The results of this study suggest that therapeutic horseback riding may be an efficacious therapeutic option for children with autism spectrum disorders. More specifically, compared to wait-listed participants in our control group,autistic children in the experimental group improved in critical areas such as sensory integration and directed attention. Participants also demonstrated improved social motivation and sensory sensitivity, as well as decreased inattention and distractibility.
There were several limitations to this study. Most noticeably, there was no information about medication regimens. We do not know how many children were on medication, and if so, what kind and/or how much medication they were receiving throughout the intervention. It was also unknown if parents of participants in either the experimental and control groups were taking part in any therapy or self-help classes. As a result, we could not control for these variables which may have acted as potential confounds. The lack of additional data makes it difficult to ascertain if the results can be explained by the horseback riding intervention or if other extraneous variables were involved. Although this experiment was a pilot study, our attrition rate was another limiting factor. Six participants dropped out of the experimental group and three from the control group. This was believed to be due to the lack of incentive for participation and the location of the intervention site, as the GHETC is in a rural area on Miami-Dade County.