WINDHAM, Maine — The Maine Medical Research Institute will partner with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus to study why therapeutic horseback riding benefits children with autism and co-occurring psychiatric diagnoses. Both organizations have been awarded $2.5 million for their research.
The study will take place this summer at Riding to the Top Therapeutic Riding Center in Windham as well as a riding center in Colorado.
The research will look at 142 children between the ages of 6 and 16. They will be assigned either therapeutic riding or barn activities for 10-week sessions. Both groups will wear heart rate monitors and wrist bands that record electrodermal activity which measures sweat on the skin. Salvia samples will be taken before and 20 minutes after sessions to measure the levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Sarah Bronson, a physical therapist and Riding to the Top's executive director, says "Riding to the Top's certified instructors, volunteers, horses, and many new clients to be involved in ground-breaking research that will provide more objective data as to the specific physiological changes that occur during therapeutic riding, lending further support to the work that we do,”
The study will also look at how much therapeutic riding a child needs to see measurable results and how long those results last.
A previous study by Colorado Anschult researcher Robin Gabriels showed that a 10-week horseback riding session reduced irritability and hyperactivity while improving social communication skills. The new research will look at why.
MMCRI Faculty Scientist Matthew Siegel, MD says, “this study is exciting because it’s not often we have a chance to try to understand why something works. Learning why will hopefully help us create other interventions that could address challenges that children with ASD face.”
Riding to the Top is looking for volunteers to help with the riding and "barn" groups of the research. Their phone number is (207) 892-2813, ext. 22 and ask to speak with Kate Jeton.
The researchers will be recruiting study participants in the spring of 2020.
