Horseback riding's therapeutic power is a long-standing truth for people at the Therapeutic Riding Center at the Huntington Beach Central Park Equestrian Center in Southern California, which it has been offering horseback riding therapies for people with special needs for the last 25 years, according to Horse Channel.
The riding center claims that whatever a person's physical, emotional or developmental problem is, horseback riding can be an effective remedy.
One of the students in the center is 4-year-old Eddie Brennan, an autistic child. He rides a dark bay therapy horse named Kattie.
When the kid rides the horse, he creates a connection with it. Almost instantly, his face will show content and a feeling of relaxation. He has the most fun when riding the horse, sometimes even riding it backwards, according to Phys.org.
The riding center was started by Donna Brandt, a certified horsewoman. Her daughter Jamie was diagnosed as "severely developmentally delayed." She tried numerous therapies, but it was therapeutic riding that made a lot of difference in her daughter's condition.
"We tried them all. This is the one she liked best. She'll sit around all day and wait to go riding. This is the one that stuck," said Brandt, according to The Washington Post.
Therapeutic riding sessions at Brandt's center take 10 weeks per semester, where classes are scheduled for every Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday for a total of $460, according to the official website of the riding center.
