At Green Apple Hippotherapy, horses help children with special needs

Free Malaysia Today

At Green Apple Hippotherapy in Seri Kembangan, specialists offer horse-assisted therapy to help young patients with cerebral palsy, autism and various other disorders.   Green Apple Hippotherapy  Selangor Turf Club,  8, Jln Kuda Emas,  Selangor Turf Club,  43300 Seri Kembangan,  Selangor   Contact: 012-3028523   Story by: Terence Toh  Shot by: Muhaimin Marwan  Presented by: Theevya Ragu  Edited by: Selven Razz   Read More: https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/leisure/2024/10/22/harnessing-horses-to-help-special-needs-children/   Free Malaysia Today is an independent, bi-lingual news portal with a focus on Malaysian current affairs.    Subscribe to our channel - http://bit.ly/2Qo08ry   ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Check us out at https://www.freemalaysiatoday.com  Follow FMT on Facebook: https://bit.ly/49JJoo5  Follow FMT on Dailymotion: https://bit.ly/2WGITHM  Follow FMT on X: https://bit.ly/48zARSW  Follow FMT on Instagram: https://bit.ly/48Cq76h  Follow FMT on TikTok : https://bit.ly/3uKuQFp  Follow FMT Berita on TikTok: https://bit.ly/48vpnQG  Follow FMT Telegram - https://bit.ly/42VyzMX  Follow FMT LinkedIn - https://bit.ly/42YytEb  Follow FMT Lifestyle on Instagram: https://bit.ly/42WrsUj  Follow FMT on WhatsApp: https://bit.ly/49GMbxW  ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  Download FMT News App:  Google Play – http://bit.ly/2YSuV46  App Store – https://apple.co/2HNH7gZ  Huawei AppGallery - https://bit.ly/2D2OpNP   #FMTLifestyle #GreenApple #Hippotherapy

Transcript

00:00Ever heard of hippotherapy? No, it has nothing to do with hippos.

00:07Rather, it's a form of therapy that uses horses to improve human physical and mental health.

00:13A specialized service offered by Green Apple Hippotherapy in Sri Kembangan, Selangor.

00:20The center was opened in 2014 by former corporate trainer Iliza Iqbal and pediatrician Dr. Ali Azman Minaj, both avid equestrians.

00:31According to them, Green Apple Hippotherapy was the first center in Malaysia to offer equine-assisted therapy services.

00:39So if you look at the horse from behind, how the pelvic moves when it's walking, the gait pattern, is very similar to how a human being walks.

00:50So when you put a child, for example, who can't walk, at a certain age, who can't walk, either a child with cerebral palsy or either a child with global developmental delay, who can't walk,

01:03and sometimes they can't even bear their weight on their feet, they can't even stand.

01:08So when you put them on the horse, they have a real sensation of how they're supposed to be walking.

01:18And then the brain learns.

01:21Iliza and Ali say hippotherapy can be used to help autism, trauma, addiction and other mental health and substance use disorders.

01:30The couple can testify to the effectiveness of hippotherapy as one of their children, who is on the autism spectrum, has benefited from the processes here.

01:40And I can see the progress that this program made for him. It was amazing. It was wonderful.

01:48But we had to be consistent. And once a week for him was good enough.

01:53The center is home to four ponies, which are of different sizes for children of different ages.

01:59These animals were hand-picked by the center to ensure they have high tolerance for humans.

02:04Riding may look fun, but it's not all horseplay here.

02:09Hippotherapy is conducted by the center's occupational therapists and physiotherapists, who have been trained to properly handle the animals.

02:18Iliza and Ali estimate that the center has helped over 500 patients thus far, most of whom come for 30 to 45-minute sessions weekly.

02:28This is one of the most effective ways of treating children with autism and cerebral palsy and some other special needs children.

02:39So it is very, very effective. It is medically, it is well-proven, it is well-researched and it's done by medical profession.

02:48And we take safety as a first priority in the treatment of children with hippotherapy.

02:57Divya Raghu and Terence Toh, FMT Lifestyle.

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