The Benefits of Equine Therapy for People with Autism

Autism is a developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with others, and how they experience the world around them. It is a spectrum disorder, meaning that although autistic people share certain difficulties, it affects each person differently. Autism a lifelong condition and is incurable, although the right support and therapy can drastically improve people’s lives.

Equine therapy can be very beneficial for many children and adults with autism in several ways. Firstly, for a person living with autism, the world can seem overwhelming which causes anxiety and stress. Horses have a calming effect, allowing riders to focus and think. Horses are also large, powerful animals, and riding one can allow an autistic person to feel of confident, connected and safe.

Autistic people can often find it hard to interact with others the way that they would like to, making it difficult to forge friendships. Horses are very social animals that desire to create bonds and develop relationships with humans. The low-stress, non-judgemental and non-verbal interaction that horses provide can allow a person with autism to develop and practice their social skills and develop a friendship with a horse, which can give them self-confidence in future social situations.

Horse riding is also a great form of physical therapy that can help people to develop their motor skills as well as coordination, strength, control and balance. It can also help with the sensory difficulty that is often experienced by people with autism (being over-sensitive or under-sensitive to touch, sights, sounds and smells), as the person can receive sensations from riding the horse and brushing it etc. Equine therapy can be also be a very fun experience for someone with autism.

We offer free facilities to people with autism, whether you’re a NHS referral or not its free! Bring a therapist or come alone and use our facilities to help make new friends and let our rescue horses help, we have seen a change within just a week. If you would like to find out more, please contact us by calling: 07766 027162 or fill in the contact form.