Effect of Therapeutic Horseback Riding on Physically Disabled Adults

Authors

  • Barb J Brock

Keywords:

Therapeutic Riding, Hippotherapy, Recreational Therapy, Companion Animal

Abstract

Organizers of therapeutic horseback riding programs often have difficulty analyzing the benefits of riding for participants with disabilities. This research study attempts to statistically measure the effect of an eight week, twice per week therapeutic horseback riding program on the self-concept, coordination, and strength of physically disabled adults. Two research designs were utilized: A pretest/posttest design involving 15 subjects and a posttest-only-design, involving 24 randomly assigned experimental and control subjects. Strength and coordination were recorded from individual graphs plotted with the  Strength/Coordination Instrument (SCI Model # 1). Self-concept was measured by computing the positive P Score after administration of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale. Significant improvement of arm and leg coordination resulted in the pre/post design. Significantly higher ann coordination for experimental subjects occurred in the posttest design. In measures of strength and self-concept, higher scores resulted in all subjects who rode but no statistical significance was noted.

Published

1988-07-01

Issue

Section

Regular Papers