Opinions on hippotherapy and Centaur center by specialists, beneficiaries, just riders and visitors…


Lilia Osipova: Bachelor in Occupational Therapy, cooperating with Centaur
Rehabilitation is from those medical disciplines where team approach is vital for successful outcome. For last several years hippotherapy invaded to rehabilitation and it had good results all over the world. In pediatric rehabilitation it is used as one more mean to enhance in children with special needs sensory-motor development. It helps children to learn communication skills, as well as to feel control over their bodies and moving environment (in this case horse). Impact on the sensory development is huge: coordination, concentration, proprioception, spatial awareness and all other life important inner senses are improving much faster and funnier, what is important for any child with or without special needs.
It is very helpful for us therapists and for parents living in Armenia that we also had a group of devotees who are doing for last few years that child loving work. Having some patients with different problems such as autism, developmental disorders etc. who gets Hippotherapy too in the list of other therapies I can say that impact of it can’t be overvalued. Children show better progression in different areas of development.
Gayane Hambardzumyan: Logopedist-defectologist, cooperating with Centaur
Though as a contemporary study hippotherapy dates from the 1960th nevertheless the great impact of the horse was well known still in the ancient times. It got widely spread in the world first of all due to its very important advantage over other rehabilitation methods which is its synchronous physical and emotional impact on the patient. On the horse the patient is “forced” by the horse itself to work all his muscles, synchronize and correct his movements which is very important for those with CP, Down syndrome, autism and others. Hippotherapy includes several emotional conditions – pleasure, fear, wavering of confidence and many others, in a word, controversial feelings. That helps correct the patient’s emotional palette which is important especially with autism. The horse has a unique ability to take away fear and aggression. Between the horse and the patient a special link is established. Few meetings with the horse are enough to strengthen and develop the link. With a regular practice those relations are transmitted into other fields of a patient’s life. As a specialist I am very glad that we have that hippotherapy center in the village of Ushi and strongly recommend this therapy to my patients.

Claudia Böehnke: Doctor, GP, great friend of Centaur
In March 2010 we met Hasmik Hovhannisian and Boris Podorovsky. As a medical doctor and having a physically disabled sister myself, I was very interested in hippotherapy in Armenia. Hippotherapy is a very important means of therapy for many different forms of physical and/or mental handicapped people. In Germany it is a highly regarded form of therapy.
Hasmik and Boris have impressed me by their work with horses and children. Their hard working with high responsibility for children’s and horses needs is to be supported in any case. I believe that it is a precious work for every particular child, who is having the chance to receive therapy there and precious in general for the development of the country of Armenia, offering such highly differentiated forms of therapy to those of its citizens, who need it.
Janice Lytle: mother of a rider
My son Adam has been riding with Hasmik and the crew for about a month now, and he absolutely loves it.
When we first arrived here, he went to a stable closer to Yerevan and the horses there were so lame that their jerky movement scared him and he vowed to never ride again. He was cajoled to riding on our first day at Centaur and just wouldn’t get off the horse at the end of the day. The staff and horses are lovely to work with and very patient with children. The stables are clean, there is a little sitting area for the parents to wait for the end of the lesson and a little play area to amuse children not interested in riding. One month down the line, Adam is trotting and has become extremely confident in his riding and his ability. We love and look forward to going there.