Children with autism between 7 and 12 showed improved cognition, communication, and motivation after participating in specific equine-assisted activities (EAA), according to a recently completed study. The research shows that riding, grooming, and interacting with horses had a noticeable, positive effect on study participants.

Margaret M. Bass, PhD, and Maria Llabre, PhD, focused on the impact of EAA on the children's social functioning and attention capacity. The study, funded by the Ohio-based Horses and Humans Research Foundation, was a follow-up to a 2006 pilot study (published in the Journal for Autism & Developmental Disorders) by the same researchers.

The new study exposed a larger experimental group of participants to 12 weeks of 75-minute sessions of EAA and tracked the effects for two months. The activities were grooming, tacking, mounting/dismounting, and mounted warm-up exercises, riding skills, and games.

According to the Autism Society of America, autism is the fastest-growing developmental disability, with an estimated 10-17% growth rate each year. EAA offers a promising approach to working with children with autism. The multi-sensory equestrian environment and the relationship created between the horse and the participant can provide more than just riding skills