"There's nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse."
- Ronald Reagan
The Old Guard and their caisson horses have added a sideline to their normal duties in the garden of stone: animal therapy:
The black and white horses that usually pull caissons during military funerals at neighboring Arlington National Cemetery are helping soldiers such as [Spec. Maxwell] Ramsey in their long struggle to learn to walk again, to regain strength and to believe in their new limbs.
...
The soldiers and the horses from the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment, also known as The Old Guard, are part of a pilot program at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in nearby Washington to see if troops with prosthetic legs can regain some mobility through horseback riding. The Army hospital has also experimented with other sports, such as skiing, to help amputees regain balance needed to walk again.
Therapeutic riding is widely used for people with physical, emotional and mental disabilities, [therapeutic riding instructor Mary Jo] Beckman said. People and horses walk using the same circular motion in their hips, she said, and riding on the back of a horse can help a person feel and recall that movement."Their bodies are getting moved as if they are walking when they are sitting on the horse," Beckman said.
Soldiers from the unit walked alongside Ramsey and Wylie [the horse] throughout the session in the yard surrounded by the brick stables that house the horses.
"It's all about soldiers helping soldiers," said Col. Bob Pricone, commander of the Old Guard.
Ramsey lost much of his left leg in March when a shell buried in a road exploded as his Humvee passed. Friday marked his third session with Wylie, and he hopes to recover faster than the year that the average amputee spends at Walter Reed.
One of the most difficult challenges is regaining balance in his left leg, he said. Riding a horse forces him to adjust his waist just to keep from falling off, which builds strength and balance in his body's core.
The therapy provided by the horses is not limited to helping an injured person regain strength and balance -- the riding helps soldiers learn to trust themselves with their new limbs. Notes Canice Kules as she watches her own son ride, "It takes a lot of courage to get up there on a horse with one arm and one leg."
(Via Dymphna in e-mail.)
Posted by floridacracker at June 3, 2006 10:09 AM