ANIMAL-ASSISTED THERAPY: A COURSE ON HORSES
Animal-assisted therapy is on the rise but how does it work? I visit Lansing's Beekman Therapeutic Riding Center to find out.
Script
[[COUNTRY MUSIC]]
[[ COME ON GUYS- COME ON- HORSE IN HERE’S NAME IS HERSHEY AND THIS YOUNG MAN GETTING OFF THE BUS HERE, HE RIDES A HORSE NAMED SCOOTER.]]
Scooter and Hershey are not the kind of horses you think of when the country western music comes on. Instead of herding cattle, these horses carefully carry their riders around a warm indoor ring at the Beekman Therapeutic Riding Center in Lansing.
Animals have always been companions to people, but we’re just starting to find out why.
At the center, 15 donated horses play the role of physical and mental therapist to over 80 riders. The center’s director, Janet Gross, says the horses are specially selected for their role.
[[JANET: THEIR JOB IS TO BASICALLY JUST STAY CALM WHILE THE RIDER’S UP THERE, SOME RIDERS ARE UNBALANCED SO AS YOU CAN IMAGINE IT KIND OF TAKES A PATIENT WILLING ANIMAL TO DEAL WITH THAT, AND JUST TO HAVE A GOOD TIME WITH THE KIDS]]
The horse farm is behind the Beekman Center, a school for special needs children.
Janet says the children are just a few steps away from the horses that make them feel better.
[[JANET: A WIDE RANGE OF DISABILITIES HERE. HORSE-BACK RIDING IS EXTREMELY BENEFICIAL IN SIMULATING THE WAY A PERSON WALKS. THEY’VE DONE STUDIES AND FOUND THAT IT EVEN ENHANCES THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM. WHERE SOME OF THESE KIDS THAT ARE SITTING IN WHEELCHAIRS AND THAT, THAT’S NOT SOMETHING THAT’S REAL GOOD FOR THEM]]
[[NOISES OF ASSEMBLING CART]]
Students who can’t get on a horse still have the opportunity to connect with the animals by riding in a special horse drawn cart. The cart is tricked out with a ramp to make it wheel chair accessible and straps that secure the chair in place. The cart is also specially balanced to protect the horse and rider.
[[NOISES END, JANET: AND AWAY YOU GO]]
[[CAT PURRING]
Some think animals act as surrogate children, partners or even parents. Or are they parasites, evolved to take advantage of human’s nurturing nature? Are they slaves, placed on the earth to ease humans burdens?
Researchers are probing those questions. The fact that both humans and animals are social, is the key to the benefits of animal-assisted therapy, says the Director of the Center of the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University, Alan Beck. The center and researchers around the world have been working to use science to answer the question: why does hanging out with animals make us feel better?
Dr. Beck first worked against animals, combating varmints in the field of public health, but in the past 20 years he has studied the health benefits of animals. He lists off study after study that show interacting with animals reduces human stress, blood pressure goes down, people feel more positive, live longer... His explanation is that animals help people relax.
[[ALAN: WE OURSELVES ARE SOCIAL ANIMALS, IT’S NOT SURPRISING THAT WE ORIENT TOWARDS NATURE, THAT WE SEEK TO NATURE FOR COMFORT. IT’S NOT SURPRISING THAT THE VERY FIRST HUMAN BEINGS PAINTED ANIMALS, NOT TREES AND MOUNTAINS, BECAUSE ANIMALS WERE SO IMPORTANT FROM THE VERY BEGINNING IN OUR LIVES. ]]
Animals gets something out of the bargain too. Making what Beck calls a truly mutual bond.
[[YOU HAVE SOMEONE SAY GROOMING A HORSE, AND YOU CAN ACTUALLY SEE THEIR RELAXATION. PUT YOUR HAND OR A STETHOSCOPE ON THE HORSE’S HEART, YOU’VE GOT A TRUE BRADYCARDIA OR RELAXATION RESPONSE. ]]
Horses were one of the first animals studied as a possible therapy. Now there are over 600 centers in the United States that provide animal-assisted therapy.
[[ALAN: PEOPLE WHO DO PHYSICAL THERAPY NOTICE THAT THE HORSE IS A THREE-DIMENSIONAL EXERCISE. IT GOES IN ALL DIRECTIONS, PROVIDES A LITTLE BIT OF HEAT AND SEEMS TO BE TRUE THERAPY, AS OPPOSED TO SOME KIND OF INTERVENTION THAT SORT OF ENCOURAGES THERAPY.]]
[[SOUND: HORSE SNORT]]
Janet Gross agrees that there are mental and physical aspects to the healing power of horses.
[[I DON’T KNOW, THERE’S SOMETHING ABOUT HORSES, I JUST THINK THEY’RE BIG- THEY’RE LARGE AND IN CHARGE AND WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR PART OF THAT, IT GIVES YOU KIND OF A LITTLE MORE SELF ESTEEM.]]
About 60 volunteers make up the bulk of the staff at the non-profit, therapeutic riding center, even the director started out as a volunteer. The center also offers riding lesson to the general public, including trail rides.
[[SOUND: COUNTRY MUSIC]]
ON LOCATION
Beekman Therapeutic Riding Center
IN PERSON
Janet Gross, Director Beekman Therapeutic Riding Center
Alan Beck, Director of the Center of the Human-Animal Bond at Purdue University.
Sally Walshaw, founding member of MSU's Human-Animal Bond Initiative
IN SCIENCE
Studies into the effects of animal-assisted therapy
Anxiety in Heart Patients (abstract)
Why do people love their pets- a philosophical and evolutionary perspective (abstract)
