Objective : This study conducted a systematic review for examining riding intervention for the rehabilitation
children with disabilities in Korea.
Methods : This author referred to the journal published through the National Assembly Library and the
Korea National Intelligence Service Conference from February of 2000 to March of 2011, and
used the major search terms such horseback riding, riding for the disabled, children with disability
and riding for the rehabilitation.
Results : This article used the diseases for studying, which 8 of total 14 researches are cerebral palsy, 7
are mental retardation, other developmental disabilities and 1 is autism. It found that the research
design is Non-RCT where 6 of 14 journals had chosen for planning quasi-experiment in
which it doesn't satisfy the randomly assigned group, the same condition and the sequential
measurements, which was the highest rate of the journals, including Non-RCT where 5 of
them had chosen for single subject, Single-subject Design where 3 of them had chosen for
measuring single subject through therapeutic intervention. On the therapeutic efficacy, total 9 of
them reported the physical efficacy in such as the posture related with walking & the balance
capability, gross motor function, muscle strength and rigidity, 1 of them indicated the result of
hand function and cognitive function, and 4 of them showed other depression, sociality and
emotional shift.
Conclusion : For this, this article suggested that further research has to study the population with various
diseases, other than cerebral palsy and mental retardation, as well as various aspects such as
cognitive-perceptual aspects on riding intervention for the rehabilitation, not limiting to the
physical efficacy, more improved studies on the evidence level additionally.