FATP activities

The FATP as representative of a cross-border European quality standard in AMAT

Many who would like to work with people and horses feel a calling to become an equitherapist. Because of this training schemes for equitherapists appear to be a very sell-able item. Some want to become an equitherapist even though their primary profession does not qualify them to support clients through therapeutic processes, and regardless of the fact that they not have enough equine knowledge and experience to involve the horse in this activity in a meaningful manner. As a result there are also many unprofessional training providers on the free market, with new ones developing continually while others disappear. Just as for clients, it is not easy for those seeking a qualification to sort the wheat from the chaff, and to critically examine the offers of training and further education. There seemed and still seems to be an urgent need for guidance in the form of clear quality criteria. For this reason the long-standing German-speaking organizations linked up with the Dutch foundation promoting science-based equitherapy in 2000, to form an international forum of training providers on equine mediated therapies, the FATP (Forum der Ausbildungsträger einer Therapie mit dem Pferd). It has analysed and compared the therapeutic riding methods and training principles in the pedagogical, psychological and rehabilitation fields. This also allowed the organizations to profit from each other's experiences. There was respect for the diversity among the various methods and their heritage, and information on them was exchanged. But there were also many mutual core values that bound them together, and set them apart from other training and further education courses for therapeutic riding available on the free market. These core values defined the forum's quality criteria. In the course of collaboration the concepts of the founder organizations belonging to the FATP have grown closer and enriched each other, despite the differences in their traditional emphases.

This has also led to a joint provision of training. What all FATP members have in common is that the therapist is at the same time also the equine expert. They all emphasize the triangular relationship and the movement dialogue with and on the horse as a holistic humanist concept that binds together psychomotor, sociomotor and cognitive elements. Within this framework the horse should have a central role as an individual within the relationship triangle. Providing horses with appropriate habitation and training is seen as a requisite. The therapist furthermore has a duty to conform to an ethical code in relation to the client, the horse and his or her own training. The training for "equine assisted therapist is seen as an additional qualification on top of the therapist's supporting primary profession and equine qualification. The equitherapist trains his therapy horse, keeps it fit and maintains a relationship to it. The therapist's holistic humanist approach forms the backbone of the therapy concept, with continuous attention being paid to the progression of the therapy, the function of the horse and the equitherapist's own function. Within this approach the relationship between (the individual) horse and the (individual) person, supported by the pedagogue or therapist, is an essential factor in all the training models. The differences lay in the directional focus and the equine technique being used. Today the FATP has shared ethical standards, definitions of the therapeutic models, and of the function of the horse in the context of these models, as well as minimal quality criteria for the training courses. In 2009 the forum was established as a corporate body with all the associated legal and organizational consequences. The FATP is also open to other organizations that offer training, provided they meet the required standards for quality, ethics, content and organization.

The shared topics of the FATP - Qualifications

The forum of training providers of an equine assisted therapy (FATP) encompasses the associations named below. These associations offer additional qualifications for an equine assisted therapy, in differing forms and with different priorities. The additional qualifications awarded by members of the FATP are seen as "a tool for equine assisted pedagogical and/or psychosocial and/or neurophysiological rehabilitation and/or equine assisted developmental support and/or psychotherapy.

The original founding associations from 2000 to 2008 were

1. Deutsches Kuratorium für Therapeutisches Reiten (DKThR) (D) (German board for therapeutic riding)

2. Förderkreis für Therapeutisches Reiten e.V. (D) (Society for the promotion of therapeutic riding)

3. Österreichisches Kuratorium für Therapeutisches Reiten (ÖKThR) (A) (Austrian board for therapeutic riding)

4. Schweizer Gruppe für Therapeutisches Reiten (SG-TR) (CH) (Swiss group for therapeutic riding)

5. Schweizerische Vereinigung für Heilpädagogisches Reiten (SV-HPR) (CH) (Swiss association for therapeutic riding)

6. Nederlandse Stichting Helpen met Paarden Equitherapie (SHP-E) (NL)4 (Dutch national foundation promoting science-based equitherapy and therapeutic riding)

The following aspects are the primary aims of the FATP shared agreement:

the professional ethics
the extent and content of the training
the professional and hippological conditions
the shared public image
cooperation, collaboration and mutual support
the quality criteria and quality assurance
continuing education and certification
the continuing development of the training courses
the documentation of the training courses
the admission criteria for training courses
the contact to groups with a similar outlook
the cross-border standards and recognition

THE SHARED REQUIREMENTS REGARDING SUITABILITY FOR THE ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS IN THERAPEUTIC RIDING AWARDED BY THE MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS ARE:

As a rule the professional requirement for admission to the additional qualification is a completed professional training in a pedagogical, psychosocial and/or rehabilitation-related field5. Furthermore, the additional qualification is tied to hippological and equestrian qualifications in theory and practice, which are defined by the associations6.

THE FOLLOWING TOPICS ARE TAUGHT IN THE TRAINING COURSES OF THE FATP ORGANIZAIONS:

Relationship building human - horse
Sitting in on classes, f. e. in certain institutions that carry out therapeutic riding / vaulting
Self-awareness with and on the horse
Planning, execution of and reflection on practical work
Introduction to target groups of therapeutic riding
Reflection on pedagogue / therapist conduct
Selecting, training and maintaining the health of the therapy horse
Purpose and role of the therapy horse
Accident prevention and insurance matters
Continuing education opportunities

The aim is mutual understanding, collaboration and the opportunity for exchange of speakers in the respective training and further education courses.

STRUCTURE OF THE ADDITIONAL QUALIFICATIONS IN THERAPEUTIC VAULTING AND RIDING

The aim of the course modules is to bring specific topics together with the trainee's knowledge and abilities stemming from their primary profession and their equestrian training. This prepares the course participants for independent work in the field of equine assisted therapy. All training providers expect the participants to complete some periods of practical training during the course. This practical training takes place before and in between the study modules of the training course, under the guidance of qualified equitherapists. The main aim of the periods of practical training is the actual implementation of the acquired theoretical knowledge into working practice. Furthermore critical reflection on the practical work is expected. All training providers ask for a written seminar paper or thesis. The subject matter varies from the discussion of set questions or issues to the exposition of the trainee's own practical work. The extent of the complete training depends on the respective admission requirements of the training providers and their curricula.

MUTUAL RECOGNITION AGREEMENT OF THE FATP MEMBERS

In recognition of the internationalization of qualifications in a unified Europe and of the growing mobility of people with a qualification in therapeutic riding the FATP members have decided in favour of a comprehensive cooperation. They reciprocally recognize qualifications of other training providers in therapeutic riding in their own country, subject to indication of the specific individual training conditions. As a joint cooperation arrangement the FATP provides its own universal labelling on the basis of the qualification provided by the respective association.

Animal Mediated Assistance includes measures for educational, social, therapeutical or rehabilitative activities being carried out by professionals with the help of the animal as subject within the triangular process (the client, the animal and the professional undergo a relation on which the process is based).The involvement of the animal is supposed to be a sort catalysator within the intended process.

Further our work will result in European cooperation within lifelong training for AMAT.

According to the outcomes of the former Pegasus project dating from 2003 to 2005 and other studies there is no discussion about the efficiency of AMAT, if properly done according to well defined quality criteria. But because of the lack of an official framework for teaching an practice of AMATin European countries and means of official quality control we cannot exploit those opportunities efficiently. Furthermore this deficiency disables the upcoming generation of well educated specialists in AMA to establish themselves as professionals and to enable cooperation between specialists in practice, training and quality control within Europe. On the other side the outcomes of this project could be profit to the financial deciders an clients themselves making them able to distinguish between the different offers of practice in AMAT.