About Hippotherapy

As I mentioned in the previous article, here at Helenów, during the week are in progress many types of therapies (where the students are attending with regularity) as: arttherapy, musictherapy, kinetotherapy, hippotherapy, hidrotherapy, etc. Today I would like to speak about the therapy through horses (hippotherapy). For getting more information about this topic I had a nice conversation with the physiotherapist Dorota Brzeska, from the Helenów.

According to Dorota’s knowledge the first experiences of the hippotherapy at Helenów started in April 2003, following the idea of the physiotherapist Agnieszka Kozlowska and that of the manager of the institution – Zbigniew Przgrowski in cooperation with the master of the Polish Hippotherapy Association - Anna Struminska. After discovering this great plan the next step was to search someone who would have practice in working with horses, so they found Dorota as the first Helenów hippotherapist. Afterwards, there was purchased the first horse (Kindzał) from the Polish Hippotherapy Association that started to work with the students from Helenów in June 2003. During the summer holidays Dorota purchased the second horse, Mała Mi, a beautiful mare, that started to work, along with Kindzał, in September 2003. This activity subscribed a magnificent success; many kids were interested in hippotherapy activity, this fact leading to be acquired more horses like: Irys and Jaremcza, in the same year; and after 3 years – Koral and Las Vegas.

Dorota informed me about the role of this kind of therapy as well. First of all she mentioned that due to the great horse-human connection this therapy is a very fascinating way to exercise the body, especially that of the students with physical disabilities. This practice is considered to be very interesting because during the sessions there is a continuous cooperation between the students and animals. At the beginning of their activity pupils seem to be afraid to be close to the horses, but this emotion disappears very fast; after some regular contacts, they become brave and more relaxed.

I also felt this human-horse connection after riding (for the first time in my life) and taking care of the horses. It is spectacular to see how intelligent can be these animals. If they want they can easily make you feel loved and desired, or if they have some doubts about you they can let you try to win their trust.