EQUINE THERAPY FOR SPECIAL CHILDREN IMPRESSES MALAYSIAN KING

From Sharifah Nur Shahrizad Syed Mohamed Sharer

HINCHINBROOKE (QUEBEC), Sept 20 (Bernama) -- Malaysian King Tuanku Mizan Zainal
Abidin visited a therapeutic riding centre here Sunday and came away impressed
with the equine therapy programme for special children and disabled people.

The Malaysian King spent about two hours at the Lucky Harvest Therapeutic Riding
Centre where he was briefed by the coordinator and instructor, Debbie Wilson,
and chatted with several participants of the programme.

Located about an hour's drive from Montreal, Lucky Harvest Therapeutic Riding
Center is the first equine therapy centre to have received an accreditation
certificate.

The Lucky Harvest Project was established in December 1990 with the primary aim
of providing therapy, rehabilitation and enjoyment to children, youths, and
adults with physical, intellectual, emotional and/or developmental disabilities.

The focus of the programme is similar to that of the Sultan Mizan Royal
Foundation which assists disabled people, particularly in health care.

Tuanku Mizan, who is chairman of the foundation and an avid endurance horse
rider, is on a "special task" visit to Canada in conjunction with the "Brain
Gain Malaysia" programme, of which the foundation is a grant recipient.

The therapeutic treatment at the Lucky Harvest centre begins with the matching
of a patient with a suitable horse based on the patient's physical condition.

The treatment at the centre is for a broad range of physical, mental and
emotional disabilities such as Cerebral Palsy, Down's and Rett Syndromes,
neuromuscular disorders, post-traumatic brain injury, autism, and cognitive
disorders.

Wilson, when met by RTM (Radio & Television Malaysia) and Bernama reporters
prior to Tuanku Mizan's visit, said about 40 children underwent training per
year, with about eight children undergoing the therapy every Saturday.

"We use the horse as a tool to help rehabilitate and promote the general
well-being of children with disabilities. We also use the horse as a means of
getting certain behaviour ... the horses are very sensitive, so a child of
certain behaviour has to control his behaviour in order to get the horse to do
what they want," she said.

Wilson said 80 per cent of the children attending the programme had speech
problems and 60 per cent of them were autistic.

For children with speech problems, the centre worked on their language ability,
while the autistic children worked well with the horse because it was their tool
of communication, she said.

"To see your child who cannot play hockey, do ballet or participate in soccer or
social group activities, ride and control a 1,000-pound horse is really
amazing," she said, adding that all the horses used in the programme had been
carefully selected and trained.

On Tuanku Mizan's visit, Wilson said it was a good opportunity to promote more
people to be involved in the programme around the world.

"This visit is also an opportunity for us to make more people aware of our
service here because we do not have the ability nor resources to promote the
project on a larger scale," she said.
-- BERNAMA