TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | m a y 2 0 1 6 9 A H O R S E C L O S E R T O H O M E F or patients who can't get out to a horse farm like SIRE Therapeutic Horsemanship, some Rice University engineering students are work- ing on a solution that will bring hippotherapy, or equine-assisted therapy, a little closer to home. A team of students who call themselves the "Hippo Riders" developed a robotic horse simulator, complete with a toy horse head that neighs, to enable patients to have a similar rid- ing experience, but indoors. The project is part of their senior capstone design project at Rice's Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, that they demonstrated at the university's annual Engineering Design Showcase on April 14. At the beginning of the project, the team performed market research and found that the number of patients who could benefit from hippotherapy was high, but the number of people familiar with the therapy was low. They noted, however, that the American Hippotherapy Association Inc., an organization that helps educate people about the therapy and finding a therapist, says there are nearly 700 clinics that perform hippotherapy, and each of those see between 10 and 20 patients per day. The robotic horse was crafted using $1,200 in parts. Brett Berger, a mechanical engineering student on the team, said they have been able to source materials for addi- tional horses at around $1,500 and are working on developing a manufacturing plant so they can help get costs down. Ultimately, the goal is for patients, who are mainly children, to be able to either have one of the horses in their house, or at a nearby physical therapy clinic, the team said. "All of us were drawn to the project because this particular device could help people much more than some of the other projects we saw," Berger said. "We focused on the benefits, but we also know that physical therapy can be boring at times, so if it looks and feels like a horse, that adds a different element to it," Amy Ryu, another mechanical engineering student on the team, added. The horse simulator was created at Rice's Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, where students design and build projects to address real world challenges. Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University their horse when it becomes a little lame, but any irregularities don't provide the therapeutic benefit the rider needs, he added. Instead, the horse needs to be sound on all three of its gaits—walking, trotting and cantering. Horses are matched up to riders based primarily on physicality. Depending on the breed, horses have narrow, medium and wide bodies. Riders with cerebral palsy or a traumatic brain injury that causes tightness in the muscles fit better on a narrow-bodied horse. Riders with Down syndrome or other neurological disorders that cause weaker muscle tone are good on wider horses for stability. When the horse walks with a long, relaxed stride, it helps a rider with spasticity—good for lowering muscle tone and tightness. For another rider, a quick, choppy stride helps to improve muscle tone where it is weak. The idea is for the horse to challenge the rider, so students will progress from horse to horse and in the type of activities they do, Busacca said. Some riders may start out going in big, wide circles on one horse and end up later walking in smaller, tighter circles on another. Riders do get attached to their horses, so the SIRE team uses the transition as a way to teach positive change. "Things change, friends go away and family dynamics change, so switching horses is a good way to help them learn to accept that," Busacca said. Meanwhile, as Emelly and Broadway headed into the paddock for their weekly ride, Maria Martinez commented that her daughter enjoys riding, and she is seeing the benefits: Emelly sits up straighter, and she keeps her head up the longest while she is riding. "She also displays more emotion and is more vocal when she is riding," Martinez said. "A lot of the time, she thinks she is having fun, but really she is working."

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