Therapeutic Horseback Riding Crossover Effects of Attachment Behaviors with Family Pets in a Sample of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Abstract

The unique needs of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have implications for animal welfare. This nested pilot study examined the effects of a randomized trial of 10-week therapeutic horseback riding (THR) intervention versus a no-horse barn activity (BA) control group on children’s behaviors with family pets. Sixty-seven (THR n = 31; BA n = 36) participants with ASD (ages 6–16 years) with one or more family pet, were enrolled from a larger trial (n = 116) following their randomization to intervention groups, stratified by nonverbal intellectual ability. A consistent caregiver completed questionnaires about participants’ interactions with their household pets pre- and post-intervention. Caregivers of THR group participants reported significant improvements in participants’ caring actions with the family pet compared with the BA group (p = 0.013; effect size = 0.74). Engaging with horses during a standard THR intervention protocol may generalize to improving caring actions toward family pets in children and adolescents with ASD.

Pet Attachment and Wellbeing of Older-Aged Recreational Horseback Riders

“…Also the "personal growth" factor was significantly correlated with psychological wellbeing, both in riders and dog owners, which is in agreement with previous findings [53]. Both horses and dogs are strong animals.…”

“…It has been implicated previously that pet attachment is associated with physical [21,26,32] psychological [21,27,36] and social [36,37,53] health benefits. We partially support these results since we found significant correlations between pet attachment and psychological and social wellbeing.…”

The State of Animal-Assisted Interventions: Addressing the Contemporary Issues That Will Shape the Future

“…While some of the earliest uses of animals to improve the health of people were farm animals, modern studies most often use dogs, then companion horses [70,71,72], and, to a lesser extent, cats [43,73]. Within the last three decades, other species have been used, including fish [23,62,74,75], birds [76], guinea pigs [47], and reptiles [77].…”

Effectiveness of Equine Assisted Activities or Therapies in relation to mental illness and mental disorders - a review

“…The AATS score of participants in the Therapeutic Horse Riding (THR) group improved significantly after the intervention, while the BA score did not show a trend towards improvement. No statistically significant differences were observed between the groups in the baseline change and after the intervention in the AABS (Petty et al, 2017).…”