Horse Therapy?

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Hello, Everyone! I am new to this forum, and a mother of a wonderful 7-year-old boy with Asperger's syndrome. My son loves animals, and I am considering letting him take horseback riding lessons to help with his sensory issues and for his enjoyment. Have any of you with autism/asperger's ever found horseback riding to be beneficial for you? What was your experience like? How old were you when you began? Thank you.

I can't say anything about horses specifically, but I have benefited from interacting with animals, in my case cats. I learned how to interact with another living creature without having to worry about words. I learned how to read feline body language and some of that transfers to humans. I am 28 and on my own now and I have two cats who are classified as emotional support animals.

Whether your son will actually gain skills other than horseback riding is anybody's guess, but it certainly couldn't hurt. It could be relaxing and a lot of fun for him. I've only been on a horse once in my life, but I thought it was fun. My advice? Try it and see if he likes it. No need for any special therapeutic horseback riding lessons unless he can't participate in the regular ones. Since he's seven, maybe he'd prefer riding a pony--they're smaller.

I have done horse riding before, and it is good for my sensory issues. When I was about five, I did horse riding lessons in a group with other kids during which the parent stays and helps. then when I was 10-13 I did privit lessons.

Thank you very much for your replies. They are very insightful! Can anyone else speak to this topic? Thank you!

Our son rode when he was aged 7 to about 10, only stopping when we moved away. It helped him, and he had a lot of fun.
Piano lessons, on the other hand, were a horror!

I took private riding lessons but I hated them. I loved the horses, but my instructor was such a loud mouth b***h, she took all the fun out of them. She was a school phycologist but with me at least, she had no clue about how to work with autistic kids. She also would abuse one of her horses by beating him with a whip, ironicly she was CONSTANTALY comparing me to Temple Grandin.

If you do have your child take lessons and the instructor claims to know about autism, make sure he/she actualy does.

I am in the middle of getting an Asperger's diagnosis. My psychologist is very sure I have it.

One of my interests was horses when I was a child. I knew EVERYTHING about them. My mother went ahead and put me in riding lessons.
It helped my balance tremendously, and it gave me an emotional outlet. Somehow, I connected to horses, understood them, and was happy when around them like nothing else.

I started around 10. We ended up getting me a horse, and I trained her from a baby. I learned more empathy and had more fulfillment because of that than anything else. Today, that horse and I are the best of friends. I even took her to college with me.

My horse is my stability when people are bewildering. I always feel accepted and understood by my horse. I am SO glad my mother got me into it. You don't have to own a horse, though, to bond with it and benefit from it.

I highly recommend it. Just make sure the trainer knows why and is willing to work with you. I know that it can't hurt to try.
If you want to ask me more, just send me a message. I've been doing stuff with lessons and horses for 12 years now.

Not directly related, but interesting related anecdote: at the special needs school where I used to work, I got to see firsthand the benefits horse therapy can have with physically disabled kids learning to walk. There were a few who I saw dramatically improve their walking ability after they started horse therapy.

Horses are my 'special special' interest any I believe that anybody, disabled or not, can benefit from riding horses.

With your son though, I would recommend finding a therapeutic riding center, as the staff will be more akin to his needs and less likely to push him too hard, as can be the case in many riding barns.

Horse therapy? That sounds like fun, I want to be "horse therapied" lol.

My lover, who also has asperger's, had horse therapy a few years ago. Apparently, it really helped her with recognizing her feelings and relaxing. It also helped with her as-rages

Highly recommend it, my life is horses, literally, I make my living from them... a tip with trainers/instructors....

Try to find someone who has a strong foundation in 'natural horsemanship' (good horsemanship) people basing their equestrian skills in natural horsemanship know far more about horse body language and therefore are better equipped to read people and also explain things that even an NT can understand, so that you are also able to read the horse effectively. (Horse whispering if you will )
The other advantage natural Horsemanship has over 'normal horsemanship' is that the latter lacks severely in the alternative approach in the 'when things don't work the way they're supposed to because the rules say so' category with little thought for the animal and therefore in the end the human.You will also find the generally speaking horses trained in natural horsemanship (you'll hear phrases like 'the seven games' ) are also more polite and therefore safer to deal with because they aren't ignorant to their handlers like so many animals in the 'normal' riding school, pony club, British Horse Society, type institutions are.

Wow, thanks to all of you who have responded. You have given me much to think about as I try to plan activites to benefit my dear son. Thanks! Have a great day!

I always loved horses and took riding lessons for quite a while. Being with horses made me happier than anything. I understood them far better than people.

I always loved horses and took riding lessons for quite a while. Being with horses made me happier than anything. I understood them far better than people.