Trot to wellness: Keshav, a patient of attention deficit hyperactive disorder, during a riding lesson with Pushpa Bopaiah

It’s a Saturday and Pushpa P. Bopaiah has been on her feet all day. Her classes start at six in the morning and the therapist has 32 children with disabilities enrolled for riding lessons. “I’m running a one-woman show,” she says.

Bopaiah has been at it for the last eight years. And she still remembers the stares she got the first time she walked into a school for disabled children dressed in breaches, boots and a helmet. “People asked me whether I was off to the races,” she recalls.

She had to repeatedly clarify that she was a qualified therapist and not a race junkie. She had gone to assemble the first batch of students who had enrolled for her equine therapy classes — a 40-year-old horse-riding therapy prescribed for people with disabilities.

Bopaiah has treated 372 patients — mostly children — with equine therapy at her centre — Healing Horse — located at Bangalore’s sprawling, green Palace Grounds. Bopaiah has seven retired race horses — all specially trained to stay calm and trot in slow, smooth strides — in her stable.

“Children are more receptive to equine therapy because they are interacting with a live animal and are in the midst of nature,” says Bopaiah, herself a keen rider. Children with disabilities ranging from multiple sclerosis, Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, attention deficit disorder and autism have sought therapy at Bopaiah’s centre.

Equine therapy is actually merely a medical name for horseback riding. While for most people horse riding is a sport, for disabled children mounting and riding the animal is a lesson in co-ordination, concentration and confidence building. Saying hello to the horse every morning and talking to him helps strengthen speech skills. “Horse riding modifies the behaviour and emotions of disabled children. It also helps their muscles to tone up and improves blood circulation and appetite,” says Bopaiah, who has trained in equine therapy at the Special Equestrian Riding Therapy Centre, California.

Her one-woman centre, however, is set to change. Healing Horse — which claims to be the only equine therapy centre in India —is going national. It is collaborating with the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) in Ambala, Haryana, to set up a centre. In the pipeline are similar centres in Calcutta, Delhi and Hyderabad and a training school for equine therapists in Bangalore. “I also want to prepare my students to participate in the Para-Olympic Games,” she says.

Bopaiah is dreaming of gold medals. But for bank employee Shekhar M, seeing his 11-year-old son Keshav mounting a big, brown horse without fumbling gives the ultimate thrill. Keshav suffers from attention deficit hyperactive disorder. Six months ago, he was overweight and clumsy in his actions. “Now, there’s an improvement in his motor skills and body movement co-ordination,” says Shekhar, as he watches his son trot around the riding ground. The outdoor activity has also helped Keshav shed some kilos.

Some surgeons believe equine therapy has medical benefits. Bangalore’s RECOUP Neuromusculoskeletal Rehabilitation Centre uses the therapy as part of its post-operative rehabilitation programme. “I have been using equine therapy for children with cerebral palsy and other neuro-motor disorders who undergo surgery,” says Deepak Sharan, medical director, RECOUP. Over a hundred of his patients have undergone equine therapy so far.

Severely spastic and autistic children are unable to keep their head upright or sit straight. Sharan says that post-surgery, equine therapy helps to normalise muscle tone and develop head and trunk postural control and body balance.

As seven-year-old Shubhajeet Roy rides his favourite mare, Saraswati, his autism is the last thing you notice about him. When he started riding lessons a year ago, he couldn’t sit straight on the horse. “He would cry constantly, not concentrate and not talk,” recalls Bopaiah. That’s history now. Shubhajeet freely chats with Bopaiah as she takes him around the ground, lets him pluck leaves and bond with Saraswati. “His concentration and hand co-ordination have improved dramatically,” says Bopaiah.

Patients cannot turn up for equine therapy directly. It must be prescribed by a physician who is familiar with the risks and benefits of the treatment. “A child should be physically and mentally capable of riding,” says Bopaiah, who charges Rs 200 for every 40-minute riding session.

Bopaiah draws a customised lesson plan for every child and chooses a horse according to individual needs. “A spastic child, for example, needs a calm horse with a smooth, short stride,” explains the therapist.

Each riding session begins with free hand exercises and deep breathing to help the muscles relax. “While riding, I get the children to play games and ask them to recognise colours, pluck leaves and play with coloured rings. This breaks the monotony of just riding around the ring,” says Bopaiah. As an incentive to the children, Bopaiah has conducted three horse shows, where her students showed off their riding prowess and were awarded medals and certificates. “It helped boost the children’s self-confidence,” she says.

Thirteen-year-old cerebral palsy patient Varsha Rao is among Bopaiah’s first and most regular students. As the girl couldn’t talk, the therapist learnt sign language to communicate with her. After eight years of training, Varsha has learnt to sit upright, gain confidence and develop a love for animals.

But Varsha’s mother, Rekha Rao, likes equine therapy for other reasons. “As Varsha goes from monotonous physiotherapy sessions to speech classes and special schools all day, horse riding comes as a welcome break for her,” says Rao. This is one therapy session that Rao doesn’t have to force her daughter to attend.