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| Study | Group | Duration | Frequency | Sessions´ duration | Setting | Type of exercise | Exercise description |
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| Moraes (2020) and Moraes (2021) | EATG | 8 weeks | 2 days/week | 35 min | Military Police Hippotherapy Center in Brasilia, Brazil | Hippotherapy | Stretching and warming-up exercises on the horse (5 min); EAT (28 min): balance, mobility, and functional exercises. Thirteen progressive tasks were performed (from “serpentine movement throwing hoops on cone” to “short obstacle courses”); calm down (2 min): relaxation with the horse always in motion. |
| ICG | Normal therapeutic routine and participating in the intervention after the follow-up evaluation |
| Muñoz-Lasa (2019) | EATG | 24 weeks | 1 day/week | From 20 to 40 min | MHG foundation equestrian therapy team | Hippotherapy | NR |
| ICG | NR |
| Vermöhlen (2017) | EATG | 12 weeks | 1 day/week | 30 min (EAT) | Multicenter (five centers in Germany) | Standard care + horseback riding therapy | Developed following the guidelines for hippotherapy of Deutsches Kuratorium für Therapeutisches Reiten. |
| ICG | Standard care: symptomatic drug treatment, immunotherapy, and physiotherapy |
| Frevel (2015) | EATG | 12 weeks | 2 days/week | 20–30 min | Hospital with therapeutic riding center “Gut Üttingshof, Bad Mergentheim” | Hippotherapy | EAT: riding forward, backward, side-ways, changes in horse´s speed from slow to moderate, diagonal change of direction, sudden stops and starts.
Balance exercises and movements on the horse: trunk rotations exercises and arm lifting with eyes open and closed (lying on the horse´s back with the front or rear, sitting side-ways or backward). |
| ACG | 12 weeks | 2 days/week | 45 min | Internet-based home training | Balance, postural control, and strength exercises | Balance, postural control, and strength exercises for the main muscle groups of the lower limbs, trunk, and shoulder girdle. 8–15 repetitions. 2–3 sets of moderate intensity (Borg Scale: 11–14). |
| Lindroth (2015) | EATG | 6 weeks | 2 days/week | 40 min | Adaptive riding center | Hippotherapy | 5-min warm-up with the participant sitting forward on the horse with no stirrups, followed by 30 min of individualized intervention (balance exercises in different positions) and a 5-min cool-down. |
| Menezes (2013) | EATG | 16 weeks | 2 days/week | 50 min | Association of PwMS of Santa Maria, Brazil | Hippotherapy | Stretching and contact with the horse (10 min).
Horse walking (30 min): use of different driving techniques and postures with postural control. The level of difficulty was gradually increased.
Cool-down (10 min): exercise and stretching. |
| ACG | Complementary therapeutic intervention: pilates, swimming, and weightlifting |
| | EATG | 20 weeks on and 4 weeks off in between | 1 day/week | 30–40 min (EAT) | Fundación Caballo Amigo in Villanueva de la Cañada (Madrid) | Therapeutic horseback riding and conventional physiotherapy | EAT: exercises based on rider’s motor skills, balance, and body posture in a slow steady horse gait (four-beat walk).
Physiotherapy: aerobic, balance, strength, and flexibility exercises. |
| Muñoz-Lasa (2011) | ACG | 20 weeks on and 4 weeks off in between | 1 day/week | 40 min | ADEMM in Madrid | Conventional physiotherapy | Aerobic, balance, strength, and flexibility exercises. |
| Silkwood-Sherer (2007) | EATG | 14 weeks | 1 day/week | 40 min | NR | Therapeutic horseback riding | Warm-up (5 min): slow pace (90–100 steps/min) and stretching on the horse, progressively increasing to moderate pace (125–130 steps/min).
Individualized EAT (30 min): trunk rotations in sitting forward position, anticipatory challenges, change of direction exercises, sudden stops and starts, and speed changes from slow pace to trot (150 steps/min).
Cool-down (5 min): stretching and moderate pace. |
| ICG | NR: no rehabilitation program with the chance of participating in the intervention after the follow-up evaluation |
| Hammer (2005) | EATG | 11 weeks | 10 sessions/week | 30 min | NR | Therapeutic riding | Trunk rotation exercises, for example, reaching the ears or tail of the horse with one hand, reaching the opposite knee or diagonally, towards the ceiling. The exercises involved balance and driving skills. |
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