Hippotherapy allows for increased engagement of students with complex needs

Posted on June 12, 2025 by Ryan Dahlman

By Samantha Johnson
Prairie Rose Public Schools Content Writer

In March of this year, Prairie Rose Public Schools (PRPS) established a hippotherapy program in partnership with Willowbend Equestrian. Hippotherapy uses the movement of a horse to stimulate postural and muscular reactions in the rider. Depending on the needs of the rider, hippotherapy can be used to address single or multiple developmental areas, such as in speech language, occupational therapy and physical therapy.

Assistant Superintendent Lisa Lindsay explained PRPS was looking to establish a hippotherapy program prior to the pandemic and had invested in training and bought some equipment. The program stalled but was looked at again this year and started up in March. Since Covid, there has been an increase of young children with significant needs, including speech delays, sensory processing delays, use of gross motor skills and core strength.

“In a typical therapy service, we go into the school to work directly with the kids,” stated Lindsay. “The therapist might get to see them again in a week or maybe two weeks or even a month. We knew there was an increasing number of our most complex students who require therapy. The research around hippotherapy, along with the gains kids can make with it, are incredible.”

Hippotherapy is a treatment tool integrated into a student’s already existing therapy program with the horse’s movement promoting active responses in the rider. The PRPS therapy teams – speech and language, occupational therapy and physical therapy – determine which students would benefit most from this new program to support their goals. While the PRPS speech-language team is driving the program, all disciplines and multiple goals are being targeted with physical and occupational therapists collaborating to ensure each student receives the greatest benefit from their sessions.

Launa Kydd-Larochelle, Therapy Services Coordinator and Speech Language Pathologist with PRPS explained they are currently working on motor skills and to enhance regulation in each of the participating students. In a traditional setting, it can be difficult to get the student to engage because they aren’t regulated, making it difficult to target any specific goals. However, something about being on a horse and the movement generated regulates the child such that they are eagerly participating in their therapy.

“We are seeing them want to stay on the horse along with an exponential increase in engagement where they are actively participating along with having serve and return conversations, an increase in eye contact and more positive verbalizations,” said Kydd-Larochelle.

While it’s difficult to measure the impact of the hippotherapy for the students while they are at school, feedback has been positive with more regulation observed within the classroom. Additionally, parents are actively involved in the sessions and all are expressing immense amounts of joy over the progress of their children.

“I think that plays a positive connection as the parents are relaying to the school the progress being made in hippotherapy and we are building positive relationships,” concluded Kydd-Larochelle.