Intended Audience
This course is designed for licensed OTs, OTAs, PTs, PTAs, SLPs, and SLPAs, and it is strongly recommended that therapists complete 30 hours incorporating hippotherapy as a treatment tool/strategy prior to taking the Part II to most effectively benefit from the treatment sessions conducted during the course.  Attending therapists must attend all four days of the course to receive a certificate of attendance.

Prerequisites
AHA, Inc. Hippotherapy Treatment Principles – Part 1. Please upload a copy of your Part I certificate with registration.

You must have attended the Hippotherapy Treatment Principles Part I course within the last five years to attend the Hippotherapy Treatment Principles Part II course. Due to the pandemic, we do not include the years of 2020 and 2021 in the five-year requirement. Therefore, if you attended the Hippotherapy Treatment Principles Part I course before 2018, you must retake the Part I course (either the in-person or webinar format) at your own expense before you can attend the Part II course. There is a significant price reduction for the Part I webinar format for those needing to re-take it.  There is no price reduction for the onsite, in-person Part I format. Please contact our Executive Director, Adria Peterson, at apeterson@theahainc.org for more information.

Course Overview

This course is designed for licensed OTs, OTAs, PTs, PTAs, SLPs, and SLPAs who have completed the AHA, Inc. Hippotherapy Treatment Principles– Part I In-Person or Webinar course and can:

• Explain how the equine movement affects human systems

• Explain the principles of hippotherapy as a standard treatment tool

• Recognize possible patient responses to manipulated equine movement

• Describe the selection and use of equipment for the horse and patient

• Be proficient in doing their patient evaluation under their scope of practice and licensure

• Be able to plan and support their clinical judgment about patient and horse selection and treatment planning, specifically incorporating hippotherapy as a treatment tool

• Understand the importance of horse suitability and movement attributes to the effectiveness of hippotherapy as a treatment tool

• Explain the use of school figures and movement progressions in treatment to maximize the effects of equine movement as a treatment tool

• Implement appropriate safety procedures when implementing hippotherapy

• Provide effective leadership of the hippotherapy team

• Describe the unique contributions and potential benefits of manipulated equine movement as a treatment tool

Part I of this four-day course gives therapists equine knowledge and training principles needed to effectively incorporate hippotherapy as s treatment tool within occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech-language pathology services.

Part II of this four-day workshop presents clinical content/practicums to provide and facilitate a problem-solving treatment approach, using actual patients currently involved in physical, occupational, or speech-language pathology services that incorporate hippotherapy as a treatment tool. The Hippotherapy Conceptual Framework will be presented, which is based on current theoretical bases underlying physical, occupational, and speech-language pathology. Therapists will treat actual patients for two therapy sessions in a trans-disciplinary team format with videotape review and group discussions to further advance the learning experience.

Learning Objectives

Occupational therapists, physical therapists, and speech-language pathology professionals taking this course will incorporate evidence-based practice research, clinical problem solving, and critical thinking in a PT, OT, Speech individual, or trans/multidisciplinary treatment that includes skilled equine movement as part of a patient’s plan of care (POC).

Learning Outcomes

• Explain the application of 5 tenets of the Hippotherapy Conceptual Framework when developing a treatment plan that incorporates equine movement and assessing treatment results towards functional outcomes

• Identify and explain the rationale for 5 components of treatment planning, implementation, and modification with the use of hippotherapy (skilled equine movement) in a realistic treatment scenario

• Describe 3 examples of effective use of hippotherapy (skilled equine movement) to address identified patient impairments during participation in therapy session practicums

• Describe 2 treatment criteria to establish when hippotherapy (skilled equine movement) is no longer the most effective treatment tool to achieve established patient goals

• List and describe 5 components of the AHA, Inc. Best Practice Guidelines that can guide clinical practice when hippotherapy (skilled equine movement) is incorporated into the Plan of Care

• Identify the professional relationships between AHA, Inc. and its educational offerings, PATH Intl., and the AHCB by giving 3 examples of how these relationships impact best practice when incorporating hippotherapy as a treatment tool into a therapy plan of care