Speech Therapy Using Equine Movement

In these sessions, the speech therapist uses the movement of the horse as a treatment tool during therapy sessions. Equine movement as a treatment tool is commonly referred to as Hippotherapy: hippotherapy refers to how a therapist uses the movement of the horse as a specific tool. The goal areas for a client include: improving postural control, balance, coordination, articulation, language processing, cognitive skills, fine or gross motor skills.

At Rocky Mountain Riding Therapy this treatment tool is used as part of an integrated treatment program to achieve functional goals. They are 1-to-1 (1 client, 1 therapist), which allows for direct hands-on intervention. Some speech therapy sessions take place with hippotherapy in which a volunteer leads the horse an additional volunteer walks along side; others take place in an equine-assisted environment in which the child does not ride the horse, depending on the needs of the child.

We partner with Creative Strategies Therapy to offer this program. To learn more, please visit our partners page.