Hippotherapy for special children

Children, in the 4-17 age group, were given an experience they would never forget at the programme organised by SSK, in association with the Bangalore Amateur Riders Institute (BARI).

“Hippotherapy is a kind of therapy involving horses, where the children can learn to be better co-ordinated and build their confidence,” said Dr S Mahadeviah, the medical director of the society.

“Watching the kids experience these activities like regular kids has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life,” he added.

The children were given quite a show with the jockeys leading the horses through dressage and showjumping.

The enthusiasm of the children could be immediately felt with cries of, “I want to touch the horse” and “No, I want to ride the horse”, drowning out remarks like, “I’m scared, the horse is scaring me”.

Just being close to a horse was exciting for them. “I touched the horse, I touched the horse,” cried Deepika, one of the children.

“You can see how much they are enjoying this,” said a beaming Rabindran Isaac, Occupational Therapist at the society. Soon, there was a huge line of children queuing up to take their chance at riding a horse.

“I want to ride Popcorn,” said a boy, pointing at one of the horses. “Can we eat him?” asked another.

“What everyone needs to understand is that these kids are like any other normal kid, they get the same joy out of things and they have similar problems as well,” said Indira Dave, Principal of the Society.

“They fall in love, they have heart break, they laugh, they cry, just like all of us,” she added.

DH News Service