Studies show equine-assisted services can improve the balance, gait, and strength of older adults. Now, equine therapy centers like Simple Changes in Virginia are demonstrating how time with horses can improve the mental and physical health of people living with dementia too.
Corliss Wallingford was inspired to start a therapeutic horse riding center in her home state of Virginia after her daughter, who is non verbal, joined a similar program. For 19 years, Simple Changes Therapeutic Riding Center in Mason Neck, not far from Washington, D.C., has offered what its co-founder describes as “science-backed equine-assisted activities” to people of all ages who have physical, cognitive and emotional disabilities. And Wallingford said she’s seen profound changes in people with dementia as well.
Equine-assisted services encompass activities like horseback riding, adapted acrobatic activities to mimic the horse’s movements, grooming, caring for and interacting with horses. Researchers suggest that sensory and motor stimuli from the horse’s movements could be a reason why older adults saw improvement in their physical abilities; a systematic review of 13 studies found equine-assisted interventions are effective in improving physical functioning of older adults and older adults with disabilities who saw improved balance, gait and strength.
The use of horses in therapeutic treatment is still an understudied field, but research shows that interactions with the animals can improve the mental and physical health of people living with dementia, too. One recent study that observed residents with dementia at an assisted-living community found significant psychological and emotional benefits including more pleasure from equine-assisted activities, leading to overall improved quality of life of adults living with Alzheimer’s disease.
Wallingford said she has seen a remarkable change in many of the people she has worked with. One instance, particularly, stuck with her: over the course of just six weeks visiting Simple Changes, an older woman with depression became extremely engaged, and experienced a clear difference in her behavior, cognition and expressive and receptive language skills.
Wallingford, who used to work as a speech writer for Fortune 500 executives, said the work she does now is surprisingly not so different. “What I try to get across … is this is not ‘magical horse therapy’, because that’s not repeatable,” she said. “What I provide is an umbrella term of equine facilitated-learning, and it is communication-based, because that is my background … I created a program that utilizes both receptive and expressive language to help improve quality of life. Specifically with this population of people living with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and the related-anxieties that derive from that, how frustrating would that be to have lost your ability to communicate?”
Equine-assisted activities can help people connect the physical movements from riding a horse to their own body. Even when participants are unable to ride the horse physically, Wallingford uses the animals to show a connection between specific movements, offering words of encouragement like, “This is how we sit on our horses. We have to make sure both those bottom cheeks are engaged on the back of the horse. Can you find that in your wheelchair?”
Being outside on the farm offers its own benefits. Wallingford said it “awakens all your neural pathways and sensory pathways because it’s a different environment,” and contact with nature has been shown to reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety.
She incorporates literature into her teachings too — books like Misty of Chincoteague, an award-winning children’s novel about the bond of two children and a wild horse named the Phantom. Rather than relying solely on verbal communication from her participants, Wallingford aims to find creative ways to help people express themselves; she leads groups to watch how the horses interact, and then engage in a group activity like painting the horses or writing haikus about the interaction.
“I try to find points of reference, whether its current events or the nature that surrounds us, and make it meaningful to establish connection. We are connecting with the horses and connecting with each other,” Wallingford said. Beyond the benefits gained from spending time with the horses, activities at Simple Changes are usually performed in groups, and group activities have been proven to promote social interaction and even reduce dementia risk.
“In the beginning, it would surprise me that people from the same nursing home facility would come out and they had actually never met their neighbor. People feel better when they’re connected, so I try to facilitate that in the moment,” she said.
Wallingford said recognizing that each person living with Alzheimer’s has a unique experience with the disease has helped her tailor-make her services for each participant.
“It’s all part of taking the tragedy out of the narrative,” she said. “Life is going to change but how can we find joy in that? How can we find a different way of looking at this?”
