HORSEBACK RIDING AND THERAPY CENTER

HORSEBACK RIDING AND THERAPY CENTER

The Geaca SES Association wants to create a riding and therapy center in Gherla, Cluj County, Romania. The center will provide recreational activities (leisure) but at the same time will respond to social needs to meet children and adults with various health problems.

Vision

• The equestrian and therapy center in Gherla to become, within 2 years from the end of the project, one of the most famous equestrian and hippotherapy center.

Objectivs

• Completion of the fenced area, the reception / storage area, the facilities and the stable ;

• Acquisition of horses, ponies and equipment;

Horse therapy is also called equestrian therapy. It uses pedagogical, emotional and social tools that establish certain relationships and implications that result in overcoming or treating certain physical, mental or cognitive problems.

Therapy mainly involves:

• Interaction

• Adaptation

• Taking responsibility

• Establishing a contact

• Confidence

• Mobility

• Reaction

THERAPEUTIC PURPOSES

• Riding involves several physical, mental and relational components that contribute to helping children with special needs or disabilities.

• Physically, riding involves synchronizing movements, adapting to rhythm, balance and coordination of the limbs.

• Mentally, there is a child-horse contact that awakens feelings and gives rise to authentic feelings, gives him security and self-confidence. At the same time, a unique relationship is established between the child and the horse. Most importantly, this is an unconditional relationship in which there are no expectations or rewards.

• Riding contributes to the rehabilitation of the spine after various traumas, in case of muscle atrophy, leg paralysis or arthritis. Hippotherapy was first used to treat polio (infantile paralysis). This is a disease caused by a viral infection manifested by damage to the gray matter of the spinal cord. Children with concentration impairments were forced, through this therapy, to focus all their attention in order to maintain their balance once they were mounted. Once they got used to it, they began to look at things from above and pay attention to those around them, which was not the case before. For autistic people, the results are in relationships, communication with adults or other children. In those who suffer from neuromotor and orthopedic disorders, there is an improvement in balance, the acquisition of positions that they did not have or the support of the head while sitting. The step that the horse takes is the equivalent of the step that man takes. There are people with problems who have never felt the ground under their feet, they have never been able to have control of a movement, of a movement. Riding the horse, the feeling of fear disappears, and the child begins to see things and life a little differently. This therapy is applicable to almost all diagnoses of disabilities. Hippotherapy is recommended for the treatment of autism, Down syndrome, drug and alcohol dependence, as well as in patients with nervous diseases, panic attacks and strokes. Horses and hippotherapy are a miraculous remedy for those who cannot control their emotions. By making this investment we want to make known to children, but also to adults, the beauty of this sport, to offer alternatives in terms of leisure and to contribute to building a healthy mental status. These aspects will be possible by creating a leisure base dedicated to horseback riding.

Within the center we want to develop several types of activities such as:

• Horseback riding, for both children and adults;

• Group programs for preschool or school children, which include educational activities and improvement of motor skills;

• Hippotherapy programs adapted to the condition.

The land of 20,000 sqm (2 ha) where the implementation of the center is desired will be aquired by a loan agreement.

Join us for setting up and development a riding and hippotherapy center in the Gherla area!

We will share our goals in increasing the quality of life of needy children, in the joy of being in nature, giving them the courage to try new things.

It is about smiles, emotions, achievements, the healing of body and soul, about strength and hope.