To be eligible for the study, participants had to (a) be diagnosed with ASD by a physician (b) be between 5 and 13 years of age (c) be available to participate in the Intervention phase of the study which could require up to 5 days/week riding sessions for 4 weeks (d) be able to participate in the therapeutic riding sessions for 12 weeks,and (e) have parents willing to identify and document target behaviors they wanted increased (positive) or decreased (negative) in their child. Eight children met 3 of the criteria, and three boys between the ages of 6 and 8 years met all criteria and participated in the study. Each of the boys had been riding once a week for approximately 1 year. The three boys were randomized by coin flip to receive the therapeutic riding Intervention (dosing) for 1 (Participant A; Control dose), 3 (Participant B), or 5
(Participant C) sessions per week. Examples of short-term and long-term therapeutic riding goals for the three participants are listed in Table 1.