Over the past twenty years, hippotherapy has developed from a complementary therapeutic practice into a more mainstream therapy with documented and evidence-based results. However, the hippotherapy speciality area has limited its framework to only utilizing the movement of the horse as an intervention strategy. This limitation restricts the research opportunties within the realm of physical changes instead of allowing a holistic approach to quality of life and well-being. This project will build the foundation within the purposed hippotherapy framework by explicitly defining hippotherapy as therapy with the connection of a horse. This definition is meant to encompass the relationship of a holistic approach to a science-driven, evidence-based practice.
