Intended Audience:

This course is for licensed healthcare providers, therapy clinics, families, and community members interested in learning more about the use of hippotherapy as a treatment tool.

Course Description:

This two-hour virtual course offers a comprehensive overview of the safe use of equine movement as an intervention tool for licensed healthcare providers in many areas, including mental and behavioral health, neuromotor, sensory, cognitive, and communication impairments, or developmental delays.

Starting with equine biomechanics and expanding to how equine movement impacts human neurophysiology, participants will learn basic principles supporting the impact and purposeful manipulation of equine movement on sensory, neuromotor, and cognitive systems to promote functional outcomes, whether that is hippotherapy within an OT, PT, or SLP treatment or mental health/medical professional treatment in discipline-specific applications. Participants will leave the course with a deeper understanding of equine movement as a tool: finding a qualified practitioner or accessing next steps for continuing education in order to build proficiency in using this tool within their services.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Understand current description and terminology related to the benefits of medical quality equine movement as a treatment tool.

2. Identify desirable therapeutic qualities of equine movement and underlying treatment principles.

3. Describe hippotherapy as the use of equine movement in OT/PT/SLP services.

4. Discuss considerations and indications of the use of equine movement by other professionals.

5. Identify possible safety concerns and precautions of horse/human interactions.

6. Identify resources for evidence-based research supporting the integration of equine movement into practice.

7. Understand next steps for OT/PT/ SLP and other licensed professionals.