The Agrarian University helps children based on therapies with horses

Although their training as veterinarians focuses exclusively on the care of animals, through the project Working days in the Comprehensive Center of Equine Therapy, four students from the Agrarian University helped in the comprehensive rehabilitation of children with disabilities based on therapies with horses .

Through the project, Mónica Albán, Danna Cuenca, Lizbeth Larrea and Melissa Trujillo, students of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and Zootechnics, gave support to the center’s therapists in the sessions of dance therapy, music therapy, sports therapy, early stimulation and equine therapy. .

“It is a very hard task, not only of the therapists but also of the parents. It requires a lot of patience and perseverance. In the end it was very gratifying to see the progress that was made with the children, “says Lizbeth.

For three weeks, between February and March, attending the center from Monday to Friday, which is at km 10.5 on the road to Salitre, from 08:00 to 16:00, the group took care to ensure that the Children will not be hurt when they ride horses, to help them repeat dance steps, to manipulate musical instruments, to perform physical movements and to play some sport.

“In the university they learn the technique, but only by going to work they learn to know the animal’s behavior when they are cared for, and how they interact with people, something that is superimportant to develop the meaning of animal welfare”, says David Rugel, teacher project guide.

These free therapies help 90 people, approximately, with special abilities, who are between 1 and 20 years old, develop motor and intellectual faculties according to their needs.

In addition, Monica says that they also took care of the horses before, during and after the equine therapy classes. They bathed, brushed, cleaned the hooves of the legs and administered antibiotics in injection when necessary. “I had never had contact with a horse, so I started from the basics. I learned to approach him, to grasp him and to know the way in which he should attend to him. Cleaning the helmets was not easy, “says Mónica.

“It was a beautiful experience because they are very friendly animals, their warmth is perceived, they are emotional,” he adds.

Each year the university, led by its president, Martha Bucaram, renews its collaboration agreement with the Prefecture of Guayas, through which students carry out social projects in which they meet the 320 hours of community work necessary to graduate , and that in the Agrarian University are distributed in four annual projects.

Source: https://www.eluniverso.com/noticias/2019/06/25/nota/7392999/terapiasu-agraria-ayuda-ninos-caballos