why would a horse make eye contact and noises to a child with autism?

Question

This has happened with different horses in differen enviornments.

Answer 1

I'm so glad you asked this question. I run a NARHA facility (North American Riding for the Handicapped association) and have a lot of autism children in my program. Horses are so finely tuned to people's wants and needs- especially children. About a year ago we got in an older mustang stallion as a rescue. We had him in a pin by himself and were working on gentling him, but anytime any one entered his pin he would charge at you bucking and rearing. This couple had a few of their children out there including their 4 year old daughter with autism- one of their younger kids was acting up and while they were trying to get him under control their 4 year old wandered into the stallions corral. I looked up just in time to see the mustang walk up to the little girl and lay down- letting her crawl on his neck. When we finally got the little girl from his pin we were able to halter and lead him around his corral.

I've always thought there was something so majestic about how a horse could care for an adult or child in need. I've run my NARHA facility for the past 10 years- we have 26 horses of every breed and gender. They'll play and mess around when it's just me and my wranglers out there. But the minute any one of the children step onto my facility they turn into the mellowist horses you'd ever seen. A lot of the parents when they first joined on thought that all the horses were older and in their 20's. But the majority of my horses are under 10. Many of them were donated and many of them were rescues.

Horse back riding is great for children with autism because horses don't judge a child with disabilities. Riding increases endorphins in a child's body making them interact and communicate more. It also helps build confidence, improve balance, and it teaches children to interact with the horse and trainers.
If you are interested in getting your child involved go to www.NARHA.com to find a facility near you.

Answer 2

Horses have a great sense of how a person carrys themselves and an autistic person does the exact things you should do to make a horse comfortable.
Not be noisy, not make direct eye contact, act like they do not see or want to pet and touch the horse. All of these things will arouse a horses natural curiousity about the person. Since they can tell right off the person is not a threat to them they are more willing to come up to them and try and make friends with them.
Some horses just seem to have a thing with children.
I have a retired race horse. He is wonderful but can be a handful to ride and he LOVES to run. Put a small child on him and he will walk like he is on egg shells. Slowly and very carefully. I am not sure why but he has done it with several small kids. It is amazing to watch.

Answer 3

Because like dogs and most animals they can sence when something is off. Ever hear about the cat that was meowing its head off in a babys bed and when the parents came in the baby was blue. Of course the babay lived because the cat got the parents attention in time and rushed the baby to the hospital. Or how dogs can sence when you have an irregular heart beat, or have stopped breathing.

The horse can probabaly sence body language. Like the eye contact thing. Some one with autism has a problem socilizing and the horse will see that

All these suggestions are commen sence more then scientific but

In the end its just one of those things we just never will knbow

Answer 4

Not showing appropriate eye contact is a common symptom of autism. This can mean eye contact avoidance OR making the other person uncomfortable with staring. This does not mean that everyone with autism has this problem. People with PDD-NOS, atypical autism, have clear autistic symtoms for example but do not have the symptoms in other areas that are required for an autism diagnosis. They might make okay eye contact and not have problems with things other autistic people have problems with. As for how it is diagnosed, this depends on the age. Adults have a harder time getting diagnosed because of their age. Generally, if they are school-age or below 18 you can have them evaluated by the school free of charge. If not, diagnosing autism can get very expensive. Autism specialists are the best route, but again may have long waiting lists and cost a lot. I do not recommend phsychiatrists-- they do not care for diagnosing conditions they can't really give medication for. There is criteria in the DSM for autism spectrum disorders. Look up "autism DSM criteria", "asperger's DSM criteria", and "PDD-NOS" criteria for further explanation of the behaviors that must be seen to warrant an ASD diagnosis.

Answer 5

Horses naturally bond with children with autism and other disabilities and conditions. It's been studied and many therapudic places have looked into it. Nobody knows why horses do it, perhaps it's because they can see that this is someone that needs love and they give it freely. Maybe horses try to make the same contact with everyone but it's only these children that understand the horses and can communicate with them in such a way that they form wonderful bonds.

Answer 6

I volunteer at a hippotherapy barn, and one of the kids that I see on a regualr basis is autistic. It is definitely true that horses can sense things about humans. The horse that this girl rides is not too very friendly to just anyone, but around the children that ride him, he is good as gold. He will let THEM do anything to him. They can pet him and mess with him, and he will not even flinch. But, to any of us who lead him or take care of him...he is not too friendly. Nobody can really completely understand why the horses react they way they do to the children, or why the children open up and start saying new words on the horse. Check out this website: www.mckennafarmstherapy.org

Answer 7

Children, especially disabled ones, don't have the concept of fear and aggression etc that adults display in their every day body language, and which comes as a learned behaviour. Horses can read body language very well, and because children don't express these 'controlling' body gestures, the horses have no reason to fear the person or feel threatened.

I have an abused stallion of my own who was fine with the previous owners very young children (they could pat, groom and play with him), but no adult has been able to get within 20m of him for nearly 9 years...

Answer 8

WEll some horses sense when there is something wrong. Horses have another sense that makes them very unique. HE also just might have a conection with the equines. If you have ever watched "Animal Miracles" on Animal Planet they have alot of different stories about things like that.

Answer 9

Remarkably enough, they horse may actually understand the child and the child the horse. Animals have a very funny way with things like this......Kinda like the cancer sniffing dogs, the animals that know things befoe we do. It may be that the child can really "bond" with these animals. Horses especially sense things and autistic kids really sense them too.

Answer 10

Horses sense alot of things, including disabilities. I know there are many therapeutic riding facilities for mental and physical disabilities. My daughter is ADHD and has a common bond with her horse. They are help to each other--especially in the sense he helps her with her condition. He alone is therapy and she also sees that.