EQUEST

Erasmus+ project · 2025–2026

Better skills for professionals in equine-assisted therapy and para-equestrian sport

EQUEST helps equestrian practitioners work safely and effectively with people with disabilities and special needs. Partners from Poland, Italy, and Spain create free resources that practitioners can use to find the best path for their professional development and tools that support them.

See the free resources Follow EQUEST on Facebook
Duration
1 December 2025 – 30 September 2026 (10 months)
Programme
Erasmus+ Small-scale Partnerships in Vocational Education and Training
Project reference
KA210-VET-AB89430F

Full project title: Enhancing Staff Competencies in Equine-Assisted Therapy and Para-Equestrian Sports for Individuals with Disabilities

About the project

Why EQUEST is needed

The challenge

Therapeutic riding is a recognised method of rehabilitation. But across Europe, there is no common standard for training practitioners who are not licensed healthcare professionals.

While physical therapists working in equestrian settings are formally trained, many other practitioners in this environment – including riding instructors and horse handlers – are not. Often, they do not have the specialised knowledge, adapted methods or hands-on experience to work in a more inclusive way. As a result, the quality of services varies, and people with disabilities do not always get equal access to good support.

EQUEST draws a clear line between clinical therapy, which only licensed healthcare professionals may lead, and adapted equestrian instruction or horse handling. This keeps the project in line with European VET and clinical standards.

What EQUEST does

Drawing from three partner organisations, EQUEST brings together a team of 12 equestrian experts specialising in adaptive and special-needs equine programmes.

They meet at three hands-on training events, one in each partner country, and continue to learn and share online. People with disabilities take part in the practical sessions and when possible give direct feedback on which methods work.

After each event, participants share what they have learned with colleagues in their own organisations.

Our goals

  • Build Professional Skills

    Help 12 selected therapists, instructors, and other practitioners develop more specialised and inclusive equine-assisted practice through workshops, peer exchange, and hands-on arena training.

  • Raise Quality, Safety, and Equine Welfare

    Define standardised European competencies (knowledge, skills, and attitudes) for practitioners, ensuring people with disabilities and their families can rely on safer, higher-quality programmes while respecting the horse as a sentient partner.

  • Make Learning Flexible

    Create free, open-access digital resources – including short micro-learning modules and multimedia materials – that busy working staff can easily use on the job, step by step.

Three events, three results

Each training event produces one of the project results. Partners draft the result together, test it in practice and improve it.

  1. Activity A1Spain

    Workshop

    Practitioners gathered in Puig-reig in Catalonia to explore equine ethology, bioethical horse welfare, and inclusive practice in an arena setting.

    Co-drafting Result 1: The Professional Profile

  2. Activity A2Italy

    Seminar

    Hosted at C.R.E. in Rome, this seminar focused on therapeutic communication, intercultural skills, and multidisciplinary clinical practice.

    Structuring Result 2: The Professional Path

  3. Activity A3Poland

    Practical Validation

    Equine-assisted practitioners stress-tested the draft toolkit during real inclusive sports competitions at the Integration Day and Special Olympics in Warsaw.

    Finalising Result 3: The Professional Toolkit

Project results

Free resources for your daily work

EQUEST creates three resources for practitioners in equine-assisted therapy and other activities. You can download and use them free of charge.

  • The Professional Profile

    Defines the essential Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes required to safely and ethically implement equine-assisted activities for individuals with disabilities, treating the horse as a sentient co-actor.

    🇪🇸 Developed at the Transnational Workshop in Spain

    Available soon

  • The Professional Path

    A modular career development framework offering clear, step-by-step training pathways so active practitioners can advance their skills on the job without interrupting their daily work.

    🇮🇹 Developed at the Transnational Seminar in Italy

    Available soon

  • The Professional Toolkit

    A flexible, stable-ready resource containing a mix of micro-learning modules and practical checklists that practitioners can customise to match their specific experience level and the needs of the person with a disability.

    🇵🇱 Tested and validated at the Integration Day and Special Olympics in Poland

    Available soon

The final results will also be available on the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform and on EPALE, the European platform for adult learning.

Partnership

Three organisations, three kinds of expertise

EQUEST combines education, clinical practice, and methodology and policy. Each partner leads the area it knows best.

  • PL · Poland

    Luminar Foundation

    Project coordinator and education lead

    Luminar Foundation is an expert in adult education and vocational education and training (VET). It designs curricula, blended learning and digital learning tools, and has many years of experience in managing Erasmus+ and other EU-funded projects.

    Members of its team also have a background in equestrian sports, horseback archery and therapeutic riding volunteering. This helps connect educational theory with the daily reality of the stable.

    Role in EQUESTCoordinates the project and leads quality assurance. Designs the learning resources, including the micro-learning modules.

  • IT · Italy

    C.R.E. “Girolamo De Marco”

    Clinical lead

    Centro di Riabilitazione Equestre “Girolamo De Marco”

    Founded in 1989, C.R.E. is a non-profit centre for equine-assisted therapy in Rome. It is registered in the national lists for animal-assisted interventions of the Italian Ministry of Health.

    Its team of psychiatrists, psychologists, physiotherapists and certified riding instructors designs personalised rehabilitation programmes for children, young people and adults – for example, people with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, Down syndrome or neuromotor disorders. C.R.E. also runs a rehabilitation programme for military veterans in cooperation with the Italian Army, and works with Sapienza University and Tor Vergata University in Rome.

    Role in EQUESTLeads the professional training work, hosts the seminar in Italy, and checks the therapeutic accuracy of the Professional Path and the Toolkit.

    Visit the C.R.E. website
  • ES · Spain

    AEDEQ

    Methodology and policy lead

    Asociación Española de Equinoterapias

    Founded in 1996, AEDEQ is a non-profit association that promotes good practice in equine-assisted interventions: therapeutic, educational and adapted leisure activities. Since 2020, it has run a Pedagogic Farm in Serrateix (Barcelona), where it tests and improves equine-assisted methods.

    AEDEQ has taken part in several Erasmus+ projects and works with the University of Lleida on research. It developed an EU-funded training method for ethical horse care and non-submissive horse training, and it works for the formal recognition of equine-assisted interventions in Spain and in Europe.

    Role in EQUESTHosts the workshop in Spain, leads work on the Professional Profile and on sharing the project results, and checks that the results fit European VET standards.

    Visit the AEDEQ website

Reference

Abbreviations

Abbreviations used across the three EQUEST results. The labels show where each one appears.

AAC
Augmentative and Alternative Communication R1 · R2 · R3
AAE
Animal-Assisted Education R2 · R3
AAI
Animal-assisted interventions R3
AAT
Animal-Assisted Therapy R2 · R3
ABA
Applied Behaviour Analysis R3
ADHD
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder R2
AEDEQ
Asociación Española de Equinoterapias (Spanish Association of Equine Therapies) R1 · R2 · R3
ASD
Autism spectrum disorder R1 · R2 · R3
BDN
Banca Dati Nazionale (Italy’s national database in which every horse is registered) R3
C.R.E.
C.R.E. “Girolamo De Marco” R1 · R2 · R3
CBT
Cognitive behavioural approach (therapy) R3
CC BY 4.0
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International licence R1 · R2 · R3
CNCP
Catálogo Nacional de Cualificaciones Profesionales (Spain’s national catalogue of professional qualifications) R2
CONI
Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano (Italian National Olympic Committee) R2
CP
Cerebral palsy R1 · R2
CPD
Continuous professional development R2
CQI
Continuous quality improvement R2
CSD
Consejo Superior de Deportes (Spain’s Higher Sports Council) R2
EAA
Equine-Assisted Activities (recreational riding, adapted leisure or sports) R3
EAI
Equine-Assisted Interventions R1 · R2 · R3
EAS
Equine-Assisted Services (term used mainly in North America) R1
EC
European Community, in EU legal references such as Directive 2005/36/EC R2
EPALE
Electronic Platform for Adult Learning in Europe R2
EQAVET
European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training R2
EQF
European Qualifications Framework R2
FBA
Functional Behavioural Analysis R3
FISE
Federazione Italiana Sport Equestri (Italian Equestrian Sports Federation) R2 · R3
FRSE
Fundacja Rozwoju Systemu Edukacji (Foundation for the Development of the Education System, Poland’s Erasmus+ National Agency) R1 · R2 · R3
GAS
Goal Attainment Scaling R3
GDPR
General Data Protection Regulation R2 · R3
IAA
Interventi Assistiti con gli Animali (Italian: animal-assisted interventions) R2
IAC
Equine-assisted interventions (Italian: Interventi Assistiti con il Cavallo; Spanish: Intervenciones Asistidas con Caballos) R2
INCUAL
Instituto Nacional de las Cualificaciones (Spain’s National Institute of Qualifications) R2
IQ
Intelligence quotient R3
KA210 / KA220
Erasmus+ Small-scale Partnerships / Cooperation Partnerships R1 · R2 · R3
LPAD
Learning Propensity Assessment Device R2 · R3
Masaf
Ministero dell’agricoltura, della sovranità alimentare e delle foreste (Italian Ministry of Agriculture) R3
MLE
Mediated Learning Experience R2 · R3
NGO
Non-governmental organisation R2
PECS
Picture Exchange Communication System R3
PTHip
Polskie Towarzystwo Hipoterapeutyczne (Polish Hippotherapeutic Society) R1 · R2 · R3
PTSD
Post-traumatic stress disorder R1 · R2
QA
Quality assurance R2
RCT
Randomised controlled trial R3
RD
Real Decreto (Spanish Royal Decree) R2
SCM
Structural Cognitive Modifiability R2 · R3
TAA / EAA
Terapia / Educazione Assistita con gli Animali (Italian: animal-assisted therapy / education) R2
THR
Therapeutic Horseback Riding R3
VET
Vocational education and training R2 · R3
ZSK
Zintegrowany System Kwalifikacji (Poland’s Integrated Qualifications System) R2

Contact

Get in touch

Justyna Gieżyńska

Luminar Foundation President
EQUEST Project Coordinator

jgiezynska@luminarfoundation.org