English article: Therapeutic Riding for Children with Congenital Heart Disease

Abstract

Due to overprotective parents and the uncertainty of physicians and sports pedagogues about the physical stress tolerance many cardiac children suffer from a lack of movement experience. This can result in a deficiency of motor skills, body perception and movement coordination, but also in anxiousness, fear in movement situations, lack of self-confidence, a low level of social competence as well as in a limited scope of action (Sticker 2004, Bjarnason-Wehrens et al. 2007). Therapeutic riding, especially psycho-educational riding/vaulting, but also hippotherapy and riding for handicapped people have a particularly positive effect on these misdevelopments.