Here is an infographic that I created using Canva , a tool we learned about last week to show a few key points relating to horses and cognitive therapy. I think it is incredible how much a horse (or other therapy animal) can do for us!
While horses can be an applicable form of therapy for multiple cognitive diseases or injuries, I will be focusing on their use with dementia patients. My reasoning for this, is my grandpa is currently in a home, suffering from dementia. Right before he went into the home, when he still (somewhat) knew what was going on, I brought him to the barn with me a few times to ‘help out’. He LOVED having a job, sweeping up, ‘feeding’ and petting the horses. I swear the horses knew to be extra gentle and slow. A studies have shown that equine therapy can be a mood booster for dementia patients, assuming they were able to safely groom, feed and walk under supervision.
What is dementia?
Dementia is the loss of cognitive functions, such as thinking, remembering and reasoning to an extent that it begins to interfere with daily life. Sometimes, it can interfere with emotions, affecting the person’s personality. For my grandpa, he is still a happy man, full of sass and still enjoys when we sneak in a good mudslide drink into his home. However, for him he was no longer able to complete easy tasks for himself. With equine therapy, he was able to ‘take control’ and most importantly, help without feeling like he was a burden.
I apologize for my video quality but my grandpa and ‘LB’ (which stands for Lover Boy!!!!) are just too cute not to share!
