Are there limitations to using horses as therapeutic animals? If so, what are they?
VOLUNTEERS: Most places (at least in Canada) offer therapeutic riding through low cost programs, in order to remove a barrier to accessibility. However, in order to physically run the program, it requires alot of volunteers. A common day at the Victoria Therapeutic Riding Association would include:
- 3-4 horse handlers / class (roughly 3-5 classes per day)
- 0-2 side walkers per student, per class
- 1-2 assistant instructors throughout the day
- 1-2 barn workers or grooms / day
- sometimes there are fundraising volunteers collecting bottles or sorting and selling used gear throughout the day
It takes a huge team of volunteers to make the wheels turn, however as most will tell you it is definitely worth it.
FINANCES:
As many people know, horses are expensive animals. There is the upfront cost, the tack (i.e. saddles, bridles, boots), their feed, bedding, etc. On top of this, many organizations have a few paid staff members. For VTRA, there are 7 paid staff along with 12 horses and 250+ volunteers (!!!).
THAT BEING SAID…
Those were the ONLY limitations I could come up with when researching therapeutic horses. Of course there will be safety concerns as there are with many similar programs but every paper, website, blog, etc that I found only had great things to say. If ever there is interest in volunteering, I would highly recommend giving it a try. No previous horse experience required!
