Last Name 1

California State University, Fresno

Service Learning: Animal Therapy

(Example Paper)

Your Name

Professor Ganci

ASCI 67-04

December 12, 2018

Animal Therapy

What exactly is Animal Therapy? To some it could be an animal being there in the time

of need or sadness, or it could also be where the animal helps the person in need to regain

strength. For example, from a car accident or born injury. Animal Therapy has been around for

many years. Although it has been around for many years, Animal Therapy was actually

discovered by accident in 1961 by Dr. Boris Levinson (Brady). Levison was a doctor, who was

treating a mentally impaired boy during the time of his discovery. The boy was left alone with

Dr. Levinson’s dog, jingles. When the Doctor came back, he discovered how much the boy’s

entire presence had changed (Brady). Although this was accidental, it was almost like it was

meant to be. In the world we live in today therapy animals are “hot commodities”, because of Dr.

Levinson furthering his research with his dog jingles animals are saving lives.

The question is asked at times, why do we need animal therapy. How can animals that are

dirty and stinky help my child out? The answer is that there are many benefits that come along

with animal therapy, and it’s not just from petting the animal. As stated in the paragraph above

discussing the history of pet therapy, and how it began from a child with mental issues becoming

relaxed with being with the dog. That is only one of the many benefits, there are many more.

Such as, given from the health line, “it can reduce blood pressure, improve overall

cardiovascular health, calming effect, improving psychological state, and much more” (Health

line). Different animals deliver different benefits to the human they serve for. For example, a dog

is capable of being there for the child to feel comfort, companionship, or as a calming agent

when a child is feeling anxious. Each animal is used for different things. Whatever the child

needs there is a particular animal that has benefits to help the child succeed. There are also many

more that might sound out of the ordinary, but they do help.
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Going more in depth, every animal is used differently. The types of animals used for

therapy can be surprising and out of the ordinary for some people. It is not to say only certain

animals can be used to comfort and help a child, but there are some that take people back. For

example, the most unique animal, to me, used for therapy is a horse. Who would have thought

that such a large animal as a horse could help with social anxiety, motor skills, joint movement,

and much more. When dealing with horses as a therapy animal they are used for emotional

support, but also more for a body goal. The form of a child can change just from working with

the horse. In the article Psychology today it states, “Horses can be emotional mirror for humans”

(Psychology Today). That means they are able to sense everything we feel, such as anger,

happiness, sadness, aggression, and determination. When a person wants to make a horse move,

they squeeze their legs to let the horse know to move (Talk more about horses). This has all to do

with the strength of the rider. Whatever emotions the rider is feeling the horse is feeling as well.

If the horse does not like what the rider is doing, they will pull back or stop. Horses have their

own personality as well, since horses make their rider work with them as well. They do not just

get a “ride for free”. When a child with cerebral palsy is utilizing a horse for muscle strength, the

process to make that child sit on their own and make the horse go is the process of working the

child’s muscle. It is a process, but it can be done in time. A child dealing with autism can have a

calming effect with a horse, depending on the type of autism. A child riding a horse can calm

them down, while having them focus on the movement of the horse. There are some children

with autism who have verbal communication issues and do not talk until age 12, or not at all.

Through therapy with horses, the child would improve their social skills and verbal commands.

The assistant that is with the rider can help the child to instruct voice commands to the horse.

They can practice by saying go or stop. Simple words to stimulate the brain. Along with dealing
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with an autistic child comes with not wanting to be out in public, or not wanting to socialize at

all. By working with the horse, they are gaining more interaction. Being around the assistant to

the horse, being near, or on the horse itself gives interaction to the child. It allows the child to

think good thoughts when they are with the horse or going out for a drive to the ranch to say “hi”

to everyone to go for a ride.

Which leads me to go on to talk about my service learning experience. I was fortunate

enough to be able to volunteer at Heart of the Horse Therapy Ranch, which was the best

decision. Right off the bat I was taken under the wing of Guy and Carrey, the owners of the

ranch. Guy and Carrey are the two most passionate people I have met, and they truly know how

to handle children with disabilities. The first child I worked with was named Janie, short for

Maryjane. Janie suffered from cerebral palsy, in this case Janie’s legs were not strong enough for

her to walk on her own. Janie was assisted by a rider to hold her back while me and another girl

were holding her legs. Along with Janie not being able to walk she did not talk either. Starting

from the ride Guy let her legs warm up and get comfortable with the horse. Then Guy had the

horse stop and gave Janie a command to make the horse go, “1,2,3, GO..” was the command for

Janie to say to make the horse go. Janie at first was shy and quiet, but then her face brightened up

and smiled, hit horn of the saddle and made a movement for the horse to go. To see her face light

up, because she understood what she was doing and what guy was telling her melted my heart. I

am going to become a teacher working with children because it brightens my day up. Along with

Janie I worked with several other children, but one that also stood out to me was JD. JD suffers

from autism. Guy said when JD first came to the ranch, he did not want to talk at all to anyone,

and he was not able to steer the horse on his own. The day I was there JD was riding the horse on

his own, saying hi to everyone, along with singing. To see…. (MUST BE 2,000 WORDS).
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Work Cited

Bennington-Castro, Joseph. “How Horses Help With Mental Issues.” Everyday Health, Ziff

Davis, LLC. Updated Dec. 14, 2014. Retrieved Dec. 11, 2018.

[Link]

[Link]=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8%3d&[Link]=1&[Link]=2

Heart of the Horse Therapy Ranch. “About Us.” Retrieved Dec. 11, 2018.

[Link]

Scharff, Constance. “The Therapeutic Value of Horses.” Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers,

LLC. Published August 23, 2017. Retrieved Dec. 11, 2018.

[Link]

therapeutic-value-horses

Thomas, Michael and Michelle Ganci. The Importance of Animals in Our Society. The Great

River Learning. Retrieved Dec. 10, 2018.

[Link]