The “Riding the Blue” project – developed through the collaboration between Fieracavalli, FISE, the University Hospital of Verona, the ULSS 9 Scaligera Health Authority, and the Veneto Region – confirms the effectiveness of Animal-Assisted Intervention, particularly with horses, in treating Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The project has a key goal: to expand the research nationwide, involving an additional 150 participants. This would provide even more significant data that could allow this type of therapy to not only be recognized as a valid supplementary or integrative intervention, but also to be considered part of the “ecological approaches” recognized by international scientific literature.
Today, the results of another year of experimentation with the pilot project “Riding the Blue,” dedicated to equine-assisted therapy for children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder, were presented.
Starting with 15 initial participants from the Veneto region, the project grew in 2022 to include 60 subjects from 6 Italian regions, and by 2023, expanded even further to involve 95 children and adolescents aged 8 to 13 from 10 regions: Veneto, Lombardy, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, Campania, Puglia, Calabria, and Sicily.
The results – analyzed by the Regional Center for Autism Spectrum Disorders of Verona – are surprising, showing improvements in adaptive behavior, a reduction in dyspraxia, increased motor coordination, and enhanced sensory processing abilities. These positive outcomes have significantly impacted the daily lives of the children and adolescents, as well as their families and the people around them.
