By Gameema Salie
Cape Town - What do you know about the beautiful and mysterious nature of horses? The larger-than-life mammals can help us in many ways. People who spend their time with horses learn a lot about socialising, building confidence and becoming stronger.
Patricia Hart, an occupational therapist who works in hippotherapy, says horses can help kids who find themselves unable do the everyday things that other people can.
“Horses can help kids who can’t walk, who have weak muscles and even kids who struggle to make friends. Just by sitting on a horse, it makes your muscles stronger, helps you find balance and helps build your confidence,” Hart said.
She also said that horses are herd animals and like to be in a group of friends and that they also build a strong connection with people.
Owner of the riding school at Oude Molen Stables, Kendre Allies, said that horses get quite attached to humans.
“They know the sound of your voice and the sound of your whistle. They know who feeds them and who pampers them,” he said.
Allies said that 90% of the horses at Oude Molen Stables have been rescued and rehabilitated.
“We rescue horses that have never interacted with people before. Wild horses are very territorial and defensive so they can threaten people and other animals. That’s why it’s important that we train them,” Allies said.
Allies also said that they teach kids how to interact with horses and how to treat animals.
“A lot of kids don’t know how to behave around animals. Some of them throw stones at animals or even hit them with sticks. The adults teach the little ones how to socialise, by touching the horses and grooming them,” Allies said.
He said that children go through a drastic change in behaviour once they start interacting with the horses as they start off with being quite shy and scared around horses to becoming very confident and then they want to participate in riding and show jumping.
A student in Equine Myo-Manipulative Functional Therapy, Lindsey Fourie, who is set to become a massage therapist for horses, gave some interesting facts about horses.
“Although we like to treat horses with apples and carrots, their primary diet is eating hay. They will graze by standing outside their paddock and eat grass. If they are super athletes like jumpers or race horses, they will be on special diets. Out in the wild, horses graze for 20 hours a day and sleep the other four hours,” Fourie said.
She also said that these gentle giants, as she called them, can teach us a lot if we give them space and time.
“It is important for us to be patient when working with horses and to respect their boundaries. When they are ready for affection, they will come to you,” Fourie said.
Weekend Argus