Winston Churchill once said that, “There is something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man.” Miracles in Motion is a therapeutic riding center in Swisher, Iowa that is directed by Katrina M. Borntreger. Miracles serves people of all ages from surrounding areas in Eastern Iowa. The center aims to provide therapy for those who have disabilities, by helping them through specialized sessions based around horses.

What is therapeutic riding?

Therapeutic Riding can take on many different meanings from the general definition, “Any equine-assisted activity that helps people with disabilities reach a goal for a certain set of skills”, to the definitions that are personalized to fit each and every student’s needs. For Jessica Douglas, mother of Nathan, a six-year-old boy born with sensory processing disorder, “Anything on a horse that he’s getting … input from the horse’s movement and having to do anything [physical]”, is her definition. Nathan’s disorder prevents him from processing and responding to things around him with the proper behavior and motor functions. Being on a horse while having to do exercises and activities, helps him to become aware of where his body is in respect to the things around him and respond to them properly.

How Does Therapeutic Riding Affect Students?

Horses play a large part in the improvement of students. The movement of a horse is so similar to that of humans that it helps the rider, not only to relax, but to build muscle mass, improve balance and increase flexibility. Program Director, Katrina Borntreger, said, “…for students who can’t walk, it actually allows them to start walking by sending input to the brain and building up muscle….and horses being a prey animal are just really really sensitive to their environment and can even be sensitive to pressure and emotion. So as therapy animals, they often times will reflect what a human is feeling and will react to it. This makes them really great because they kinda let people know what they’re feeling and what they’re sensing and can tell you blatantly without a filter. The students then know what they’re doing and how they’re acting can affect their environment. It is cool to let the horses be the teacher and not me.” Some riders can also use the sessions as a stepping stone to overcome fear and the horses can help the students gain confidence, not only in themselves, but in others as well.