difference in plantar pressure between the left and right foot during gait. All imaging data were acquired using a 3.0 Tesla Verio MRI scanner. Functional connectivity between the vermis of the cerebellum and all other regions of the brain was assessed. Horse riding training in current study was designed as a four week (3 times per week, 70 minute sessions).
Results
After four weeks horse riding training, ADHD children showed improved K-ARS scores (z=3.18, p<0.01) while there was no changes in K-ARS scores in healthy children. Both ADHD children (z=2.84, p<0.01) and healthy children (z=3.02, p<0.01) showed improved depressive scores. During 4 weeks horse riding training period, the difference of plantar pressure between left foot and right foot has been decreased in both healthy control group (z=2.24, p=0.03) and ADHD group (z=2.28, p=0.02). After four weeks horse riding training, healthy control children showed increased brain connectivity from cerebellum to left occipital lingual gyrus, fusiform gyrus, right and left thalamus, right caudate, right precentral gyrus, and right superior frontal gyrus. However, ADHD children showed increased brain connectivity from cerebellum to right insular, right middle temporal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, and right precentral gyrus as well as decreased brain connectivity from cerebellum to left inferior frontal gyrus.
Conclusion
Horse riding training may improve clinical symptoms, gait balance, and brain connectivity which control gait balance in ADHD children. In ADHD children with deficit within fronto-cerebellar tract, the changes in brain connectivity would not be perfect as the changes in healthy children in response to horse riding training.
Key words: Horse riding training, Gait balance, Brain connectivity, Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
Title
NEVER TOO OLD TO PLAY- THE HEALING POWER OF EQUINE ASSISTED PLAY THERAPY (™) WITH AT RISK YOUTH
Body of Abstract
This lecture will look at Equine Assisted Play Therapy (™)- full integration of Play Therapy with AAI, to enhance social education, physical and mental health and reduce anti-social behaviours through the use of play therapy for At risk Youth.
The impact of social isolation, social awkwardness, risk-taking and criminal offending behaviors are linked with specific AAPT interventions, which are effectively conducted with children, teens, adults, and in individual, family, and group formats.
The importance of playfulness in AAPT is highlighted for its role in facilitating engagement, emotional safety, affective expression, exploration, problem-solving, master, relationship building, safe risk-taking, self-responsibility, and self-efficacy.
AAPT models the humane treatment of animals as a metaphor for the mutually beneficial social relationship and emphasizes relationship development between child/ groups/ families and animal as a means of experimenting in a relationship which is honest and without guile as only animals can be.
Play and playfulness are essential ingredients of the interactions & the relationship.
If we feel emotionally safe we are free to be ourselves, relaxed, and able to take on new learnings.
We follow these guiding principles
guiding principles 1
Respect: equal for humans & animals
Safety: physical & emotional for all
Enjoyment: client & animal must enjoy it; either can opt out
Acceptance: of client & animal for who they are
guiding principles 2
Training – nonaversive, positive, relationship-centered
Relationship – relationship, not control; recognition & consideration of animal’s point of view, too
Process – process-oriented therapy, but with general and specific goals
guiding principles 3
Foundations – grounded in theory & accepted practice, proper training to ensure ethical and beneficial treatment for client & animal. Consistent with current knowledge/practice in
¡Child/family development
¡Clinical & psychoeducational intervention
¡Play therapy
¡Humane animal treatment
In summary Equine Assisted Play Therapy (™) can be both fun, filled with laughter, therapeutic AND effective ALL at the same time.
