Faculty members

Vera is the Chair of Svítání – Academy of Equine Assisted Services, a licensed physiotherapist in both the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom, and a dedicated equine owner. She has specialised in paediatric rehabilitation since 1999 and brings together extensive clinical expertise with decades of experience in Equine Assisted Therapy (EAT).

Her training includes advanced courses in Hippotherapy through the Czech Equine Facilitated Therapy Association (CEFTA) and the American Hippotherapy Association, as well as specialised education in the Vojta Method, CranioSacral Therapy, and other therapeutic approaches. She focuses particularly on Equine Assisted Physiotherapy for children from three months of age with a wide range of diagnoses.

Vera served as President of CEFTA from 2013 to 2021, contributing significantly to the professional development of the field in the Czech Republic. Internationally, she worked from 2004 to 2009 in Saudi Arabia, where she co-founded a hippotherapy centre and developed certified training programmes at the SBAHC Rehabilitation Hospital. Since 2004, she has taught both introductory and advanced courses in Equine Assisted Physiotherapy across Europe and beyond.

She is also the founder and coordinator of the European Equine Assisted Therapy Network (EEATN), established in 2019 under the governance of HETI, creating a vital platform for collaboration among therapist in EAT. In 2021, she organised the Conference on Equine Facilitated Therapy in Prague, welcoming 400 participants in a hybrid format.

She co-authored several publications, including Hippotherapy (2018), Therapy Horse Certification System (2018), Zooterapie v kostce (2020), and Historie hiporehabilitace a ČHS (2021).

Since 2021, Věra has served on the Executive Committee of the Federation of Horses in Education and Therapy International (HETI) and, in 2024, was elected President. Through this role, as well as her leadership at Svítání, she continues to advance education, research, and international cooperation in Equine Assisted Services.

Sanna has been a physical therapist since 1988 and has been running her own business for over 30 years, specialising in Equine Facilitated Therapy since 1990, for the service buyer, the Finnish Government. She has been negotiating with the authorities to accept hippotherapy as a part of national insurance accessible to all in special need of the treatment modality.

Her speciality is sports medicine, particularly biomechanics, which combines human and equine movement with the technical ability to research it. The primary focus is pain management with hippotherapy treatment. She shares a shared doctoral position at the University of Eastern Finland. She is an editor of the book ”Ratsastusterapia” in Finnish, translated into English with the title “Equine Facilitated Therapies” in Finland.

She has been developing and teaching Finnish Curricula for Equine Facilitated Therapy /Hippotherapy within national and international projects since 1990. She has served twice (6+6 years) as a HETI board member, Editor of the HETI journal, and most recently as president (2015-2021). She served as the president of the Finnish association from 2008 to 2023.

Sanna has been teaching in Ireland, Greece, Germany, and Russia, and has lectured at many HETI congresses. Her presentation at the Swedish Physiotherapy Conference won a stipend.

Ninette graduated as an occupational therapist from the University of Pretoria (UP) in 1995 and through the years practiced in South Africa, the United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

Using the movement of a horse as therapy tool in occupational therapy became part of her skillset in 2005, in 2012 she competed a hippotherapy course presented by the Equine Assisted Therapy Association of South Africa (EATASA) and in the same year became a board member of EATASA. In 2016 she became a Master of Occupational Therapy (University of Pretoria) by virtue of research on "The effect of hippotherapy on the physiological cost index and on school activities of adolescents with diplegia" and published part of this study in 2019 in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy.

In 2022, Ninette completed her a PhD in occupational therapy (University of Pretoria). Her research developed transdisciplinary hippotherapy practice guidelines for clients with spastic cerebral palsy. She strives to further forward the scientific development of hippotherapy as intervention strategy in future.

Ninette serves on the EATASA board as vice chairperson and as board member of the Equine Facilitated Occupational Therapists in the UK (EFOT-UK). In these roles she is part of training and mentoring of therapists interested in using the movement of a horse as treatment strategy. She is a private practitioner in the Lake District in the United Kingdom where she lives and can use the movement of the horse within her occupational therapy practice when such movement can benefit a client.

Carlos has a comprehensive background in psychology and equine-assisted therapy. From 2006 to 2014, he participated in several educational programs in Spain and Bolivia and led a cultural diversity education program for a UN agency, serving at-risk and vulnerable students.  

Since 2015, he has managed the learning outcomes of children requiring special needs education in schools and serves as a private psychologist to help improve patients´ mental health. In the same year, he founded an equine-assisted therapy program (Equability Malta). This initiative supports children and adolescents with special needs or social-emotional issues, achieving measurable improvements in areas such as communication and behaviour.

Carlos has undergone various training programs in Equine Facilitated Learning and Psychotherapy Interventions at reputable institutions in Spain and Germany, equipping him with skills that he brings to his therapeutic practice.

Carlos holds a Master’s Degree in Neuropsychology and Education and an MSc in Clinical Psychology. He is a founding member of the International Alliance of Healthy Interactions with Equines (AINISE), a member of the European Equine Facilitated Therapy Network (EEFTN), and of the Federation of Horses in Education and Therapy International (HETI). He currently resides in Malta.

Audrey has been an Occupational Therapist since 1994.  She specialised in Paediatric Rehabilitation almost 20 years ago, and works exclusively with children with complex needs, both physical and sensory, as well as multiple diagnoses.
Audrey started up the Equine Assisted Occupational Therapy unit in ChildVision in 2010.She is a qualified Therapeutic Riding Coach and has completed the AHA Hippotherapy course Part 1 in 2022.

Audrey is a member of EEFTN (European Equine Facilitated Therapy Network.  She is part of a team who set up and run the HEIR register (Human Equine Interaction Register - a register and communication / educational forum for practitioners working in Equine Facilitated Therapy and Equine Assisted Therapy in Ireland).  This project has been carried out with the support of and collaboration with HETI (Horses in Education and Therapy International). 

Audrey has a particular specialism in Visual Impairment and its effects on development.  She has given many presentations and workshops on these areas, and also the benefits of the horse as a therapeutic medium in Occupational Therapy sessions. 

She has been involved with HETI  and ISAZ (International Society of Anthrozoology) conferences, and participated in a round table for complex studies, supporting therapeutic goals and methods for the AHA conference. She has won awards for her research into an equine based treatment approach developed to meet the needs of children with Autism.  

Audrey also acts as a mentor to Occupational Therapists and Therapeutic riding coaches in Ireland who are setting up or trying to enhance their service, or are meeting complex cases.  

Prof. Selcuk Akpinar is currently employed at Nevsehir Haci Bektas Veli University, serving as Dean of the Faculty of Sports Science. He finished his bachelor’s degree with honours (first-rank position) at Hatay Mustafa Kemal University. He was assigned to be a Physical Education Teacher by the Ministry of Education. He worked as a PE teacher for two years. He continued his education with a master’s degree at Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, where he became a research assistant.

Later, he moved to the Middle East Technical University for his doctorate, where he focused on motor learning and control studies. During his doctoral studies, he spent one and a half years as a visiting scholar at Penn State University in the USA. He later held a postdoctoral position for six months. During his studies at Penn State University, he worked in a motor control laboratory and attempted to determine the effect of participation in sports training on motor lateralisation.

After finishing his doctorate, he moved to Nevsehir. The Higher Education Council of Turkey promoted him to Associate Professor in December 2017. He was promoted by Nevşehir Hacı Bektas Veli University as a full professor in February 2023.

He started working in Equine Assisted Activities in Nevsehir in 2013. He participated in Erasmus+ Projects in Equine Assisted Activities and has been researching this topic. He is also the assistant principal of the Horsemanship-Horseback Riding Application and Research Centre at Nevsehir Haci Bektas Veli University.

He also published articles in respected international journals on this topic. He has fostered extensive international cooperation and has numerous colleagues from around the world. His area of interest mainly focused on motor lateralisation in sports and equine-assisted activities, arm selection, motor learning and pedagogy, and body composition.

Beth Macauley, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, HPCS, FNAP is a Speech-Language Pathologist who has been incorporating hippotherapy since 1990.  She is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids, MI, USA and the director of Macauley Therapy Services, LLC, which specializes in speech therapy using hippotherapy for children and adults with speech, language, voice, fluency, cognition, social communication, and swallowing disorders.

Dr. Macauley received her BA, MA, and PhD from the University of Florida in Speech-Language Pathology specializing in neurogenic communication disorders with a minor in neuropsychology. She able to integrate her knowledge of the brain and communication with the impact of the horse to create fun and information filled presentations, seminars, and workshops.  She has a heart for international work and has been an invited speaker in 17 countries.  She is American, speaks English, and is working on her Spanish.

Dr. Macauley can discuss program development, communication activities for individual patients, how to choose the best horse for your patient, application of hippotherapy for people with different disorders such as autism, Trisomy 21, cerebral palsy, TBI, etc., and anything else you want to ask!

I am comfortable living, working, and teaching in countries with widely varying cultures and primary languages other than English. I have taught using interpreters and have helped to translate my talks into another language. My effectiveness as an international collaborator and workshop leader comes about because I strongly believe that to be accepted in a country, one must do their best to understand, accept, and immerse themselves in the culture. One must be humble and believe that no one is better or worse than any other person. One must be willing to listen to what the people want or need and change one’s teaching, one’s perspective, to effectively serve one’s colleagues and students. I believe I have the ability and experience to be a thoughtful, compassionate ambassador for the U.S. as an expert in my field. I welcome the opportunity to expand my worldview while contributing to the growth of speech-language pathology and hippotherapy.  Thank you!

Roberto is a Mexican psychologist specialising in equine-assisted therapies with over 15 years of experience. His expertise lies in working with individuals with disabilities and in addiction rehabilitation. He is involved in the diagnosis, treatment, and ongoing care of both patients and their families, successfully developing and leading social assistance programs, as well as establishing partnerships with private and governmental institutions.

In 2011, he founded and currently serves as director of CARAE, an institution dedicated to providing equine-assisted services to people with disabilities in the city of Guadalajara, particularly those with developmental disorders and behavioural problems. CARAE also offers training for therapy horses and provides professional development for individuals seeking to become involved in equine-assisted activities.

He holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology from Universidad Guadalajara Lamar and a Master's degree in Education. He is currently pursuing a doctorate in Clinical Psychology and Research at Universidad Marista de Guadalajara. He has also completed diplomas in Equine Psychology and Behaviour, Family Development, and Equine Therapies. Roberto is a dedicated professional who is passionate about helping others achieve their full potential.