Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Raghad Mutabagani, an autism specialist, has launched an equine therapy center in Jeddah to treat people with special needs, children suffering from attention deficit and hyper activity disorder and autism, and patients with addiction problems and mood disorders.

“Scientific research has proved that therapeutic horse riding has a lot of health benefits. As a result, doctors have called for establishing equine therapy centers,” said Mutabagani, while speaking to Al-Watan Arabic daily recently.

Equine therapy was introduced about 70 years ago as a treatment for various diseases and conditions. It involves interaction between patients and specially trained horses. This therapy will enhance the physical and mental capabilities of children with autism as well as people with special needs.

“Riding horses will strengthen muscles and veins,” she said while emphasizing three dimensional effects of riding horse on people of special needs in terms of enhancing their communication skills and concentration. “We need special trainers for this treatment,” Mutabagani said.

She highlighted the benefits of horse riding. “It will activate blood circulation and improve respiratory functions. As a result, the body will pump in greater amounts of oxygen,” she said.

Horse riding requires a lot of concentration and care on the part of riders. It will benefit children suffering from attention deficit and hyper activity disorder and autism, she explained.

Equine therapy provides an innovative milieu in which the therapist and patient can identify and address a range of emotional and behavioral challenges.

“It will also develop understanding capabilities of the children it stimulates all their senses,” she pointed out. “There are different factors such as the color, size, smell, sound and movement of horses that leave a positive impact on patients.”

She said the trainer also plays an important role in enhancing concentration of children by asking them to focus on certain things.

“Riding a horse will enhance self confidence in children and strengthen their capabilities,” she added.

Patients are also trained to control their reaction, develop patience, manage risk and reduce the level of pressure. “This treatment is good for people with partial vision loss as it activates senses of understanding and strengthens hearing capability.”

Mutabagani said the center has introduced special programs for visually impaired people, especially to help them move around with the help of sound.

She said experts would make medical and mental assessment of patients before admitting them to the center in order to make sure the treatment will be useful to them.

“We’ll also check whether riding a horse would have any negative effect on such patients, especially those having backbone defects, neck muscle weakness and neurological disorders. We should also select suitable horses for the treatment in terms of size, movement and temper.”

She said this treatment is not advisable for those who cannot balance on horse backs and for patients having unstable neck muscles and dislocation in the pelvis.

Horse riding treatment is popular in Europe, Australia and the US. There are more than 1,000 centers in the US, Canada and Europe, she pointed out. “It not only focuses on the handicapped but is also useful for people who are visually impaired and having hearing and thinking difficulties."

Mohammed Al-Najim, supervisor of autism program at the center, said no cure has so far been found for autism and scientists have not yet found a reason for this condition.

“Horse riding is good for treating people of special needs. However, it may cause some complications if the horse goes out of control,” he pointed out.