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Background Information 
The Driving Survey, composed in 2005 by the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (NARHA) Driving Committee, was implemented to discover norms of practice utilized in American and International therapeutic driving communities. Survey statistics will assist in guiding research in therapeutic driving and may provide helpful information for those wishing to start a driving program.  The survey was not intended to reveal guidelines for safety or “best practice”, as already established, for example, by NARHA in the Driving Specialty Standards. The survey answers do reflect the current choice of equipment, equines, and protocol employed by recognized programs giving therapeutic driving lessons.

The survey was disseminated electronically during a 7-week period January 11, 2005 through February 28, 2005 via the NARHA website, the driving and therapeutic riding Yahoo listserv groups, and directly through e-mail.  There were 62 e-mail requests for the survey.  59 total survey responses were received through the post office and e-mail representing 8 countries:  USA, Canada, UK (England, Ireland, Scotland), Belgium, Italy, and Austria.  Out of the 59 responses received, one center from the USA had a multiple response to the survey and the duplicate was eliminated with statistics being gathered from the remaining 58 surveys. 

Program affiliations from survey respondents included:  NARHA (North American Riding for the Handicapped Association), RDA (Riding for the Disabled Association), FRDI (Federation of Riding for the Disabled International), Driving for the Disabled, Special Olympics, CHA (Certified Horsemanship Association), and “None” (no program affiliation).  In 2003, 45 out of a total of 692 NARHA Centers indicated they completed therapeutic driving.  18 NARHA driving programs answered the 2005 driving survey, representing roughly 40% of the NARHA Centers that drive.

The survey outlined the following definitions for both “driving” and “disabilities”:  “Horse Driving Activities may include long lining, practicing on a rein board, harnessing, and driving an equine in a cart, carriage, or similar vehicle”; and “Disabilities may include physical, psychological, cognitive, sensory, or behavioral”.  Respondents were then asked to answer “yes” or “no” to the following question: “Do you participate in any form of driving activities with people with disabilities?”  Those who answered “yes” were invited to complete the survey questions. 

33 respondents checked "YES” they do complete driving activities with people with disabilities and 25 answered "NO".

Besides survey statistics, the various program’s additional written comments provide useful information as well.  For example one respondent wrote, “After looking at your survey, I realized it was for therapeutic programs, which our center is not. Although we have employed people with behavioral and psychological problems, our main thrust is the training of Harness Horses.  There are no equipment changes to protect or teach our employees, per se.  Sorry we couldn't take the survey but none of the questions applied to this facility.  Please do send me a brochure when you complete it! I'm interested in anything NARHA is doing to further therapeutic driving.” 

CHA had no driving respondents but a committee member sent the following:  “I am chairing a committee for Certified Horsemanship Assoc. to develop a certification program for drivers of horses and mules. I would be very interested in the findings of your survey and wonder if you could pass those findings on to me?  Thank you and I hope you have an overwhelming response!”  One person representing Special Olympics noted they are interested in beginning a driving program and asked, “Is there any way to get the results of this survey to potentially give us some guidance in starting a program?”

Two responses, one from the United Kingdom and the other from Italy, reflected information regarding several centers rather than just one program. In addition to three individual survey responses from RDA programs in England and Scotland, the RDA Carriage Driving Committee Secretary sent data representative of all 100 RDA driving Groups in the UK (England, Scotland, and Ireland): “Please find attached answers to your recent survey. Unfortunately it is not possible to send it to all of our Groups of carriage drivers, so I have completed it as best I can, on behalf of all our Groups.  We would also be very interested in the results of the survey.  Many thanks.”  And the survey from Italy came with the message, “Unfortunately in Italy we don't complete driving for the disabled.  Many regards.”

Approximately four years ago NARHA implemented new requirements for programs utilizing driving.  This process resulted in “growth pains” evidenced by five respondents from NARHA who noted they had an active driving program but due to changes regarding driving instructor certification they have put driving on hold; 1 respondent left NARHA and is driving on their own; 2 respondents are working toward their NARHA driving certification; and 2 respondents not currently driving under NARHA chose to answer the survey with answers placed under the “no program affiliation” category. Concern from NARHA centers was expressed with the implementation of new requirements for certification of driving instructors and the resulting time and expense incurred with certification, as well as with the availability of certification clinics.
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Survey Statistics

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# Of “YES” Survey Respondents and their Program Affiliations

18  NARHA (USA and Canada) – North American Riding for the Handicapped Assoc.

4    RDA (UK) – Riding for the Disabled Association

1    FRDI (Europe) – Federation of Riding for the Disabled International

2   (USA) Driving for the Disabled + 2 (UK which are also RDA programs) 

0    CHA (USA) – Certified Horsemanship Association

0    Other – Special Olympics (USA)

8    None – No program affiliation (USA)
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                                                Harness Information

Driving Vehicle Summary  
Carriage drivers traditionally sit on the right side and are above the horse’s top line. In adapted driving slightly over half of the students follow this tradition. All 4-wheel carriages from surveyed programs and some 2-wheel carts allowed the driver to see above the horse’s back.  Many 2-wheel vehicles (Easy Entry Carts) utilized by therapeutic driving programs sit the driver level with or lower than the top line and are preferred due to ease of access for students.  The majority of students sit on the right side of the carriage but this may vary due to W/C accessibility of the carriage, the student’s disability (i.e. spinal curvature, hemiplegia) and/ or whether a brake is present and the student’s related ability to use the brake.  One third of carriages are equipped with brakes.  About half of programs have a wheelchair accessible carriage.  One-third of programs with an accessible carriage put the wheelchair in the carriage about 50% of the time and one-third use the W/C in the carriage 25% of the time or less (see chart outlining “Other Interesting Statistics”). 

The majority of programs have further adapted their carriages for student’s special needs.  2-wheel carts are utilized over 4-wheel vehicles nearly 2:1 by the surveyed centers.  Muffy comments about which vehicle is best suited in learning to drive: I think a 2-wheeled carriage is more suited for a beginner for several reasons. First, they are a lot less expensive, so there is not the large financial output for something that a beginner might decide they are not interested in. I'm a great one for starting small and getting what you need along the way as your interest grows. Second, is that there is much less carriage to worry about. Most beginners have a hard enough time getting to know where two wheels are, much less four. Also, unless you have a good friend who can go with you all the time, the back wheels on a 4-wheeler tend to slew around at times without someone on the back. Just the way they are balanced.  So, my advice to a beginner is to stick with a Meadowbrook or something similar until you know what you want to do in driving. Then go out and find that perfect dream carriage!

Survey Norms 
Two-wheel Vehicle that may or may not be wheelchair accessible; Student sits on the right side and above the horse’s back in lessons; Carriage adapted for student to have proper foot support.
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Disabilities

Disabilities Summary 
The majority of driving students present primarily with a physical disability.  Secondary disabilities are fairly equally spread in the Cognitive, Sensory, Psychological, and Behavioral areas.Other conditions mentioned were: developmental disabilities, thalidomide, blind, stroke, learning disabilities, obesity, poor balance, and “reasons why they can’t ride”.

Survey Norms
Student’s primary disability is physical and student may present with any number of secondary conditions.
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                                                Driving Lessons

Driving Lesson Summary  
The vast majority of programs use an AB Whip 100% of the time for driving lessons.  All programs indicated driving outside and about one third of the programs also drive inside some of the time.  When outside, a fenced and unfenced area was used almost equally.  Most programs schedule driving lessons in the Spring and Fall.  One program located in Arizona, schedules in the winter and not in the summer due to extreme summer heat. Many RDA Groups in the UK do not drive in the winter.  The majority of programs schedule 1 student and 1 carriage per lesson. Most programs schedule 60-minute lessons 1x per week for 8 weeks and spend 25-30 minutes actually driving.  The top 4 answers of activities students complete when at their lesson but not driving the carriage include:  harness, watch lesson, groom, and wait their turn.

Survey Norms
Lesson scheduled with AB Whip in Carriage; 60-minute lesson completed outdoors in a fenced or unfenced area 1x week for 8 weeks in the Spring, Summer, or Fall; Student drives for 25-30 minutes and completes harnessing, observation of lessons, or grooming during remainder of lesson time; 1 Student and 1 Carriage scheduled per lesson.
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Equine Summary
The majority of programs use a horse or large pony as their driving equine.  Draft horses and small ponies were also used but about ½ as much as the previously mentioned groups.  Mules and donkey’s were rarely to never used by established driving programs.  The mean age of equines was 10-18 years old.  And the overwhelming majority of driving horses are also utilized for riding.

Survey Norms
Driving Equine is a Large Pony or Horse aged 10-18; Driving Equine both rides and drives.
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Survey Summary
The Therapeutic Driving Survey Questionnaire, circulated in 2005, can be found in Appendix 1.  The “yes” survey respondents provided information regarding their program affiliation; what harness, carriage, and equipment they used and how often it was used; their student’s primary and secondary disabilities; how often, when, and where lessons were completed; and the type of equine(s) chosen for driving activities.  Survey results and norms were gathered for each of these individual survey areas.  In some instances, information from two or more areas was combined to provide additional insight into programming:  i.e. answering the question, “How many programs utilize only 1 horse/1 carriage and what type of horse and carriage are they?”  At the end of the survey summary, Appendix 2 lists the carriages used by survey respondents and includes general carriage details, program comments, and manufacturer information.

As survey results were being tabulated, a number of “un-asked” survey questions became clear.  For example, survey norms do not reflect all program choices of equipment or equines as evidenced by the table outlining program details of ‘1 horse and 1 carriage’.  Survey questions do not ask “why” a program may choose an answer:  e.g. driving outdoors due to space, finances, or footing? Also, it was assumed that all driving students would wear helmets but one program specifically wrote that severely disabled W/C students who have molded W/C seating cannot safely drive wearing a helmet while seated in their W/C.  Future considerations when gathering information include asking the following:  “How long have you completed therapeutic driving?”; “What type of horse and carriage did you start your therapeutic driving program with?”, “Has this changed?” and “if so, what has changed and why?”; “ Why do your students participate in therapeutic driving?”; “What do you and your students see are the benefits of therapeutic driving?”; “How often do you participate in competition opportunities?” & “With what level of students”; “Do your students use a wedge seat or other type of cushion?”; “Do you utilize a student harness or seat belt?” & “if so, what type and in  what circumstances?”; “Is your AB Whip also the driving instructor?”; “What characteristics would your ‘dream’ carriage have and why”; “What is your first/ second/ third  preference of where you choose to drive most often and why”; “Where do you drive with your beginner’s lessons”; and “Do your driving students AND AB whips wear helmets” and if not, “What are the circumstances when helmets are not used”.

Identifying norms from survey results to ascertain existing standards of practice of established therapeutic driving programs will assist in determining dependent and independent variables for future research in therapeutic driving.  Norms are based on predominant response averages and are not intended to exclude other types of driving scenarios from consideration nor to present recommendations for “best practice” but rather to provide a useful baseline for starting research projects.  The following is a summary of norms revealed from the majority of program answers to the 2005 Driving Questionnaire: pleasure harness in either synthetic or leather with double reins; a 2-wheel carriage that may or may not be wheelchair accessible but most often used without the wheelchair; carriage adaptations for proper student foot support (feet touch floor); student seated on the right and above the horse’s back; student drives with an AB whip present outdoors on sand or grass in a fenced 100’x175’ arena or in an unfenced area in the Spring, Summer, or Fall; student drives 25-30 minutes, 1 time per week for 8 weeks with 1 student and 1 carriage per lesson; and the driving equine is a horse or large pony.
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Appendix 1:  Therapeutic Horse Driving Survey
Your participation in this questionnaire will facilitate future research areas for therapeutic driving.  The NARHA (North American Riding for the Handicapped Association) Driving Committee is hoping for 100% completion and your input is NEEDED!!!  The intent of this survey is to determine the basic “Standards of Practice” utilized in various therapeutic driving programs.  All answers are treated with confidentiality and no programs, individuals, or respondents will be singled out and named.  In appreciation for your participation in answering these questions, we are offering to share the tallied results with you!  Please see the end of the questionnaire for details.  And THANK YOU.

Finish and RETURN completed Survey BY 2/28/05

Definitions

• Horse Driving Activities may include long lining, practicing on a rein board, harnessing and driving an equine in a cart, carriage, or similar vehicle.

• Disabilities may include physical, psychological, cognitive, sensory, or behavioral.

_____YES    _____NO    
Do you participate in any form of driving activities with people with disabilities (see definitions above)? *

*If yes, please continue on to the next series of questions A-F, if no, please stop here, return the questionnaire, and we thank you for your time.

A)  Program Affiliation (Please circle all that apply)

NARHA    RDA     FRDI     Driving for the Disabled     CHA     Other _______  NONE

B)  Equipment

Harness (please circle all that apply)  Draft     Pleasure     Marathon     Fine/Show    Race

Harness (please circle all that apply)  Biothane   Beta   Leather   Web    Synthetic    Other

Equipment Adaptations (please check all that apply)

_____ Double Lines Utilized (Please circle how often:  100%  75%  50%  25%)

_____ Adapted Rings/ Turrets for lines

_____ Ladder Reins

_____ Loop Reins

_____ Knotted Reins

_____ Braided Reins

_____ Adapted Handholds on Carriage (please explain) __________________________

_____ Adapted Seating (please explain) _______________________________________

_____ Adapted Floor/ Foot support (please explain) _____________________________

_____ Other:  please note type and indicate how often utilized______________________

C)  Driving Vehicle  (Please check all that apply and include #’s of vehicles)

_____ 2 wheel cart _______                    _____ 4 wheel ________

YES   NO   Is any vehicle Wheel Chair accessible? (If yes, please answer * below)

         * Is your W/C carriage limited only to W/C users?    YES   NO

         * How often is the W/C carriage used without a W/C?  N/A  0%  25%  50%   75%

While seated in the driving vehicle is your student’s head: 

Name of Primary Vehicle: ______________2-wheel or  4-wheel W/C Accessible: YES  NO 

Manufacturer/ Address/ Website: ____________________________________________

Name of Vehicle 2: ____________________2-wheel or  4-wheel W/C Accessible: YES  NO 

Manufacturer/ Address/ Website: ____________________________________________

Name of Vehicle 3: ____________________2-wheel or  4-wheel W/C Accessible: YES  NO 

Manufacturer/ Address/ Website: ____________________________________________

D)  Disability
Primary Disability – What is your student(s) Primary Disability (only 1 per student)?

_____ Physical

_____ Psychological

_____ Cognitive

_____ Sensory

_____ Behavioral

_____ Other (please list) ___________________________________________________

Secondary Disabilities – Many students present with a variety of issues.  Please indicate in the space provided any secondary problems your students may have.

_____ Physical

_____ Psychological

_____ Cognitive

_____ Sensory

_____ Behavioral

_____ Other (please list) ___________________________________________________
 

E)  Scheduling Lessons - Circle all that apply for your Driving program:  

% of time an Able Bodied Whip is utilized in lessons:  0%    25%    50%    75%    100%

When do you Drive:   Spring     Summer     Fall     Winter

Where? -Indoor Arena -Outdoor Fenced Arena -Outdoor Open Area -Trail/ Field –Road

 % of Time Driving Indoors ___________  % of Time Driving Outdoors ____________

Please describe footing:___________________________________________________

If you drive in an enclosed area please give size______ and type of enclosure _________

YES   NO   Driving lessons are usually scheduled 1X per week per student? 

                    If No, please indicate # of lessons per student each month ______________

YES   NO   Driving lessons are scheduled in sessions? 

                    If Yes, please indicate # of weeks per session  ________________________

                    If No, please indicate method of scheduling __________________________

# Number of Participants with disabilities per driving lesson

_____1  _____2  _____3 _____4 or more _____ varies (please explain)______________
________________________________________________________________________

# Number of Turnouts per lesson

_____1  _____2  _____3 _____4 or more _____ varies (please explain)______________
________________________________________________________________________

Amount of Time Scheduled for each Driving Lesson per person:  Please Circle

10 min   15 min  20 min  25 min  30 min 35 min  40 min  45 min  50 min 55 min 60 min

Varies (please explain) _____________________________________________________

Amount of Time actually Driving the Horse each lesson per person:  Please Circle

None 10 min  15   20 min  25 min  30 min 35 min  40 min  45 min  50 min 55 min 60 min

Varies (please explain)_____________________________________________________

What typical activity will students do when at a lesson but not actually Driving? 

Wait their turn, Watch lesson, Groom, Harness, Reinboard, Ride in Carriage, Clean, Feed

Other (please list) _________________________________________________________

F)  Equine Choice (indicate number of driving animals and their breed in space provided)

_____ Mule _____________________________________________________________

_____ Donkey ___________________________________________________________

_____ Draft Horse ________________________________________________________

_____ Horse _____________________________________________________________

_____ Large Pony (13-14.2 Hands) ___________________________________________

_____ Small Pony (under 13 Hands) __________________________________________

_____ Miniature Horse ____________________________________________________

Age of Equine(s) – please indicate number of animals within each age group

_____ (0-4)

_____ (5-9)

_____ (10-18)

_____ (19-24)

_____ (25 and over)

_____ Approximate # of Driving Students served per year?

_____ If Applicable:  Approximate # of Riding Students served per year?

If you would like a compilation of the results of this questionnaire, please complete the following information and return your survey by 2/28/05:

Name:  _________________________________________________________________

Street Address: ___________________________________________________________

City, State, and Zip Code: __________________________________________________

Email address: ___________________________________________________________

THANK YOU

RETURN Survey by 2/28/05 to: beckycook1@juno.com

OR mail to:  TRS, 5600 Katz, Grass Lake, MI. 49240 USA

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Appendix 2:  Carriage List
The following is a list of Carriages utilized by surveyed programs.  Many programs use 2-wheel Easy Entry Carts and Amish made 2-wheel Meadowbrook’s without a maker’s mark that were purchased through auctions, advertisements or local carriage dealers; were donated to the programs; or were homemade.  The table below includes specific vehicle data on those Carriages having an identified manufacturer.  Please note some details such as price or contact information may be out of date.