When a rider is grooming their horse before riding or they are just doing plain old ground work they could be improving their social skills (Apel). When a client is talking to their horse they aren't crazy. They are just improving their social skills. The child could be uncomfortable talking to other humans so they talk to their horse maybe about their feelings or what they were doing before the hippotherapy. It's all just healthy improving. When the rider is ready or has always been able to talk to the people around them they are improving their social skills (De Gutis). They could be talking to just the physical therapist or to the physical therapist and his/her assistants at the same time, which is great. The client is preparing for socializing in bigger groups outside in the …show more content…
Hippotherapy helps Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder, Closed Head Injury, Developmental Delays, Emotional Disorders, Down Syndrome, Paralysis, Spina Bifida, a Traumatic Brain Injury, and many more (3gaits.org). To go further into how hippotherapy helps Cerebral Palsy, CP, hippotherapy is believed to decrease spasticity and maintain or increase the range of motion in the upper body. A girl who had CP had started taking hippotherapy once a week for thirty minutes when she was two and a half. When she was five she had strengthened her back and neck, she had better balance, her ability to sit up longer increased, and she had less spasticity in her lower body