Golden and Galizga may no more carry on treating the children with different mental and physical problems, since their owner put them for sell. Galizga and Golden are doctor horses at the Centaur Hippotherapy center (www.centaur.am ). Along with 8 other horses living in the center they are involved in hippotherapy for handicapped children and adults. Hippotherapy is recommended for problems such as cerebral palsy, Down’s syndrome, autism, scoliosis, mental deficiency, post heart attack and stroke rehabilitation period, etc. On the pace the horse’s spine makes the same movements as human spine, thus the horse gives the right motion impulses to the rider.

Centaur Hippotherapy center, located in the village of Ushi, marz Aragatsotn faces a serious problem today. Five of the horses that Centaur uses in hippotherapy and the land belong to a private owner (Centaur staff uses them in exchange of their care and fodder) who due to financial problems decided to sell the horses and the stable. Gzhella was the luckiest one among those horses: she was bought by a girl who agreed to leave the horse in the center to use her in hippotherapy.  The rest four friends of Gzhella – Golden, Galizga, Sabina and Sorbonna – have no other choice but to wait patiently. “We understand the owner very well. He has problems to solve so is selling the area and the horses. He always will give us a priority of buying them but if tomorrow some potential customer appears, he will sell the premises to him. If we could give him any warranty that will get the necessary sum he would wait but we do not have that guarantee”, Hasmik Hovhannisyan, the founder of Centaur says.

If Centaur manages to find 50 000 dollars the owner wants for the premises the only hippotherapy center in Armenia will continue its activity.  Now the most urgent is to buy Golden and Galizga, since they already have potential buyers. The owner wants 2000 USD for Golden and 1000 USD for Galizga. Hasmik and her friends organize fundraising to be able to keep the horses in the center.  They hope that they will find the necessary sum.

To train a horse for hippotherapy takes lots of time. Those horses are “doctors” already. Gzhella was born in the center. She is the only horse in Armenia that has been trained for hippotherapy since birth.

The village of Ushi is one of the most ideal places to practice hippotherapy at. Fresh air, beautiful nature, the atmosphere animals live in there strengthen the healing power of the doctor horses. Little Ani is 11 years old. She has been attending hippotherapy sessions since she was 8. Ani has cerebral palsy, weak muscles. In the beginning she was afraid of horses but today she rides them alone. This little girl with a strong will is now able to do few steps on her own.

“If Ani continues working hard, she will be able to walk on her own in a year”, Hasmik says. Horse is the only hope for many children. They come to Centaur not to undergo one more boring treatment, they have fun here. They are not handicapped here. They do not see wheel chairs here. They do not hear the words “you cannot, let me help you”… Here they ride a horse. They manage the horse; they proudly explain the horseback riding rules to the beginners.

P.S. “The Centaur Association of Hippotherapy and Equestrian Sports” NGO does its best to carry on the only hippotherapy center in Armenia. They organize fundraisings. The closest fundraising will be held at 4-6 pm, January 29 at the Cascade, in front of the statue of Tamanyan.

Narineh Sargsyan