What are the benefits of the relationship between humans and companion animals? Why is equestrian rehabilitation particularly effective?

Nathali and her passion for horses can make us think about the importance that closeness with animals has for human beings. Contact with pets can benefit all, but it can have a particularly positive effect in educational and therapeutic-rehabilitative processes for children, people with disabilities, the elderly, and those suffering from physical or mental distress.
What we often hear referred to as pet therapy is called AAI, “Animal Assisted Intervention.” These aim to improve people’s health and well-being, and their use on a therapeutic level is not only increasingly used, but it has a scientific approach. Italy has a record in this area, as it was the first state in the world to establish legal regulations and recognize pet therapy as an official treatment in 2003. The affective and therapeutic role that an animal can play in a person’s life has been understood.
Animals are companionable, there is no need for volume or complex words, which is why they are extensively used in therapy in nursing homes, sheltered facilities, or care institutions. Recent studies have shown how the relationship with animals revitalize interest in others in people suffering from depression or in social isolation. Tactile and visual stimuli create empathy by bringing a sense of usefulness, and in therapeutic settings it can also reduce the use of medicines.
These interventions are done by a multidisciplinary team in which, depending on the specificity of the case, there are health, educational and technical figures for the management of the person-animal relationship. Pets used in AAIs are species that can establish social relationships with humans and are: the dog, horse, donkey, cat and rabbit. In addition, the AAIs, are divided into pathways that can have therapeutic, rehabilitative, educational or recreational purposes.
Equestrian rehabilitation is a particularly effective form of pet therapy in therapeutic settings because it stimulates physical activity, and thus the body’s automatic production of substances that have beneficial effects on the good mood. In addition, the relationship that is created with the horse is often very deep and generates trust, security and self-esteem. This is given by the fact that the horse is a social animal”, which predisposes it to seek contact and interaction to which it always responds differently. This type of AAI can aim at overcoming deficits and achieving greater autonomy. Equestrian rehabilitation also targets various clinical pictures such as autism spectrum disorders, attention deficits or hyperactivity disorder ADHD, infantile cerebral paralysis, emotional and behavioural disorders, psychiatric disorders and many others.
In children, it has both physical benefits, it can lead to improved balance and coordination, and psychological ones through the creation of an environment of stimulation that requires their participation. Regarding people with disabilities, both work caring for the animal on the ground and sitting on a horse promote their socialization, communication skills and social participation, and there is an understanding of the pleasure of caring in a non medicalized and protected situation. Finally, ongoing studies are evaluating the positive effect of the relationship with the horse on the emotional, psychological and even physiological level for cancer patients.
What underlies the successful operation of pet therapy is the affective relationship created between the person and the animal that has the power to bring about a sense of unconditional acceptance that is independent of age, ethnicity, physical or psychological problems. Pet therapy stimulates proper physical contact, creativity, knowledge, observation, creates good humor and offers support. The animal is thus defined as an emotional mediator.