Provide HorseTHERAPY to 50 Nicaraguan Children

Starting up is always a little bit hard as our two horses Pájaro and  Dario, get ready for another year of horse therapy with the children from Special families.  The summer is starting in Nicaragua and this means that the riding will be smooth and easy.  As Gustavo starts setting goals for each child in the program he needs to consider how they did last year and create realistic ones such as being able to lift their heads or gain more balance or strengthen certain muscles.  Darling will also be working with horse therapy but only one day a week.  She will be doing the young children who are receiving early intervention.  Darling worked exclusively before with early intervention in the rural area of Mulukukú where she was in charge of the therapy program for the ministry of health. This year since all of the social staff will be working on early intervention.  She and Gustavo are preparing some talks to the rest of the staff about their experience of early intervention.  Early interventions is a priority for special families because it is a good way to get children off to a good start and to help create good practices for their mothers.  There are many studies done saying that it makes a major difference for children in academic growth, social integration and physical growth patterns.  Darling has been identifying those children who will benefit from physical therapy as well as the horse therapy to give these children an extra boost..  Each week she will bring the children to the farm to use one of the two horses. 

Now the process is starting as Alvaro begins to feed the horses on what he calls an athlete regimen.  This will get them ready to be able to do their work with the children.  These two horses are really seen as athletes, they are Spanish breed and are very large. They often participate in the big horse shows that Matagalpa presents.  For the children this is an extra treat as they attend the big shows and see their favorite horses all dressed up and dancing and prancing for the public.   This is the type of horse indicated for our therapy even though  many people  think that we should use Ponies, but no we need horses that are larger and more trained.  This is why it is esssential that our therapists have to be horse experts.  Gustavo also tains his horse to be in the big Nicarguan horse shows.  It is essential that all concerned are comfortable with horses.  Oscar and Darwin are the two new assistants for 2020.  They are being trained more clsoely with Gustavo and will often work together to enusre the safety of each child. Gustavo and Darling join together with Pajaro and Dario to welcome this year´s children to their therapy, ready to work on new goals along with their mothers. We want to thank all of you who have contributed to this project because we want to continue it with great care so that chidren,mothers,assistants, horses and therapists can keep growing in their skills, in the summer sun of Nicaragua.

In FE we are always thinking about the future, for example how can we continue our Horse Therapy program?  Gustavo is our horse therapist who has a title from Gimbernat University in Barcelona Spain.  We have been trying to get other therapists interested in Nicaragua to go into the specialization of horse therapy, including the national university here in Nicaragua.  However, we have not had much success.  We have had many students and professionals from all over the world who have come and volunteered at FE in order to learn about horse therapy.  This has been a great exchange for us and we have learned many new techniques and ideas for developing our horse therapy program.  Recently we have hired a new physical therapist who also knows about horses.  This is a good sign for us because most do not have any experience with horses. A large part of the studies in horse therapy is learning about horses and how to handle them.   Darling has experience because she had to ride a horse to meet clients in the rural area of Mulkúku where she worked before coming to work at FE.  Gustavo started to work with Darling to learn some basics of the therapy.  This is important because horse therapy is much more than just riding with children.  It is not a recreational activity but an actual therapy situation where the therapist has to work with each child on certain physical goals like control of their head or balance or developing strength in certain muscles.  Horse therapy is the coordination of the movements of the horse with the muscles of the child.  There are many who have been able to develop muscles so that they can start to walk because the movement of the horse can reach the muscles that physical therapy alone cannot. Gustavo has continued to work with Darling to learn the difference between doing physical therapy and horse therapy.  And the difference between riding with a child and horse therapy.

Darling has learned very quickly.  At FE we do not have an arena so the therapist works outdoors the whole time.  This is something which therapists need to accept and for various therapists it is an impediment.  Because horse therapy takes a lot of work on the part of the therapists, which they do not have in doing physical therapy.  Gustavo recently let Darling do sessions on her own.  She has done very well.  However, I want to share with our supporters that we have had a very big challenge.   In the finca where we work a dog got into the space where we work with our children.  Darling was working on her own, riding with a 3-year-old child in her arms.  The dog came right at the horse and spooked it and bit it on the leg.  Of course the horse reared.  Darling thought very fast and jumped to the side of the horse guarding the child in her embrace thus avoiding the horse falling on top of them.  These are very big horses and it is very dangerous.  She was able to roll with the child and the child was not affected.  Darling was very sore but did not have any injuries.  What she did was very courageous and kept the safety of the child in all of her actions. We of course began an investigation into the incidence and found that the problem came directly from the dog we have never had a dog come into the therapy area and we mentioned this to the owner and they are insuring us that this will not happen again. We had the child checked out at the clinic and his mother was present during the incident so she saw what happened as well as the other mothers and children.  We did not have any children that became fearful after the incident and horse therapy has continued without any problem.  Some of the mothers thought that it was part of the therapy and did not realize that it was an accident.  This is because Darling was able to jump and roll over very naturally.  Also the promotor mother worked with her to minimize the effects of the incident.  Darling has continued with her work she did take several days off to heal after she was checked out at the clinic.  We are proud of Darling for being able to avoid injuries and safeguarding the child.  The truth is that horse therapy is a very delicate work where the therapist has to take precautions, and responsibility.  This is the first incident in 18 years.  We have learned a lot from this incident including an appreciation for Darling’s commitment to the safety of the children.  We also are going to safeguard the area for any dogs that might decide to wonder into our therapy area.  The horse was also checked out for any injuries and in the end the horse did not fall but was quickly calmed down, and the dog run off from our area. It takes a lot of people working together to ensure the safety of the children and we are committed to that safety along with the parents, who are always present for therapy sessions.

Links:

• video on horsetherapy it is in spanish but it shows the area and