Elder Sir, Mazzy, Agility and Inca, trusted horses that led me into the field of therapeutic riding. This study used a qualitative interpretive approach to explore the subjective experiences of six children with cerebral palsy who participated in a therapeutic horse riding intervention program over a two-year period. In addition, it was found that the limited amount of existing, largely quantitative research in the field of therapeutic riding was often methodologically deficient.
The aforementioned definition of therapeutic riding was used for the purposes of this study. Therefore, this study builds on the existing body of knowledge in the field of therapeutic riding by drawing on and agreeing on specific understandings of disability and well-being.
Research Questions
Methodologically, qualitative, interpretive research methods have been assessed as most suitable for the purpose of this study. In what follows, the goals of this research project are formulated through the specification of central research questions that have been the basis of the thesis. The third research question was thus: "Which therapeutic effects do children with cerebral palsy have from their participation in a therapeutic riding intervention?".
To identify and understand the processes and dynamics by which therapeutic horse riding produces meaningful change in daily functioning and psychological well-being in a group of children with cerebral palsy. The fourth research question addressed by this study was therefore: 'What are the dynamics and processes that emerge within a therapeutic riding intervention that promote movement towards meaningful change in daily functioning and psychological well-being in a group of children with brain injury? ? paralysis?".
Conclusion
To begin with, an overview of some of the most important conceptualizations of disability has been carried out. In fact, this study has a particular interest in the psychological experiences of children with diagnoses of disabilities that entail quite severe associated physical impairments. Against this background, it is argued that the study of disability and rehabilitation can be expanded and supplemented with a conceptual positioning of understandings of disability in relation to central issues and concepts relating to optimal human functioning.
Positive psychology, a field that has yet to be fully applied in relation to conceptualizing impairment and disability, is seen as a promising theoretical point of departure. In conclusion, the chapter theorizes the potential mechanisms and processes through which therapeutic horse riding brings about changes in individuals' psychosocial functioning with a view to theoretically grounding the current study.
Models of Disability
A Social Model
Some of the challenges of a deficit-oriented medical approach to conceptualizing disability have been addressed by variants of a social model of disability. Foucault's work functions as an alternative critique to the medical model and concerns the historical context of discourses. Furthermore, Foucault (1977) refers to the control of the body through disciplinary technologies designed to shape and train.
The call more recently for proper attention to 'the psychological' within conceptualisations of disability warrants a consideration of the issues with which the discipline of psychology engages. 2 See StrOmpfer, (1995) and Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi, (2000), for example, for a historical overview of the development of positive psychology.
SELF-ACCEPTANCE (a) positive self-evaluation,
The following three principles underlie Ryff and Singer's (1998, cf. p.2) formulation of human health: Firstly, positive health is not, in the final analysis, a medical question, but is essentially rather a philosophical issue which an articulation of the meaning of the good life. Second, human well-being is both about the mind and the body and their interconnections. Consequently, a comprehensive assessment of positive health must consider cognitive, psychological, and physical components and the ways in which they influence each other.
Third, positive human health is best interpreted as a dynamic multidimensional process rather than a discrete state. 34; the human being is ultimately a matter of engagement in life, involving the expression of a wide range of human potentials: intellectual, social, emotional and physical" (Ryff & Singer, 1998, p.2).
PERSONAL GROWTH
POSITIVE RELATIONS WITH OTHER PEOPLE (a) close, warm, and intimate relationships with others,
AUTONOMY
PURPOSE IN LIFE
ENVIRONMENTAL MASTERY
An Interpretive Paradigm
And, in trying to interpretively make sense of the participants' lives, one of the main goals of this interpretive study was to provide as rich or as "thick" a description as possible of their experiences of daily life of disability and injury, and the impact of participation in a therapeutic riding program on their experiences. Children with cerebral palsy constitute a specific and limited sector of the population of children in general and children with disabilities in particular. Thus, apart from the obvious differences in terms of attention span, levels of motivation, levels of cooperation and ages, children with cerebral palsy in general and the participants in this study in particular, constitute a heterogeneous group due to the peculiarities of the diagnosis.
Participant observations were also conducted during therapeutic riding sessions and at horse shows in which three of the six subjects participated. This made adults suitable proxies for providing rich, locally produced or 'situated' descriptive accounts of the participants' everyday experiences with cerebral palsy. In this study, I therefore conducted a series of in-depth interviews lasting on average between 30 minutes and an hour, with the participants' occupational therapists and speech therapists, as well as with the class teacher, and a private teacher who supervised one of the participants (Rachel ) to therapeutic riding lessons.
My interactions with the participants' mothers (and the rest of the interviewees) as well as my approach to the data that was constructed as part of the research process required great sensitivity, empathy and respect. And, in presenting the data in this study, pseudonyms have been used to mask the identification of the individuals concerned. I tried to become a natural part of the lives and therapeutic riding routines of the individual participants with the aim of better understanding their worlds.
Accordingly, I approached the data analysis process with a prior understanding of the meaning of the data. I searched the data for dynamics, processes, functions, tensions, and contradictions that emerged in a set of alternate accounts of participants' everyday experiences of impairment and disability. Thus, the analysis was equipped with fresh readings of the data, and new connections and explanations often emerged.
Elaboration
By repeatedly combing the data, I began to see the data and themes in different ways.
Interpretation and Checking
Sarah
Combined with her small stature, Sarah's inability to speak tends to create an impression of her as being a much younger child. For Sarah, relationships with others are fraught with difficulties due to her communicative incompetence. Although such features point to the profound nature of Sarah's cognitive impairments, the nuanced, idiosyncratic nature of her perceptual skills and responsiveness must also be considered.
For Maya, the intuitive sense she possesses as a mother is an important resource that helps her meet the demands of her role as a parent. The impression is created that Sarah is particularly vulnerable to injuries outside her home context. Importantly, her severe impairments on multiple dimensions of functioning do not completely negate Sarah's experience of positive emotions in the context of her daily interactions.
Indeed, Sarah's use of her body to communicate feelings of excitement and pleasure is a feature I have often noticed even within the therapeutic riding environment. Seeing what Elana had noticed about Sarah's bodily expressions of her emotional states, I asked Maya how her daughter expresses that she is happy. However, it is remarkable that, like Rachel, she clearly uses her physicality as a resource to communicate with others.
In her story, Maya reinforces the idea of her daughter's physicality as a medium through which she expresses her emotions. Applying Brickell's (2005) insights to the present context, it is argued that the horse's walking action can increase Sarah's awareness of her own body movements while riding, as well as of her movements when away from the horse. At one level, the example of Sarah occasionally removing her hands from the ropes of the swing, maintaining her balance, and then successfully placing them back on the ropes of the swing indicates that she has developed a clear awareness of position of her body in space. as well as the ability to easily make adjustments in the positioning of her body.
It is also inferred that, in relation to her sociality, opportunities for experiences of a sense of mastery lead to further expansion of skills and resources, which in turn enhances Isobel's experiences of a sense of fulfilment. It is argued that the very real consequences of her impairments on physical dimensions of functioning remain at the forefront of Isobel's subjective experiences of disability. Based on the feelings of incompetence and inferiority that she had internalized due to her left hand being labeled 'stupid', Isobel had previously tended to refrain from offering it to be held.
It is therefore concluded that Isobel is particularly fortunate in terms of the degree of functionality she has achieved in relation to the motor control and use of her spastic, hemiplegic left hand. In particular, she learned to monitor the response of her left hand to fine motor activities. This means that Isobel is able to perceive and respond to the increased muscle tone she experiences by exercising some control over the motor functioning of her hemiplegic left hand.
Compared to the participants we have discussed so far, Natalie shows greater competence in terms of her expressive and receptive language skills and. Thus, Natalie's experiences of her physical and social world can be interpreted as inherently limited. While considering Natalie's ability to communicate with others, it is also helpful to consider the challenges she experiences as a result of her motor impairments.
Based on Ryff and Singer's (1998) model, they argue that such positive experiences in the context of her home feed into Natalie's experiences of psychological well-being. And realizing that she is actually missing out on a series of positive experiences because of her impairments, Natalie is clearly distressed. But it's not just her motivation and zest for life that sets Natalie apart from the rest of her peer group.
It is suggested, then, that such traits can be interpreted as evidence of her efforts at transformative coping (Aldwin, 1994). It is clear that Natalie recognizes Alida as an individual who is validating her experiences and personality in that she is responsive and interested in what she has to say.
