Profoundly disabled youngpeople have been enjoying some horse therapy thanks to the launch of a new physiotherapy service.
People whose conditions may have prevented them from doing horse riding activities can now take part in back ridingwith the help of a specially trainedphysiotherapist at the Brae Riding for the Disabled Centre in Dundee.
Young Lennon Thomson was lucky to be one of the first to experience the new therapy as part of a four-week pilot of the service recently.
Brae physiotherapist Duncan Sangster, has been assisting people to take part and said it is proving a big success.
He said: “Back riding is one possible option which can be used in a hippotherapy session along with things like lying down on a smaller pony.
“This will allow us to take clients who would have previously been unable to ride here at the Brae.
“It is done on a sheepskin with the client seated in front of a physiotherapist on the horse’s back, provided they aren’t too tall.
“Our horse, Romany, has taken to it like a natural and the training that has been done with him and the volunteers in preparation has paid off wonderfully.”
The addition means the centre now has the scope to do more work with clients like Lennon, who had previously only ridden on the centre’s smallest ponies.
Duncan added: “Our increased therapy options give us scope to take riders with very poor trunk and/or head control, in the case of back riding this is due to the position of the physio behind the rider on the horse and the much greater degree of control this gives.
“This makes it a unique therapy which should provide great benefit to our clients.”
Centre manager Mary Sneddon said the service will be “very beneficial” to some of the most profoundly disabled riders.
She said: “We are the first and only Scottish RDA centre to have our own salaried physiotherapist instruct, and only the second in the UK.
“This post allows us to extend the range of disabilities we can take and also the increased range of days and times available to meet the client’s needs.”