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Ironstone Therapy offers a service to surrounding communities that is unique - specifically, the ability to provide a combination of professional medical expertise and the beauty and serenity of a real farm, within easy access of a metropolitan population. The difference between the therapy offered at the typical rehab clinic or hospital and that offered at Ironstone is the intervention of "hippotherapy" or "treatment with use of the horse."
Hippotherapy is based on the premise that when an individual sits on a walking horse, the multidimensional movement of the horse produces a similar effect on the person as the normal walking movement. With this in mind, therapists and instructors develop exercises and activities that are planned to address issues that impede functional activities. The resulting benefits include strengthening and endurance, increased balance and coordination, improved trunk and head control, and normalized ambulation.
Ironstone Therapy employs physical, occupational, and speech therapists who work with Challenge Unlimited's instructors in determining a medically based plan of care for each client. Addition of services in psychotherapy is planned for the near future. The program offers a full spectrum of rehabilitative activity, including evaluation, traditional treatment, and consultation.
Ironstone Therapy clients have a unique opportunity of continuing similar therapeutic activities through the Challenge Unlimited riding program. If a client is restricted financially by insurance parameters and can benefit further by the exercise derived from riding a horse, Ironstone Therapy and Challenge Unlimited staff will work with that client to help find alternative funding so that he/she can remain in a similar program at the farm, working with instructor and volunteers, at a lower cost. This will open the doors for participation in other activities, such as Special Olympics, recreational riding, volunteering, and even farm-related jobs.
