The patient sets the pace

The aim of the therapy is to restore sensory integration as much as possible by providing a selected range of stimuli in a controlled environment. For instance, Anna Jean Ayres used skateboarding, trampolining and swinging in a hammock in order to improve muscle tension by means of linear acceleration. Tactile and vestibular defensiveness are treated by applying tension and pressure and activities involving working against resistance. In this way it is possible to achieve a gradual reduction in the patient’s oversensitiveness.

A significant aspect of this therapy form is that it is almost always carried out in a non-directive manner. This means that the direction and the pace of the learning steps are set by the child itself. This is important, because the therapy is addressing stimuli and experiences which are, initially, unpleasant for the patient. So the child needs to be given the chance to grasp the purpose of the therapy and realize what part it has to play in it. Only then can such a therapy produce the desired results. However, there is another factor which plays an equally important role: motivation. The patient needs motivation to do something which he or she has hitherto found to be unpleasant at the very least – perhaps even unbearable. And this is where horseback riding therapy comes into its own.