The role of the Child Neuropsychiatrist within the Therapeutic Riding Team 2000

Therapeutic Riding (TR) with its main disciplines (Hyppotherapy, Remedial Educational Riding and Vaulting, Sports Riding for the Disabled) is indicated for various types of pathologies and was seen to be especially effective in neuropsychiatric disorders of the developmental age. The peculiar nature of these pathologies in the developmental age is attributable not only to clinical complexities but also to the frequent co-presence in the same subject of more than one disorder (polyhandicap); therefore precise indications are required for the method ofrehabilition. Comorbidity (for example, Cerebral Palsy and psychopathology, mental retardation and psychosis) accentuates the disability and produces a consequent modification in the process of development with repercussions on the mother-child relationship and on the environment (possibility of transition from “disability” to “handicap” – WHO, 1980).