e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to Complement Equine Therapy

Javier Díaz Claudia Queiruga

Tomás Arce

CEDICACentro de Equitación para Personas

con Discapacidad y Carenciadas

CEDICA is a provincial reference center in equine-assisted therapy and activities located at the racetrack of the city of La Plata, Argentina (http://cedica.com.ar/).

CEDICA is a nonprofit association founded in 1994.

Its MISSION is to equalize opportunities and favor family reintegration, schooling, professional insertion and integral improvement in the quality of life of its patients.

Currently, CEDICA has over 100 student-patients, mostly children and teenagers, from all over La Plata and nearby cities, and from very different sociocultural backgrounds.

The rehabilitation activities in CEDICA take part once a week.

Videogames in Health

Serious games dealing with health issues are a growing field.

PlayMancer Project: it is an initiative to develop a video game for treating specific mental disorders. The game is specially developed to help patients recognize their emotions, regain self-control, train certain movements and relax specific muscles. 

iSocial Project: it is a three dimensional virtual learning environment for teaching social competence to youths who have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD).

LIFEisGAME: It is a serious game to teach people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) to recognize facial emotions.

e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to Complement Equine Therapy

e-Quino is a video game that recreates equine therapy performed with children and teenagers with

neurological development disorders at CEDICA.

Goal: to recreate the feeling of well-being equine therapy gives to CEDICA student-patients, whenever

the actual activity cannot be performed.

e-Quino is being developed by a multidisciplinary team composed of highly-trained therapists with a

background in equine-assisted activities and therapy, educators, doctors, programmers and

designers specialized in 3D art.

e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to Complement Equine Therapy

Activity 1: the player guides the horse, walking, past a mound

e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to Complement Equine Therapy

Activity 2: the player must guide the horse, this time at jog, through the main course without changing the gait

e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to Complement Equine Therapy

Activity 3: the player rides the horse through a fenced area

e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to Complement Equine Therapy

Activity 4: the player chooses an object of a certain color from a basket and takes it to the indicator of the same color

across the field

e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to Complement Equine Therapy

Activity 5: the player zigzags through dice on the ground

e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to Complement Equine Therapy

Activity 6: the player tosses three balls to a ring located at the height of the rider

e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to Complement Equine Therapy

Each activity provides congratulatory feedback to the player to emphasize their achievement.

e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to Complement Equine Therapy

We are currently developing a pilot test with 24 student-patients

classified in: 8 diagnosed with Down Syndrome, 6 with Pervasive

Developmental Disorder, 7 with mental retardation and 3 with

developmental delay

e-Quino: an Interactive Videogame to Complement Equine Therapy

e-Quino shows the important role that technology such as

serious games and immersive reality can play for inclusion of

people with different needs in our society.