Spending time with horses seems to make people with Alzheimer鈥檚 disease more sociable and improves their mood.
鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing some really promising results with bringing Alzheimer鈥檚 patients into nature with horses,鈥� says at the University of Tours in France.
Badin and her colleagues enrolled 34 people with Alzheimer鈥檚 鈥� 30 women and four men, aged between 80 and 98, living in four French nursing homes 鈥� to participate in either equine-assisted therapy or music therapy, an established way of supporting people with dementia. Both of the therapies consisted of a 1-hour session every week for three months. Most of the participants were women due to them making up a higher proportion of nursing home residents than men, says Badin.
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The 18 participants in the equine-assisted therapy group groomed and walked with horses, watched them move and graze, and were told about what they eat. The remaining 16 participants were guided through breathing exercises, singing, moving to music and playing percussion, as well as being given general knowledge about instruments.
Using multiple standardised psychiatric tests, the researchers determined that both therapies improved mood, but the change was markedly greater among those in the equine-assisted therapy group.
Those involved in equine-assisted therapy also had a greater increase in the number of social interactions they had with fellow participants and their own caregivers, compared with those in the music therapy group.
People in the equine therapy group also showed fewer signs of depression by the end of the programme, having already experienced a rapid decline in related symptoms by the sixth session. Badin presented her team鈥檚 work at the in Saumur, France.
The positive outcomes may have arisen from the participants being comforted by interacting with an animal that is big and strong, but often quiet, says Badin. 鈥淭he horses also seemed to evoke lots of happy memories from younger days, when these elderly patients used to see more horses on the roads and farms.鈥�
Even so, neither therapy appeared to have any effect on behavioural symptoms, such as aggression, or physical health.
