00:00Ever heard of hippotherapy? No, it has nothing to do with hippos.
00:07Rather, it's a form of therapy that uses horses to improve human physical and mental health.
00:13A specialized service offered by Green Apple Hippotherapy in Sri Kembangan, Selangor.
00:20The center was opened in 2014 by former corporate trainer Iliza Iqbal and pediatrician Dr. Ali Azman Minaj, both avid equestrians.
00:31According to them, Green Apple Hippotherapy was the first center in Malaysia to offer equine-assisted therapy services.
00:39So if you look at the horse from behind, how the pelvic moves when it's walking, the gait pattern, is very similar to how a human being walks.
00:50So when you put a child, for example, who can't walk, at a certain age, who can't walk, either a child with cerebral palsy or either a child with global developmental delay, who can't walk,
01:03and sometimes they can't even bear their weight on their feet, they can't even stand.
01:08So when you put them on the horse, they have a real sensation of how they're supposed to be walking.
01:18And then the brain learns.
01:21Iliza and Ali say hippotherapy can be used to help autism, trauma, addiction and other mental health and substance use disorders.
01:30The couple can testify to the effectiveness of hippotherapy as one of their children, who is on the autism spectrum, has benefited from the processes here.
01:40And I can see the progress that this program made for him. It was amazing. It was wonderful.
01:48But we had to be consistent. And once a week for him was good enough.
01:53The center is home to four ponies, which are of different sizes for children of different ages.
01:59These animals were hand-picked by the center to ensure they have high tolerance for humans.
02:04Riding may look fun, but it's not all horseplay here.
02:09Hippotherapy is conducted by the center's occupational therapists and physiotherapists, who have been trained to properly handle the animals.
02:18Iliza and Ali estimate that the center has helped over 500 patients thus far, most of whom come for 30 to 45-minute sessions weekly.
02:28This is one of the most effective ways of treating children with autism and cerebral palsy and some other special needs children.
02:39So it is very, very effective. It is medically, it is well-proven, it is well-researched and it's done by medical profession.
02:48And we take safety as a first priority in the treatment of children with hippotherapy.
02:57Divya Raghu and Terence Toh, FMT Lifestyle.
