The anniversary was recently celebrated with the opening of new stables. After last years floods, the Association was forced to relocate, explained president Françoise Folmer: “Our new location is much bigger and has allowed us to extend our offer, which means we now have more animals than just horses.”
The plan is to also start integrating rabbits and chickens as potential therapy animals. Furthermore, the Association wants to offer a home to horses with health issues. Therapeutic work with horses remains the central offer of the Association. 80 to 90 children come to the centre in Mondercange on a weekly basis.
Isabelle Kremer works at the Association as a therapist and regularly treats patients with physical disabilities. She emphasises that a good relationship between animal and patient is needed to help strengthen children’s social competences. Patients are therefore always paired with the same horse when they return.
8-year-old Tiago has been coming to the Association since January this year to treat disturbances of concentration and equilibrium. Suffering from ADHD, the boy has trouble being calm, which is why the contact with horses should help him maintain focus. Riding further helps train his balancing skills.
Kremer elaborated that equine-assisted therapy has been developed to strengthen patients’ pelvic muscles. People who normally rely on wheelchairs can thus use the therapy sessions to train muscles they usually do not need.
Although demand for this type of therapy is high, the National Health Fund (CNS) does not reimburse treatment costs. Association officials therefore hope to meet with CNS officials again and find a way of making the therapy more accessible.
