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Ukraine soldiers ride out war stress with horse therapy
A group of Ukrainian soldiers are taking a break from battle with a session of hippotherapy -- using riding and contact with horses for therapeutic effect.
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A Ukrainian serviceman rides a horse during a hippotherapy session in Kyiv on March 17, 2023. (AFP/Sergei Supinsky)
A rider in camouflage lies forward and hugs the neck of a horse called Peach, stroking his coat.
In a cosy barn on the outskirts of Kyiv, a group of Ukrainian soldiers are taking a break from battle with a session of hippotherapy -- using riding and contact with horses for therapeutic effect.
The soldiers have to deal with the difficulties of war but they appear childlike, roaring with laughter over the therapist's dogs play-fighting or the cat sneakily eating their biscuits.
The organisation, called Spirit, also works with children and people with disabilities. When war broke out, it began offering hippotherapy to frontline soldiers via a programme called Spirit Warrior.
Based at Kyiv's ramshackle hippodrome, their horses -- Persik (Peach), Kombat, Spirit and Amethyst -- placidly walk and trot with the mostly first-time riders.
The centre's founder, psychologist Ganna Burago, begins by seating the men in a circle of chairs on the sand-strewn floor.
Three shaggy dogs sprawl in the centre, one with its paws around a soldier's boot. A stove burns warmly and a ginger cat sleeps curled up next to it.
