Hippotherapy?

ally81698 · February 2013

We took DD to her physiatrist yesterday and he recommends that she start a hippotherapy program (horses) to improve her balance and trunk control, which will hopefully lead to her walking. Does anyone here have any experience with this? It is very expensive and I'd love to get some feedback before we enroll her. Thank you!

Justinlove · February 2013

LA has been doing weekly speech-based hippotherapy for almost 2 years now. Hippotherapy is not a therapy in and of itself...instead it is a delivery method for Speech therapy or Physical therapy (maybe even OT, but I have only ever heard of PT and ST). So, a PT or SLP facilitates therapy while the child is on horseback. Because of this, it is often covered by insurance since the billing is for ST or PT. Our SLP is covered so we just pay a small copay (plus a stable fee).

Now, another option is therapeutic riding. The "therapist" goes through training, but is NOT a PT, OT, or SLP so it is not covered by insurance. There is a therapeutic riding program at the stable we go to and they definitely work with balance, core strength, etc.

LA adores hippotherapy. Her horse's name is Mojo and it is one of her favorite parts of each week.

MaxandRuby · February 2013

DS2 has been doing hippotherapy for almost a year now. They work on balance, trunk control, reaching, turning his body, head control, etc. He only does hippotherapy for PT and it is not covered by my insurance. His therapist also does some land based therapy but DS2 doesn't utilize that part of her services. He goes for 30min per week. It is kind of expensive (we pay $60 per week) but for around here that is a pretty standard price. DS2 has done well with it. They put him in all sorts of positions to work various things and play games so they make it fun. I'm really glad we are doing it and we will continue to do it as long as we can afford it and it is a reasonable drive away. Currently I drive about 1hr, 10min one way to get to it but if I had to drive much further I probably wouldn't do it.

Assembly_Reqd · February 2013

Nate loves, loves, loves hippotherapy and gets speech. He gets the PT automatically because he is workking hard to stay on the horse. We only are doing it in the summer on Saturdays because it is about 45 min from home and insurance will not pay for it because speech is not "medically necessary". Bastards!

Anyway, our stable does have a bit of a discount based on finacial need. It is a sliding scale so certain incomes will get 25% off, higher ones get 10% etc,...Watching him enjoy it is great entertainment for DH and I so the cost doesn't sting as much. We giggled like little kids the whole way through the first session watching him.

amajane · February 2013

We do hippotherapy. It's 45 mis per week at $115 per session. Insurance covers it but it is out-of-network and with a $3000 out-of-network deductible, we'll probably never meet it to get the therapy covered. So we're basically just paying OOP for it and using our HSA for "reimbursement".

bumpuser511563 · February 2013

I would love to do this for DS.

They have a place 45 minutes away but it is $35 a session in our area. They happen to not take our insurance.

I would have to take time off if I do it twice a month.

Justinlove · February 2013

Sailor Saturn:
They have a place 45 minutes away but it is $35 a session in our area. They happen to not take our insurance.

That is a STEAL! With our copay and stable fee, that is about what we pay a session. I have never heard of it being so cheap without insurance contributing!

bumpuser511563 · February 2013

Justinlove:
Sailor Saturn:
They have a place 45 minutes away but it is $35 a session in our area. They happen to not take our insurance.

That is a STEAL! With our copay and stable fee, that is about what we pay a session. I have never heard of it being so cheap without insurance contributing!

I just realized that Justinlove! I may have to consider it again!

Justinlove · February 2013

Do it! I promise, you won't regret it! People ask me all the time if I attribute LA's gains in speech to the horse. I am honest-she gets soooo much speech a week that assigning credit is impossible BUT what I do know is that she loves it! I would pay as much, if not more, for other extracurricular activities so I chalk it into that category. Bonus for us is that she gets the fun as well as the ST.

I think the therapeutic riding is $85 a session at the stable...and I know the hippo is more (how pitiful is it that I don't even pay attention to my EOBs anymore). I'm currently going through sticker shock of how much hospitals now bill for giving birth...eek! Not looking forward to my portion of that!

Assembly_Reqd · February 2013

Sailor Saturn:
Justinlove:
Sailor Saturn:
They have a place 45 minutes away but it is $35 a session in our area. They happen to not take our insurance.

That is a STEAL! With our copay and stable fee, that is about what we pay a session. I have never heard of it being so cheap without insurance contributing!
I just realized that Justinlove! I may have to consider it again!

that is soooo cheap. ours is 100 for 60 min session....

mopdop2000 · February 2013

We live in the CO mountians, and my parents have horses. I used to put DS2 infront of me on the horse and he loved it ... for the first summer. The next summer he was deathly afraid of them and now won't have anything to do with them. We try to get him around them but it just doesn't seem to get done.

Even with our own horses I would put him in a theraputic riding program, if there was one around here, since the therapists would be able to do so much more. I have heard of great results from these programs so I'd say go for it if you can!

bumpuser511563 · February 2013

mopdop2000:
We live in the CO mountians, and my parents have horses. I used to put DS2 infront of me on the horse and he loved it ... for the first summer. The next summer he was deathly afraid of them and now won't have anything to do with them. We try to get him around them but it just doesn't seem to get done.

Even with our own horses I would put him in a theraputic riding program, if there was one around here, since the therapists would be able to do so much more. I have heard of great results from these programs so I'd say go for it if you can!

Yeah, I think DS would be afraid of horses and being up high on top of them. He is afraid of goats. We have tried to get him to hold a baby goat. Complete fail.

Would the therapist be able to get any child over their fears?

I would hate to pay and DS not want to do it.

MaxandRuby · February 2013

Sailor Saturn:
mopdop2000:
Yeah, I think DS would be afraid of horses and being up high on top of them. He is afraid of goats. We have tried to get him to hold a baby goat. Complete fail.
Would the therapist be able to get any child over their fears?
I would hate to pay and DS not want to do it.

Who wants to hold a goat?! LOL

IMO, starting therapy on a horse is similar to starting anything new. There is an adjustment period. DS2 never cried hysterically or anything but I'd say it took him a month to get used to the process and be able to enjoy it more and be more relaxed.

kar5162 · February 2013

Our hippo place has PT and OT. Never seen ST, but haven't paid much attention. Theraputic riding is for older kids/adults who are learning to ride horses (in their own time) but need more support. I would guess ST is really speech, delivered in an environment that might make the child relate because they're enjoying being on the horse? For PT/OT, just sitting up on the horse can be a great workout...think balancing on a balance ball, work many low or high tone kids are familiar with - the horse is constantly moving so their core is getting fabulous work. Then the PT/OT can work on more challenging core positions (keeping hands off the horse, sideways, backwards), bilateral hand coordination moving across the horse, etc, all while keeping the child's core actively engaged. Its been great for my sons core control and head control. I don't think it's helped his gait and walking as much as I had hoped, but he definitely has much better chair sitting balance, reaching and upper body stabilization from hippo.

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