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Healthy Recovery Arrives on Horseback |
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By Darío Montero*
Tierramérica
visited a ranch in the outskirts of the Uruguayan capital where
people who suffer emotional problems, addiction, autism or Down
syndrome benefit from therapeutic horseback riding.
MONTEVIDEO - Quickly and decisively, Matilde,
a 12-year-old girl with Down syndrome and hyperactivity, seems to
bond with a horse at the equine therapy ranch run by Uruguayan physiatrist,
Néstor Nieves.
The interaction with the large animal acts as a source of multiple
simulation for Matilde. Guiding her is an expert in psychomotricity,
one of the seven children of Nieves and his wife, educator Ana María
Reyes. This calm human-equine experience takes place at a rented
ranch, just 30 minutes by car from bustling downtown Montevideo.
Therapeutic riding "is based on taking advantage of the horse's
natural qualities to work towards integral rehabilitation of the
individual, who is a psycho-social carrier of one or multiple disabilities,
to harmonically integrate health, education and equitation," states
a brochure written by the late Carlos Barboza, a doctor and co-founder
with Nieves of the venture through the non-governmental National
Assocation of Equestrian Rehabilitation (ANRE).
"There are very few pathologies that do not benefit from play with
the horse. The relationship with this animal creates links with
the multidisciplinary team, acts as a multiple stimulator, in motor
and three-dimensional and repetitive movements," Barboza wrote.
Nieves explained to Tierramérica the progress achieved with equine
therapy in people with a broad range of physical, psychological
or social pathologies, as he receives his first patients on a Sunday
morning, bathed in the austral autumn sun.
The horseback ride can last an hour, and even includes incursions
into the neighboring organic vegetable farm. The time spent with
the horse also involves other contact, such as brushing the animal
and preparing the bridle and saddle.
"We work with three basic themes: education, health and social emergence,"
Nieves explains, while his wife begins working with Matilde.
The girl's mother and younger brother join in, helping break tensions
and participating in what is Matilde's obvious progress.
"It is believed that an individual, in riding the horse, makes as
many as 1,800 adjustments, while it also generates psychological
stimuli," says the specialist.
The therapy is multidisciplinary, involving medical doctors, physiatrists,
educators, psychologists, occupational therapists and pediatricians.
The patients include people with amputations, muscular dystrophy,
brain damage, blindness, deafness, autism, Down syndrome, emotional
disturbances, addiction and dozens of other pathologies.
In addition are youths who have been expelled from the school system,
and young people fired from jobs because of Uruguay's deep economic
crisis, says Nieves.
The physiatrist says he is always learning, and he keeps in close
contact with the experts leading long-term interdisciplinary therapies
in Cuba, and equine therapy efforts in Brazil, France and Spain,
among other countries, as well as exchanges involving Chileans,
Peruvians and Mexicans.
The origins of therapeutic riding date back centuries, but 70 years
ago it saw a systematic rebirth in northern Europe, while the pioneers
in the Americas have been the Brazilians, who have some 200 centers
for equine therapy.
Nieves trusts that a world congress in Brazil in August will help
develop the system with a social focus in the country and the region.
This doctor, paradoxically, was initiated in equine therapy in the
midst of a crowded housing complex of some 70,000 people in a populous
Montevideo neighborhood.
"That environment was not appropriate, and so six years ago we moved
to the country," he explains, adding that the ranch "has magical
properties."
Both he and his wife say that working with horses has changed the
whole family's life. "It opened up for us the whole world of occupational
therapy," for example.
The final objective of the equine therapy experience is to move
from the assistance-based health system, which predominates in Uruguay
and throughout most of Latin America, to a more integrated, inclusive
and socializing health system.
"It is definitely the search for change of this model in order to
incorporate rehabilitation," often sidelined because it implies
social reinsertion, only possible by providing the person with employment
or education opportunities in the case of the youngest ones, says
Nieves.
Another goal is to disseminate farm schools throughout the country
that include people with disabilities, unemployed youth or high
school dropouts, through a project presented to the government of
President Tabaré Vázquez just after his inauguration in March 2005
and soon to be finalized.
It would involve making best use of some 300 inactive rural schools
and another 700 underused facilities to develop educational farms.
"It is time to unite these centers across the country," says Nieves.
The starting point was the alliance between ANRE and the Cuban Association
for Animal Protection, a non-governmental organization that operates
with the go-ahead of the Ministry of Foreign Cooperation. The next
step is to establish country-to-country agreements, which are already
in the works.
* Darío Montero is the IPS deputy regional
editor for Latin America.
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