Pony therapy for young patients of Necker enfants malades hospital

The pony club Hauts de Seine has dedicated a two-day special project to the young patients of the Necker-Children’s Hospital today and tomorrow, April 18-19.
The owners of the equestrian centre have decided to do something in order to offer these children the possibility to discover the importance of the contact with the horse: they planned pleasant moments of interaction to allow them to escape from their hospital routine.
The clinic experience is often difficult to match with daily life because of the distance from the family, the school and all the other usual activities.
Eight ponies were therefore brought into the area outside the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital, near Paris to pay a visit to the little patients recovered, who could make new experiences like grooming and being introduced to riding.
In this way the children could recover their own identity which is unfortunately often lost due to treatments and therapy.
The consequences of illness are not only physical, but also psycho-emotional and psycho-social. The contact with the ponies and the unconditioning love they give can represent a moment of pleasure, of sharing and of opening which is not so usual for these children.
A caress, a walk leading the pony with a rope and a brushing, which will be followed by short experiences on the saddle: all this can be a starting point for the youngsters to make conversation or to share impressions and emotions, dreams and projections of themselves returning to these activities once recovered.
The other pony clubs who joined this project are:
Club Hippique des étangs de Meudon
Poney Club de Brimborion
UCPA Villeneuve la Garenne
Press Release FFE
Photo: FFE courtesy