HABRI Central

The purpose of this systematic review is to review the research that looks at the efficacy of Equine Therapy as it pertains to working with children who have experienced trauma, and the effectiveness of building and repairing relationships. Trauma is recognized as having a devastating impact on the body and the mind of children. Equine therapy is an alternative, newer technique being utilized to help repair the attachment process with this population. The review examined dissertations, meta-analyses, program evaluations studies, exploration studies and journal articles. All participants in the studies had experienced trauma as a child. Initially 40 articles abstracts were reviewed; 18 were excluded and 22 met inclusion criteria. The full texts of these articles were then reviewed. After this review only 9 articles met the inclusion and exclusion criteria for this systematic review. All articles found positive aspects in working with horses and concluded children and adolescents gained skills. With these skills, children and adolescents are able to overcome effects of early trauma and stress related disorders.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

1. Animal-assisted activities
2. Animal-assisted therapies
3. Children
4. Hippotherapy
5. open access
6. Social Work
7. trauma