New in the PRC Library…

Gift Horses. Producer and Director: David Block. 2016. DVD (22 min.)

Gift Horses, a powerful short film by blind filmmaker David Block, presents the services of three therapeutic horseback riding organizations in Pennsylvania. It shows the various emotional benefits that therapeutic riding offers people with disabilities including a feeling of independence, freedom, and accomplishment as well as the physical benefit of the horses’ gait which is a movement similar to the human walk which leads to improved muscle tone, balance and coordination.

Also shown is one equine-assisted activity program where the horses are not ridden but loose in a pen. The person is allowed to walk in the pen and just interact with the horse as a form of emotional therapy. The focus of all these organizations is to allow people with disabilities to experience an extraordinary connection that is given when riding or interacting with a horse while also improving their quality of life. Gift Horse’s mission is to emphasize that these quiet and powerful animals are a prodigious resource for people with disabilities.

A copy of this video can be checked out from the Paralysis Resource Center’s library.

Please see the online catalog and borrowing instructions.