Hippotherapy, or equine therapy, has been around forever — it’s believed the ancient Greeks had forms of it — but modern hippotherapy was formalized in the 1960s in Europe. Since then, the use of horses for emotional and physical therapy has grown exponentially as we continue to discover just how powerful the effect a horse has on a broken body or mind.
Debbi Rosengarth Fisher is the training director at Hope for Heroes Equine Therapy in Washington State. Her program uses a variety of different horse breeds for different reasons, including needing breeds that can carry large riders. Most importantly, she says, is the horse’s temperament. They must be safe and not easily spooked by noises and movements that are not common with non-therapeutic work. All potential horses go through a rigorous trial process to make sure they are suitable for this special work. “One in 12 will become therapy horses,” she says.
Each individual horse has its own temperament as well as past training that affects their suitability for hippotherapy. Still, there are breeds that have a tendency to be better at equine therapy. Here are 25 horse breeds that excel in therapy programs.