ROOBOS

A big part of hippotherapy is helping children who have gravitational insecurity or fear of being off the ground. By positioning the basket off to the side and downward this little girl has to Reach Out Of her Base Of Support or ROOBOS. She has made huge gains since riding and can now turn from forwards to sideways to backwards and around forwards again with just some verbal prompts.
Connecting these pop-it-beads is always an interesting motor planning activity since so many kids attempt to connect the bead while stabilizing from the bottom of the chain rather than grasping the bead that is being connected. Some kids can attach them after having their hands repositioned, but others do not yet have the hand strength. I think this is overall a great activity to work on strenght, motor planning, sequencing, bilateral hand use and balance.

Barbara Smith, M.S., OTR/L author of, The Recycling Occupational Therapist
HorseOT.com