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Therapeutic Driving!

Therapeutic Driving!

People in a carriage attached to a palomino horse getting ready for a Therapeutic Driving lesson.

 

Horses have been used for therapeutic purposes for decades, changing the lives of people and, for some, opening up new possibilities. Therapeutic driving gives people an alternative to riding. This type of therapy brings the therapeutic benefits of horses to a wider range of people who may not be able to ride due to weight, balance, physical limitations, and other impediments. It is great for all people, not just those with physical limitations, but for people with mental and emotional limitations as well.

 

Student participating in a Therapeutic Driving lesson throwing a ball into a hoop. The white horse hooked up to the carriage stands still while the person throws the ball

 

Through Therapeutic Driving, participants learn about horses, safety, harnessing, and driving skills. This all provides students with a wide range of movements and a lot of sensorimotor experiences. It also encourages teamwork as the student and certified instructor work together to help communicate and drive the horse. The connection between the driver and horse also teaches cause and effect scenarios which is a beneficial learning tool for many participants.

 

A boy in a carriage smiles as he partakes in driving a palomino horse during a Therapeutic Driving lesson.

 

Therapeutic driving carriages are often altered in a way that can accommodate a wheelchair or other mobility assistance equipment. Usually, a seat or two will be taken out and special reinforcements added to keep the participants in wheelchairs safe from moving while the carriage is in motion. If the participant is not bound to a wheelchair, original seats are still customized to allow for more comfort and safety, such as lap belt additions. The horses used for Therapeutic Driving can range in breed, size, and age. Many Therapeutic Driving horses used to have a successful driving career in their past and now enjoy the slower pace of participating in therapy later in their lives. The important thing about these horses is that they are well-trained to specific commands, have previous driving experience, a calm demeanor, and steady gaits.

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Comments

John Murdoch - January 26, 2024

What a splendid post to describe the benefits of therapeutic driving!

I’m a certified therapeutic driving instructor. Can I share a secret about therapeutic driving?

Participating in practically any horse discipline costs money. Participating in driving (especially those four- and six-horse hitches!) can cost a breathtaking amount of money. But you can participate in therapeutic driving for free. Here’s how:

Depending upon the needs of each participant, a therapeutic driving lesson might require an instructor and two to four volunteers:
- The header: who leads the horse if required, and holds the horse when loading/unloading
- The whip: the trained volunteer who rides in the cart with a participant, usually with a pair of driving lines
— One or two volunteers to help get the participant into the cart or wagon (and sometimes ride in the wagon with the participant)

And we may have another volunteer assist with the lesson (setting up traffic cones, organizing games (can you play hide-and-seek with a horse-drawn wagon? Yes, you can), and other responsibilities.

We need—we always need—volunteers. You have to be at least 14 years old; you do NOT need prior experience driving horses, or even riding horses. We will teach you—to handle a horse, how to harness the horse, how to hook the cart or wagon, how to help a participant get loaded and unloaded.

The really good part? Ultimately, we need trained volunteers to drive in the cart or wagon with students—a position we call the “Able-Bodied Whip” or “ABW.” We recruit ABWs from our volunteers—when a participant can’t make a lesson, lots of times we’ll use that time to give a volunteer a lesson instead. Over time you accumulate enough experience to drive independently, and ultimately (you have to be 18, and have accumulated 50 hours of driving lessons) you can qualify as an ABW to drive with a participant in a lesson.

If you want to take a goofy picture of one of the horses to post on your Facebook page, you’ll have to buy the silly hat. Otherwise, you don’t pay anything—we provide the horses, the harness, the vehicles, the training, all of it. And the best part is that you get completely immersed in the most wonderful, most rewarding part of horsemanship there is.

To find a therapeutic driving program, go to the web site of the Professional Association for Therapeutic Horsemanship (PATH) at
https://pathintl.org/find-a-program/

Check the box for “Driving” under “Activities Offered”—you’ll see dots display on the map to the right showing every PATH-accredited program that offers therapeutic driving. Zoom in to find map points near to you, and click on a point to find contact information for the program.

We’d dearly love to hear from you.

John Murdoch
Equi-Librium, Inc.
Nazareth, Pennsylvania

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