Polish contribution to the development of views on horse riding as a form of therapy : a brief historical retrospection

Since ancient times, man has ridden horses. Ancient Greeks and Romans, who did so mostly for utilitarian purposes, also found that horse riding was the source of rider’s health, recommending equestrianism to men and women of different ages as an exercise that helped preserve a healthy body. Poles, a nation whose history was always linked in a rather exceptional way with horses and horsemanship, realized quite early, at the beginning of the 17th century, that horse riding offered a variety of applications and could be used as a tool to improve human fitness and physical condition. Views of Polish hippologists such as Krzysztof Moniwid Dorohostajski and Marian Hutten-Czapski on health-related benefits of equestrianism gained popularity not only in Poland but also abroad. At the beginning of the 20th century, their opinions were endorsed by a Polish doctor, Władysław Hojnacki, who campaigned for horse riding to be used as therapy. After WW2, a distinguished Polish orthopedist and physiotherapist, Professor Marian Weiss introduced an innovative hippotherapeutic program at the Medical Center for Rehabilitation of the Locomotive Organs in Konstancin near Warsaw, finding many followers who helped hippotherapy to develop. Research confirmed that horse riding was indeed an effective form of therapy and this soon led to the establishment of the Polish Hippotherapeutic Society, organization of conferences and seminars providing a platform where views and research results could be exchanged, and starting a number of equestrian facilities across the country that popularized hippotherapy in Poland.