Mihaela Aroyo

Photographer
  
Hippotherapy
Stories (2)
Location: Varna, Bulgaria
Nationality: Bulgarian
Biography: Mihaela Aroyo (b. 1993 in Varna, Bulgaria) is a freelance documentary photographer. In her work, she explores themes such as cultural identity, history, folklore, environment, and personal stories. Aroyo holds a Bachelor’s degree in... MORE
Public Story
Hippotherapy
Copyright Mihaela Aroyo 2024
Date of Work Mar 2021 - Ongoing
Updated Jan 2022
Topics Animals, Disability, Documentary, Health/Healing, Hope, Personal Projects, Photography, Youth
Hippotherapy has extremely positive effect on children with neurological disabilities such as cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, autism. The theory of hippotherapy is based on the fact that the horse’s movement and the rider’s position provoke a complex of biomechanical and neurophysiological effects that can’t be repeated in any other kind of therapy. Moreover, emotional, social and cognitive improvements show that hippotherapy has effects on all body systems.

I decided to follow Krisko, 10 years old, diagnosed with autism, while he practices therapeutic horse riding in a horse base near Varna, Bulgaria. His riding skills are mostly based on intuition which sometimes surprises even his professional trainer. Krisko is calm and confident when riding. I started this project in order to raise awareness to the positive effects of hippotherapy which is otherwise poorly developed in my country Bulgaria.
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