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Cheval Dire, an NGO in France, brings together disabled children and ill-treated horses for sessions of a new kind of therapy. The horses learn to put their confidence in humans through being treated properly and these slightly unusual children discover the benefits of horse-based therapy.

This new approach uses horses for psychological as much as for physical reeducation. Horses offer many benefits for children with physical disabilities. Riding can tone up muscles, relax tendons and strengthen bones, while improving concentration,oxygenation and balance. They also enable previously suppressed emotions to emerge, and encourage children to reach new goals.

Support from sanofi-aventis has enabled the organisation to acquire a lifting device to simplify the process of putting riders in their saddles.